Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: food and liquid on stage

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Topic: food and liquid on stage
Posted: 12/05/03 at 10:26am

I have been trying to convince my theater group of the dangers of food and liquid on stage, first naturally being the choking hazard, then the slip/fall danger of accidental spillage and last the potentional damage to set pieces and costumes, to no avail. Most often there is no provision made in blocking for clean up. Does anyone have any suggestions on handling this?

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Posted: 12/05/03 at 12:16pm

I can't remember ever doing a play that didn't have food and liquid on stage. At the least there is always the liquor bottle or cup of coffee or tea. We usually have a dish of nuts on a table - that sort of stuff - our last play was Over The River and Through The Woods - we served a full meal every night - (part was edible and the actors were expected to eat it - the rest was fake food). We do have spills and our actors address the spills as they would in real life - clean it up (while keeping the lines and action going) - I have been known on occasion to have a planned spill - it adds realism.

I usually appoint one actor as accident clean up person - it usually fits in as part of their character - Felix in The Odd Couple, Aunt Martha in Arsenic, Aida in Over The River and so on.

Rule number one is DO NOT ignore it - the audience won't. You must address it somehow. Under most situations you would not leave a spilled bowl of peanuts all over the floor or a spilled drink on the top of a table. The same must apply in the theater.

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Posted: 12/05/03 at 12:57pm

I agree with Doug, we always use real food and drink on stage. It really annoys me when I see a show where they are obviously faking the eating and drinking, it just ruins the illusion.

Have the actors cleanup messes in character is an excellent idea. Also make sure your stage crew knows to check for things like this during scene changes.

I will admit eating on stage can be challenging. I did a production of Importance of Being Earnest recently which has a couple eating scenes. In one scene two characters must eat a plate full of muffins, and a joke at the end of the scene relys on all but one of them to be eaten. It was very tricky for them to eat them, and still get thier lines out.

Dan

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Guests
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Posted: 12/05/03 at 6:01pm

At least with the muffins in the Wilde play, you could provide a smaller plate of mini-muffins, right? Serving real food and drink does bring up an excellent point, tho', about appointing someone who is in the scene to take care of accidental spills...
I never thought of planning for this eventuality, but it does happen as we saw in I Remember Mama. Mama and Katrin had had a cup of coffee and a chocolate soda and the 12-year old "soda jerk" spilled the chocolate milk...in perfect character, Mama bent down and wiped it up off the floor...even tho' in a restaurant, Mama would never have just left it there for someone else to clean up!

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Guests
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Posted: 12/06/03 at 3:27am

Agreed, real food must be used. We generally use it in concjunction with fake foods to minimize problems, but a bowl of say...fake fruit falling on the floor is going to be more difficult for the audience to overlook than the real thing falling. Just train your actors to understand thier characters and they will respond to spills etc just as they would to any of the problems that can occur on stage.
...dont use hot liquids, use light colored fluids, make sure that proper cleanup supplies for the time period are available just offstage or onstage when possible, avoid foods that are super gummy or chewy, fill glasses only part way, avoid greasy or sticky foods...
Live theater means unplanned things may happen, thats just part of the fun.

Angel

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Guests
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Posted: 12/06/03 at 11:25am

i understand all your reasonings, BUT in all my years as a professional costumer for live theater in California, we RARELY used real food in a production, especially in a musical. The slip/fall risk was considered to great to endanger the dancers and actors just for the sake of realism. If food or liquid was used it was bread hidden behind a fake prop food or water, tinted if need be. These were easy to clean up and no danger to costumes and sets and did not risk spoilage. I have seen some very realistic acting when it came to eating on stage without real food.

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Guests
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Posted: 12/06/03 at 9:37pm

Well, I suppose it's a "do what you gotta do" world. But certainly in my experience it's been real food & drink. If it's that big of an issue between you & your cast, & technical folks though, I'd suggest looking at a show that doesn't include an eating scene I guess.

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Doug Menke
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Posted: 2/09/04 at 11:47am

While I was in College, I played Lenny in "Of Mice and Men". During the
first scene, I had to open a can of beans, eat the whole thing, and lament
about there not being anymore. All while staying in character, and
delivering my lines. Good thing Lenny is allowed to be something of a
slob! In order for me to get it right, we started rehearsing with the beans
as soon as we where off book.

As for a choking hazard, there is as much chance of that as there is in the
real world. I have never been onstage and had to deal with a choking
issue, and hope I never will!

Enjoy!

Doug Menke

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TMLiz
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Joined: 3/22/04
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 3/22/04 at 5:27pm

We sincerely make the effort to not use real food, unless it absolutely must be eaten. If someone is just being "served" a dish and they get up and don't eat - then it's certainly fake food. As an almost unspoken rule, we never use food or liquid in musicals - it's too risky. During Hello Dolly, however, Dolly simply HAS to eat everything on her (and Horace's) plate in about 90 seconds. We used egg whites and sugar (well, actually splenda - the actress is doing the low-carb thing....geesh) and it worked fabulously. Of course, now we're doing Streetcar and these people can't stop drinking beer and bourbon!

Elizabeth
Production Stage Manager
Theatre Memphis
www.theatrememphis.org

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BD
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Posted: 5/10/04 at 4:11pm

I'm fairly new to props work and I need fake food for an upcoming production. I'd really prefer to make it as it seems expensive to buy. Does anyone know of a website or book that explains how to make fake food?

