Wait Until Dark; doll and switchblade
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Forum Discription: For how-to's and where-can-I-find
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3623
Printed Date: 5/16/25 at 3:06am
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Topic: Wait Until Dark; doll and switchblade
Posted By: chel
Subject: Wait Until Dark; doll and switchblade
Date Posted: 11/27/08 at 12:00am
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I have the fun project of doing props for "Wait Until Dark". There are a couple of props that need some clever duties.
A doll must play music, but the girl in the show moves it and it accidentally plays a few notes on its own. I'm wondering if a music box can be rigged to do that in some way?
There is also two uses of a switchblade.
1st gets thrown and sticks out of a door frame.
2nd comes out of a handle that looks like a white doll. I have a plastic Holy Virgin figurine to experiment with. I also have a prop switchblade to work with. I'm just wondering how to put the two together. My skills lie in duct tape, electric tape and hot glue.
 If only all props and sets were put together with this I would be very successful. As always, I appreciate the many ideas here. ------------- chel www.windhamtheaterguild.org |
Replies:
Posted By: spikesgirl
Date Posted: 12/01/08 at 8:13am
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We did this show and renting the knife froma company. If you'd like, I'd be happy to get the name for you. The knife had, quite frankly, seen better days, but it did survive the run of our show.
The doll with the music box - we used just a regular rag doll (it had to be rigged with the drugs as well) and then just did a sound cue for the music box. It was the only way we could be 100% sure it would always work at the right moment.
The throw was achieved by a fast blackout- which is when the woman hits the last breaker and plunges the apartment into darkness. She then says, "I have your knife, Mr. Roat." So the audience sees the throw (which never happens) and just assumes the knife was aimed at her. It was an easy solution as opposed to trying to rig something that would be dependable every night without having a stage hand back there sticking it out at the right moment.
Good luck, it was an interesting show - I wish the audiences had been larger.
Charlie
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Posted By: chel
Date Posted: 12/01/08 at 1:53pm
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We rarely do anything that's not comedy...so I'm hoping for a good turn out just for the newness factor.
I'd love the name of the company that had the knife. There are instructions for building one but this might be a simpler way to do it.
Sound cue for the music box...do you mean someone played a piano on cue, or was it pre-recorded and came from the booth? Did the music sound unconvincing or was the audience pleased? ------------- chel www.windhamtheaterguild.org |
Posted By: spikesgirl
Date Posted: 12/04/08 at 9:22am
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Chel
We did a prerecorded music box cue, played it from the booth and it worked and sounded great. A music box playing on stage wouldn;t have been audible to our audience in the back row. I'm not sure how big your theater is - we seat about 300 - and using a preredcorded sound cue was exactly what we needed. Plus we knew it would also be dependable, on time and quiet the rest of the show. We just used our regular speakers for it. Wait until you have to find the 'hum' for the refrigerator. We ended up recording one of our backstage water coolers for that.
I will ask the shop foreman for the name of the company, he found the knife on google, so you might want to try that until I can get back to you. I am the prop artisian at our theater and can quite understand the 'time is money' concept when waiting for a prop.
I hope the show does well for you - it was our lowest gross from last season, but we make our money on musicals and can afford a low attendance play during the season.
Charlie
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Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 12/04/08 at 2:05pm
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For the knife-throwing effect, some simple hardware and sleight-of-hand is really all that's required.
Having not done the play myself, I can only assume the reason the knife sticks to a door frame is so the apparatus can be concealed on the hidden side of the door. (Upstage of the audience) You will also need 2 identical knives -- 1 for your actor to be "throwing" and the other to be the "sticking" knife, rigged to the doorframe apparatus. Cut half an inch or so off the blade of the "sticking' knife -- enough so it looks like it's embedded in the door (and not too much to look like your thrower has superhuman strength to sink a knife deep into solid wood). Purchase a stiff "Spring Hinge" from a hardware store. These hinges are designed to close a door by themselves. You might need to dig around to find the right size for your project. Attach your "sticking" knife to the hinge (welding is a good option, but wire, screws and super-glue might do the trick). The cut end of the blade should be closest to the pivot mechanism of the hinge. Mount the other side of the hinge to a wood block and then attach the block to the doorframe at the height and position that is most convincing to audience's view. When the hinge is closed, the knife handle should be parallel to the doorframe, pointing straight down to the floor. The whole thing should be hidden from view by careful positioning. Rig up a clamp, or a pin, or other quick-release mechanism to hold the hinge closed. On cue, your actor pretends to "throw" his knife with his upstage hand. A stagehand releases the clamp, freeing the spring hinge to snap the knife into place. NOTE; you will probably need to attach a separate "Stop Block" above the knife-hinge to keep the knife protruding at 90 degrees from the frame or prevent the hinge from opening its full 180 degrees. In reality, the actor NEVER throws the knife, but merely goes through the motion, palming the weapon in his upstage pocket. The audience will never see this because they will be distracted ( "misdirected" in magician parlance) by the sight and sound of the trick knife snapping into place. ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: chel
Date Posted: 12/04/08 at 4:45pm
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Brilliant. Thanks so much. :) ------------- chel www.windhamtheaterguild.org |
Posted By: spikesgirl
Date Posted: 12/04/08 at 4:52pm
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Chel: You can get Geraldine from "Weapons of Choice". Check on the website under knives. Charlie |
Posted By: chel
Date Posted: 2/20/09 at 2:15pm
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A follow up on what worked in case anyone finds this thread someday. Geraldine and the brass knuckles were molded from sculpy and Geraldine was attached to an existing prop switchblade. The brass knuckles didn't make a good heavy "clunk" sound when put down, but placed and slid across the table worked fine. The actor who played Carlino is a very large man and between price plus shipping, our solution worked much better. An excellent iPod was placed behind the settee on stage, it had great volume and sounded better than the booth recording.
The knife throwing effect was much the same as described, a "snap" mechanism through a hole covered with thin wrapping paper and painted over to match the set. It blended in unnoticeable.
The local paper referred to our effects of light and sound to plunge the audience into darkness as "high tech". That was great, as it was simply well-timed light switches, crash box and a fan backstage.
This is the last weekend and it has been a joy. ------------- chel www.windhamtheaterguild.org |