Author Topic: SHOWS: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"  (Read 5269 times)

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MacDouga

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HI all,

I am stage managing "No Sex Please, We're British" at a Community Theatre in Nova Scotia.  If anyone has done this show, maybe you have some ideas (you might even if you aren't familiar with the show) that can help us with a problem: We need to have a "hatch" come down on a boquet of flowers and guillotine the stems off... any suggestions as to how we can make this happen??

Thanks for any help.
« Last Edit: Jun 09, 2009, 02:06 am by PSMKay »

avkid

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #1 on: Mar 13, 2008, 08:55 pm »
By "hatch" do you mean?
A) shortened version of hatchet(a small axe type implement)
B) a small hinged door
Philip LaDue
IATSE Local #21 Newark, NJ

MacDouga

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #2 on: Mar 13, 2008, 09:59 pm »
Ahh... good question... in fact its a large sliding door... between kitchen and living room.  It SLAMS down on the flowers and cuts the boquet in two.

loebtmc

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #3 on: Mar 14, 2008, 12:26 am »
I'd start by presuming the bouquet is pre-rigged - prob artificial stems that are held together by a little tape or a sliver of thread or some such -

as for the hatch - I have seen several plays that used gags like that, but I haven't so defer to those folks

Fitz

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #4 on: Mar 17, 2008, 10:19 am »
I wasn't involved in this show when my group did it, but I've had to do some similar effects.

For the hatch door, try mounting it in sliding rails like you would see on cabinet drawers. I used that for an effect on a show just recently. The rails are cheap, reliable and easy to install. We had our sliding rails for a hidden panel, and used a basic pulley system and a stage hand to raise and lower it. For the one quick close we had, the stage hand would just let go of the rope and let it slam down.

For No Sex, you want to make sure your hatch stays securely open since Runnicles has all that business with the hatch. I once saw a production where they had a badly installed mechanical hatch and it closed on the actor's head during a performance.

As for the flowers... I'm stumped. I don't remember this part of the show at all. I'll ask around and see if anyone from our production remembers.

My initial suggestion is that you could do something with a small bundle of nice, big green straws (like the ones at starbucks)... Take a bundle of straws, tie them together with some fancy fabric and ribbon, and disguise the bundle with a few pieces of artificial greenery... then tuck the flowers and greenery that will be 'guillotined' into each straw... when the hatch comes down, all the heads of the flowers will be on the wrong side of the hatch and you should be able to slide the bundle right off... if you glue a few 'broken' looking pieces inside the bouquet, it should look right... (Does this description make sense to anyone but me?)

avkid

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #5 on: Mar 17, 2008, 03:47 pm »
I once saw a production where they had a badly installed mechanical hatch and it closed on the actor's head during a performance.
Ouch, somebody obviously skimped on hardware.
Philip LaDue
IATSE Local #21 Newark, NJ

MacDouga

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #6 on: Mar 17, 2008, 04:28 pm »
My initial suggestion is that you could do something with a small bundle of nice, big green straws (like the ones at starbucks)... Take a bundle of straws, tie them together with some fancy fabric and ribbon, and disguise the bundle with a few pieces of artificial greenery... then tuck the flowers and greenery that will be 'guillotined' into each straw... when the hatch comes down, all the heads of the flowers will be on the wrong side of the hatch and you should be able to slide the bundle right off... if you glue a few 'broken' looking pieces inside the bouquet, it should look right... (Does this description make sense to anyone but me?)

Yes, this sounds quite reasonable!!  Thanks!

Fitz

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Re: Question about - "No Sex Please, We're British"
« Reply #7 on: Mar 20, 2008, 02:19 pm »
I once saw a production where they had a badly installed mechanical hatch and it closed on the actor's head during a performance.
Ouch, somebody obviously skimped on hardware.

I had gone to see the show because I heard they were looking for an SM for an upcoming production, so I wanted to see what they were like. I'm not sure what the issue was, it just convinced me that I should not be working with that group. After the show I stayed to wait for a friend in the cast and the response of the tech team was shockingly apathetic. (they don't exist anymore, wonder why?)

 

riotous