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Author	Message
Guests Guest	Topic: food and liquid on stage Posted: 12/05/03 at 10:26am
	I have been trying to convince my theater group of the dangers of food and liquid on stage, first naturally being the choking hazard, then the slip/fall danger of accidental spillage and last the potentional damage to set pieces and costumes, to no avail. Most often there is no provision made in blocking for clean up. Does anyone have any suggestions on handling this?

	IP Logged

Guests Guest	Posted: 12/05/03 at 12:16pm
	I can't remember ever doing a play that didn't have food and liquid on stage. At the least there is always the liquor bottle or cup of coffee or tea. We usually have a dish of nuts on a table - that sort of stuff - our last play was Over The River and Through The Woods - we served a full meal every night - (part was edible and the actors were expected to eat it - the rest was fake food). We do have spills and our actors address the spills as they would in real life - clean it up (while keeping the lines and action going) - I have been known on occasion to have a planned spill - it adds realism. I usually appoint one actor as accident clean up person - it usually fits in as part of their character - Felix in The Odd Couple, Aunt Martha in Arsenic, Aida in Over The River and so on. Rule number one is DO NOT ignore it - the audience won't. You must address it somehow. Under most situations you would not leave a spilled bowl of peanuts all over the floor or a spilled drink on the top of a table. The same must apply in the theater.
	IP Logged

Guests Guest	Posted: 12/05/03 at 12:57pm
	I agree with Doug, we always use real food and drink on stage. It really annoys me when I see a show where they are obviously faking the eating and drinking, it just ruins the illusion. Have the actors cleanup messes in character is an excellent idea. Also make sure your stage crew knows to check for things like this during scene changes. I will admit eating on stage can be challenging. I did a production of Importance of Being Earnest recently which has a couple eating scenes. In one scene two characters must eat a plate full of muffins, and a joke at the end of the scene relys on all but one of them to be eaten. It was very tricky for them to eat them, and still get thier lines out. Dan
	IP Logged

Guests Guest	Posted: 12/05/03 at 6:01pm
	At least with the muffins in the Wilde play, you could provide a smaller plate of mini-muffins, right? Serving real food and drink does bring up an excellent point, tho', about appointing someone who is in the scene to take care of accidental spills... I never thought of planning for this eventuality, but it does happen as we saw in I Remember Mama. Mama and Katrin had had a cup of coffee and a chocolate soda and the 12-year old "soda jerk" spilled the chocolate milk...in perfect character, Mama bent down and wiped it up off the floor...even tho' in a restaurant, Mama would never have just left it there for someone else to clean up!
	IP Logged

Guests Guest	Posted: 12/06/03 at 3:27am
	Agreed, real food must be used. We generally use it in concjunction with fake foods to minimize problems, but a bowl of say...fake fruit falling on the floor is going to be more difficult for the audience to overlook than the real thing falling. Just train your actors to understand thier characters and they will respond to spills etc just as they would to any of the problems that can occur on stage. ...dont use hot liquids, use light colored fluids, make sure that proper cleanup supplies for the time period are available just offstage or onstage when possible, avoid foods that are super gummy or chewy, fill glasses only part way, avoid greasy or sticky foods... Live theater means unplanned things may happen, thats just part of the fun. Angel
	IP Logged

Guests Guest	Posted: 12/06/03 at 11:25am
	i understand all your reasonings, BUT in all my years as a professional costumer for live theater in California, we RARELY used real food in a production, especially in a musical. The slip/fall risk was considered to great to endanger the dancers and actors just for the sake of realism. If food or liquid was used it was bread hidden behind a fake prop food or water, tinted if need be. These were easy to clean up and no danger to costumes and sets and did not risk spoilage. I have seen some very realistic acting when it came to eating on stage without real food.
	IP Logged

Guests Guest	Posted: 12/06/03 at 9:37pm
	Well, I suppose it's a "do what you gotta do" world. But certainly in my experience it's been real food & drink. If it's that big of an issue between you & your cast, & technical folks though, I'd suggest looking at a show that doesn't include an eating scene I guess.
	IP Logged

Doug Menke Guest	Posted: 2/09/04 at 11:47am
	While I was in College, I played Lenny in "Of Mice and Men". During the first scene, I had to open a can of beans, eat the whole thing, and lament about there not being anymore. All while staying in character, and delivering my lines. Good thing Lenny is allowed to be something of a slob! In order for me to get it right, we started rehearsing with the beans as soon as we where off book. As for a choking hazard, there is as much chance of that as there is in the real world. I have never been onstage and had to deal with a choking issue, and hope I never will! Enjoy! Doug Menke
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TMLiz Walk-On Joined: 3/22/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 3/22/04 at 5:27pm
	We sincerely make the effort to not use real food, unless it absolutely must be eaten. If someone is just being "served" a dish and they get up and don't eat - then it's certainly fake food. As an almost unspoken rule, we never use food or liquid in musicals - it's too risky. During Hello Dolly, however, Dolly simply HAS to eat everything on her (and Horace's) plate in about 90 seconds. We used egg whites and sugar (well, actually splenda - the actress is doing the low-carb thing....geesh) and it worked fabulously. Of course, now we're doing Streetcar and these people can't stop drinking beer and bourbon!
	Elizabeth Production Stage Manager Theatre Memphis www.theatrememphis.org
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BD Guest	Posted: 5/10/04 at 4:11pm
	I'm fairly new to props work and I need fake food for an upcoming production. I'd really prefer to make it as it seems expensive to buy. Does anyone know of a website or book that explains how to make fake food?
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