Slapstick scenes involving water gags on stage

[Heather]

Hi,

I'm a theatre student (backstage) and have a project about slapstick productions. One of the themes are scenes involving water, food fights (pie in the face!) or other mess related.

We will do one production (tbd) incorporating many slapstick gags of this nature.  I'd like to get any technical advice in terms of throwing water or messy things on stage.  How to prepare, what to use and crucially cleaning up - both the stage and the actors through a play!

Aside from the production I need examples of plays which feature such scenes.  I already know some classics like the pie scenes in Singin in the Rain and Comic Potential but really need to expand my list!

Any advice or examples of slapstick plays would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Heather
 

[ejsmith3130]

Just some quick things that first come to mind:

With Water/Liquid:
-Use something if not water that won't stain costumes; if it will stain make a note for costumes to treat the article after each show.
-Use the smallest amount of water necessary. If the actor is the one pouring the amount, make sure to show them how much to pour so that the gag is still effective, but with the least amount to clean.
-Is there a potential for an actor to clean up any spills? In some shows I have done we have had servant characters mop up spills that were planned.
-Make a note if makeup touchups are needed after the takes.
-Are microphones in danger of contact with water? if yes- wrap them with unlubricated condoms prior to the show.

Food (Pie in face):
-Use the least amount of consumable product you can. For Example, have a fabricated pie shell and then you just have to add your "cream"
-Do any of the involved parties have a food allergy?
-The same notes as above involving costume, makeup and microphone maintenance.
-Does the character need to clean up quickly backstage before re-entering? Make sure the appropriate materials are back there to accomadate actor clean up.

These are just some things that I thought of off the top of my head... I'm sure I'm overlooking a lot, but that is why we collaborate.

[bex]

Agreed with EJSmith3130 with the upkeep.
A couple of plays to think about, off the top of my head:
The Flea In Her Ear is an old French farce with a great spit gag (possibly more than one? It's been a while since I worked on it)
Drowsy Chaperone has a whole scene with multiple (like, 5 or 6) spit takes in quick succession right into another actor's face, and that is definitely one to be worried about mic safety & makeup touch-ups. The actor might even need a new shirt or jacket, there's so much water.

[Skulking]

Mack and Mabel has a good amount of keystone cops slapstick in it, and even has an entire number (I Wanna Make the World Laugh) which is devoted to among other things a massive pie fight. 

[Jessie_K]

If you can change the surface of your floor, get a surface that has good texture for traction.

[planetmike]

If I remember correctly, The Cripple of Inishmaan has a food fight scene involving eggs (only eggs?).

[chadparkerla]

-Are microphones in danger of contact with water? if yes- wrap them with unlubricated condoms prior to the show.

Agree with this! And don't forget the lavs themselves. A lucky drop of water hitting a lav can cause all kinds of trouble. When we had a water scene with tons of lavs on stage, we carefully put each in locations where we thought the water would stay away... then we talked to the actors and asked them to be careful and kept our fingers crossed. (We also had extra lavs backstage with the in case we needed to make a quick change.)

At the end of the run, we hadn't lost any lavs. We were lucky, and the cast should be commended for how controlled their "random" water fight actually was. Great job of acting like it was crazy while avoiding certain target areas.

Chad

[Jessie_K]

If I remember correctly, The Cripple of Inishmaan has a food fight scene involving eggs (only eggs?).

Yes, it does.  But it's pretty simple.  Slippy Helen breaks several eggs over the head of her brother.  When I did the show, we changed intermission to be right after the egg scene and mopped up immediately.  This was very important because we were working on a raked stage.

[On_Headset]

You may also want to discuss alternatives to water. (Some venues simply won't allow water no-way-no-sir, and they have extremely good reasons for doing so--but when your director insists on the effect...)

Stay away from glitter for what I hope are obvious reasons (you'll never be able to use that costume again, the actor will need to shower to get it out of their hair, it very easily gets into people's eyes [where it stings like the dickens], that spot on the stage is going to glow for the next several years, etc.), but if you're doing slapstick, don't underestimate the comedy potential of a bucket full of confetti.

Confetti is readily available, cheap, requires relatively little clean-up (compared to water, but especially compared to glitter) and is unlikely to cause injuries to your actors. If you cut it chunky (like, half-inch circles) it has the added bonus of being highly visible from the audience.