Author Topic: PROPS: quick cleanup of raw egg?  (Read 4408 times)

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jpz

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PROPS: quick cleanup of raw egg?
« on: Jun 12, 2007, 12:05 am »
Has anyone worked on a production of The Cripple of Inishmaan before?  What did you use to quickly clean up the several raw eggs that get broken over Bartley's head? He doesn't have more than a few minutes offstage before his next scene.

Is there anyway to control the inevitable mess?

Looking for any words of advice or suggestions. Rehearsals begin in a few weeks.

Thanks.
« Last Edit: Jun 09, 2009, 12:30 am by PSMKay »

ljh007

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Re: quick cleanup of raw egg?
« Reply #1 on: Jun 12, 2007, 09:11 am »
I did an opera where we did something similar, and cleaned up the singer in about 1:20 offstage.

A hair and makeup team (3 people, including one wardrobe dresser) were waiting in the wings, and they used baby wipes and wet washcloths to clean up the egg (if some was in the wig, it was sometimes left and the wig was cleaned during the nightly redressing). Then they touched up the singer's makeup, which was elaborate clown makeup (we were doing "Pagliacci"). My ASM stood next to them through the process, and I announced over headset a 30-sec. re-entrance warning, and then a 5-second re-entrance warning (at which point all work was stopped and the singer took his entrance just in time).  We had a towel available for the singer's hands, too. When he took his next, longer exit, he visited the makeup department for a more thorough cleanup.

The only dreadful part of the egg bit was that it got on the costume, and wouldn't come out entirely no matter what we did. Some parts of egg got onto other singers' costumes, too, and if something stuck to it and it dried, forget about it - it was horrible! The only thing I can recommend there is to get to the costumes and rinse them as soon as possible. Give a thorough check to all egg costumes - often there was a lot on the egg-er's costume, and not as much as you would expect on the egg-ee's costume. The wig suffered in this way, too, but it was our own and frankly kinda a cheap clown wig. The costumes were rentals. We also scrubbed the part of the deck immediately after each performance with soapy water and then went over it with an antibacterial spray. No problems there.

If you don't want to mess with real eggs, you can empty the eggshells (remember how you did this in grade school, when you poke a hole in each end and blow the yolk out?). It is possible, though tedious, to refill the egg with anything you want - confetti, a water/yogurt egg replacement, or whatever.

We also did not rehearse the egg until later in the process - once in the rehearsal hall (a dry run before final run through and then the final rehearsal run) and maybe every other time onstage. When you are running the egg bit in rehearsal, put a tarp down, have lots and lots of fresh towels, and provide clothes for the performer getting egged - including a t-shirt, skull cap hat, and anything else they might need to protect their regular clothes. Tell wardrobe that you'll need this t-shirt and the towels cleaned each night, but have several available through the rehearsal period. Also, be ready to have a prop towel nearby onstage for the performer who is the egg-er. They'll often need to wipe their hands on the sly after the gag.

Jessie_K

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Re: quick cleanup of raw egg?
« Reply #2 on: Jun 12, 2007, 12:45 pm »
I did Cripple a few years back. We moved the intermission to be right after the egg cracking.  The actor was able to jump right in the shower and his clothes went immediately into the wash.  The actress was able to wash her hands right away.  The ASM mopped the stage immediately and all was well.

RobertMillsSM

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Re: quick cleanup of raw egg?
« Reply #3 on: Jun 12, 2007, 09:20 pm »
I too worked on this show a few years ago, and the egging is one of the funnest on stage moments to work with. Like Jessie_K, we too placed the intermission shortly after the egging. This allowed the cast plenty of time to clean up (shower and all). As for the stage, the egging was staged on a pre-dirtied rug and we had two of them. In the shift after the egging, the crew swapped out the dirty rug for the look-a-like.

Of course, the floor was mopped before and after each show and the costume washed each night. Once the dirty rug was offstage, the crew spent most of the second act scrubbing out the egg so as to not have a rotting carpet. As a part of the preset, the look-a-like was stored offstage awaiting the switch and the eggy rug placed on stage again. this way we only had one eggy carpet.

It worked well for our production and I hope you can find a good solution to make yours a success as well.

ChaCha

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Re: quick cleanup of raw egg?
« Reply #4 on: Jun 13, 2007, 09:45 am »
I love this network. Only here could you get so much information in a few days about breaking eggs!
ChaCha

McShell

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Re: quick cleanup of raw egg?
« Reply #5 on: Jun 13, 2007, 02:17 pm »
I'm afraid I'm the last person that can give advice on the issue of raw eggs.  I worked on a one act in college, a new work by one of the MFAs, and we were in the middle of two other one-acts (the first had a huge set-up, and I forget why we weren't last).  There was a food fight involving eggs, flour, and water.  We did the most to clean up each night, but the modules we used were carpeted, and we tried, believe me, to get it all out.  Needless to say, we spent a good part of the strike shampooing, and eventually ended up having to recarpet the modules, and it was pretty nasty underneath.  So yeah, I'm the last person to give advice over this.  Just thought I'd share. It brought back memories.

 

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