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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 6/03/06 at 8:33am
I have not used the glow paint for a while, but checking with a couple of mates still in the game. ?Cast me? is right it is not as good as it used be?
When I?m bumping in a show I run a line of white gaffer from the legs, set masking or access openings to off stage. This marks out the sight line that the performer can be seen by the punters, if they sticky beak beyond it on stage. Which also serves as a visual when exiting the stage.
For Dance or Opera shows. I run a white gaffer tape on the apron edge as a safety line. Dancers are good & there is never any worry of them going over! But we have lost a few Opera characters in the past, stepping off & disappearing into the pit - Very disconcerting, as It tends to damage the muso?s instruments & can be rather messy!

      Joe
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turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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k8tt
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bullet Posted: 6/03/06 at 3:26pm
Thanks, Linda, for the glo tape site.

Yesterday I found white electrical tape and taped all steps down into backstage.  Then showed the cast where to step when they come off stage. Also gave them a lecture on shoving. For the one contentious scene I stood there with flashlight and my arm out for the actress to lean on as she gets out of her wheelchair and steps down .  Also stood there for every other SL exit with my little flashlight.  My ASM covered SR.

Now I have to give the cast a second lecture about letting the stage crew do their stuff before they can go on for their scenes.  Too much crowding at the doorways.  Eager bunch of actors! *G*

I think I will advise no more plays with 14 scene changes.  Too many opportunities for accidents.
 
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slicksister
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bullet Posted: 6/03/06 at 4:58pm
14 scene changes?  Either you or the playwrite are nuts!  Him/her for writing a script with that many changes and your theatre company for putting it on.  If a play has any more than 5 I refuse to do it!  LOL!!!
The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 6/04/06 at 3:44am
I?m probably getting mixed up? But if I remember correctly? K8tts play  is a mufti scene set, divided into 3 zones or possibly extended to 5. Using lighting to split the full setting into separate acting areas?
Plays like ?Hotel Sorrento? & ?Travelling North? by those Aussie writers,  come to mind. As having over 20 odd scene changes of 5 separate set locations!
Primarily they were written for TV or with TV in mind, but to be performed on stage!
?Man Of La Mancha? as a play with music, which is a good example of a multi scene setting. Which was great to direct, design & do the mise en scene for!
However I have endured a quite a few plays & musicals were the scene changes, were done by bringing the tabs or house rag every time. That it  became long enough, for me to be expecting the house lights & even interlude music for an Interval!
In all cases I ensure that scene changes became seamless, by applying the 5 P?s! Working on the basis, that if the punters have to wait  30 seconds for a scene change, it is far too long!
There is a lot of tennis style plays out there, that ping pong back & forth between the same scenes. Either they  forget or don?t realise there is a big difference between, having live punters in an auditorium & those who are inside a TV camera?





 
 
      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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Kathy S
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bullet Posted: 6/05/06 at 1:32am

Please, Joe, remind us what the "5 P's" stand for again....

 






 

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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 6/05/06 at 3:29am
Prior [or Pre ] Planning Prevents [P*ss] Poor Production!
It can be six or more if you wish!

      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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k8tt
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bullet Posted: 6/05/06 at 5:52pm
LOL Joe, I hadn't heard of the 5/6 Ps before.

Yes, this is Marvin's Room (also done as a movie in 90s with Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and a young Leo DiCaprio).  We have the tiny stage divided into four areas (DSL, DSR, USL and USR).  And we still use DSL and USL for multiple scenes.  It's a nightmare, but the audience seems to enjoy the play.

I do NOT enjoy being SM AND stage crew.  We are so crowded in our narrow backstage area that I have to use one actor, my ASM and myself as stage crew (with 9 cast members we are packed like sardines).  The walls back there are papered with scene change instructions for each of us and we still screw up. Saturday night I had to shove a prop under the curtain because my actor/crew guy didn't put the table out for it to go on.  No table, so I forgot the prop. LOLOLOL
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 6/06/06 at 5:47am
 I couldn?t remember the actual play! It is a problem when you have little or no space backstage.
I have done a few Musicals in a postage stamp space, it is difficult to put the complex into the simplex, but I bet your enjoying it?
At least your not bored watching movies on portable TV?s between cues!
We have only a 100 square metre stage, when I did the first show there, which was a tap dancing production. So we built an Apron stage 2.4m x 8.2m level with the stage, from wooden folding gate leg rostra. Which in fact made the small wing space more manageable.
The rostra is easy to remove foldaway, store & reinstall. Although it has become a permanent gaff fixture now, & used for all our & other hall users events!
With a lot of musicals especially in small spaces, I choreograph moves for the cast, during rehearsals, to move props or set pieces. As part of their exit or entrances, on brown or black out scene changes. Which works better & relieves the pressure on the crew.
Back in the 60?s I designed a CT production of ?Alfie?. Unfortunately we couldn?t afford to build a revolve, as it had multiple short cameo scenes. So I built a removable central post, with 3 flats that pivoted & revolved around it. It worked out well, except they brought in an Assistant Director who only knew about TV production. Who almost sent us round the twist, because she wanted heaps of furniture, props & set pieces. Everything from a full 2 bed hospital ward, 3 apartments & also a real sports car on stage.
Needless to say by the time we got to the dress rehearsal all the unneeded props & whatever ended up being diced out the door. It finally got back to just the revolving flats, minimal props & set pieces, that I designed originaly!
We were bought off & used the new sports car, because the car yard payed a heap out in advertising &sponsorship. But the deck crew required dropped to 2 from 7. The AD quietly evaporated, only fronting up for the after season party, which was more acceptable!    

      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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tristanrobin
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bullet Posted: 6/06/06 at 3:37pm
If a play has any more than 5 I refuse to do it! LOL!!!

omg
heh heh
you don't do many musicals do you?
I can't think of one that only has five sets LOL

(okay - that wasn't a challenge LOL)
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Kathy S
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bullet Posted: 6/07/06 at 12:39am

I have to take a challenge.

I can think of one that has less than five sets.  It's the perfect show:  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum  - hardly any costume changes, either.  Also, The Fantasticks - one set, no costume changes.

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