Hi everyone. My name is Charlie and I'm from the University of Windsor, in Canada. I'm taking a stage management class and one of our projects is interviewing professional stage managers with a specific topic in mind, so responses would be immensely appreciated. So here it goes...

My topic is working with animals on stage. Has anyone worked with animals on stage? If so, how do the animals get chosen or "casted" in the first place? Once you have the animal, how is it taken cared of and who is in charge of taking care of the animal? Also, if you have any interesting stories or tips handling animals, that would be appreciated as well.

You can contact me at my email, thai@uwindsor.ca or you can reply to this thread. It is very possible that I have follow up questions.

Thank you again
Charlie Thai

Hi,

um ... wow.

Good luck hunting for info on this one I think.

Staying on topic, we had one show in last year that required a peacock to be brought on by a company member, dropped on the floor then left to its' own devices for the rest of the show.

Late november apparently (I now know) is not a good month for peacock plumage - even so we were able to hire one for a week. In fact we ended up with two, which were driven to the venue each day in a cage. The lass driving the car stayed by the cage until the performer came to pick up his charge and then me and her watched the peacock for the rest of the night - she would head onto stage once the performance was complete to return the bird to cage.

We've previously had (in different shows) alsations (brought in each day by owners);14 dogs of different breeds that came in a special trailer and had a dedicated area as part of the set; pigeons (stored in a cage until needed); and we will have horses for a show next year. I believe we are currently trying to find a local stable (in the centre of London!) that they can stay in during the day and they'll be delivered for the show.
I suspect that a couple of unlucky members of stage crew will be handed special mops and brooms for after the show ...

In terms of choosing, the animals for us has been picked mostly in terms of availability - but we haven't needed them to do any tricks, or have been supplied by the company using them.

Good luck and I'd be interested in your results

Cheers

TeeJay

I've worked on a show where we did this, where are you based as I could PM you the details if you are in the right part of town.

Casting an animal in a show is often used as a good source of marketing. Lots of free editorial goes into the local paper to say what show you're doing and what animal is required. This way (unless a "ringer" is sent in) can prove disastrous because the animals found like this aren't specifically trained for the stage and don't know what's expected of them. Usually they aim to please, but if they can't work out what you want them to do then they'll get bored and explore the set instead, possibly even feeling the need to leave their scent around.

When done properly, the producers will contact a specialist in stage and film animals who will provide something that has been trained in the type of thing you require. The handler who comes with the animal is responsible for the animal's welfare and, thus, can stop you doing anything at any time. If they feel the animal has been overused in last-minute rehearsals they can pull it from the show that evening.

I did a version of Wizard of Oz which used a trained Toto. The director decided that if he was paying a fortune for a dog then he wanted to use it more than just once at the beginning and once at the end. As all the other characters double up and can be found both in Kansas and in Oz he decided to do the same with Toto who was added as the Wicked Witch's sidekick. When Dorothy and the gang were brought to her for the first time the dog went and sniffed each of them in turn then returned to the Witch, as if to say "I've checked and they're no threat". This was achieved by each of the cast having a tiny piece of dog treat in their hand which they dangled behind their backs. After a few rehearsals the dog knew they had a treat on them and sniffed around to find it. As it sniffed their hand they would open it to allow the dog to eat the treat (behind their backs so the audience coudn't see) and the dog would move on to the next person. As they did this the witch would take a piece of treat out of her pocket (where it was in a plastic bag so the dog didn't smell it too soon) and the dog would return to her at the end. She stroked the dog when it returned ("good boy") and handed over the final piece of treat. When it worked it was very effective! Even with a trained dog it didn't work perfectly in every performance but it worked well enough to be worth doing.

We did similair in Wizard Of Oz, although Toto wasn't a stage dog. He was however very well trained and would do anything for food. The hardest part (and a big consideration) was keeping its' owners out of the way. It tended to want to go and say hello to them mid show - we even sat them in the furthest back part of the balcony on the night they came to watch (though one of them stayed backstage to look after the dog).

We did employ a "stunt double" in the form of a remote controlled stuffed dog (see my post in the props forum) which I built. It sat in Dorothy's basket and was capable of turning its' head and wagging its' tail! I had great fun making it "act" - shaking its' head when being chased by the baddies and it even got a look up Dorothy's skirt once when she sat it down infront of her.