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Creaton Cement Dust


Cjack0151

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Hi. Hope this is in the right place. I am a vunteer at my local amateur theatre and looking for advice.

We have a, scene where a seated actor kicks a bucket of wet cement which covers three other standing actors. The stage will need to be cleared very quickly. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can create this please? TIA.

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2 identical floorcloths. The one that is removable is obviously smaller than the one underneath and contains the mess, removed quickly.Practice a few times dry and consider folding the edges inwards first.

Depends on stage height and sight lines as many am-drams don't have raked seating so they may not see a sheet of polythene

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Are you asking about how to clear up or how to make the wet cement?

 

For the wet cement flour and water would probably do it, real wet cement is a very pale grey colour.

 

I would think that getting it to splash on the actors effectively from a kicked bucket would be the most difficult thing to accomplish.

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We have a, scene where a seated actor kicks a bucket of wet cement which covers three other standing actors.

 

In real life wet cement is very heavy. Kick a bucket of it and it will not cover people standing nearby. What will happen is that you will beak your foot.

 

Wet cement weighs 2.4kg/ltr. A builder's bucket holds 14 ltrs. 2.4 x 14 = 33.6kg. Kick something weighing 33.6kg and you will break your foot.

 

Time for a script rewrite I think.

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We have a, scene where a seated actor kicks a bucket of wet cement which covers three other standing actors.

 

In real life wet cement is very heavy. Kick a bucket of it and it will not cover people standing nearby. What will happen is that you will beak your foot.

 

Wet cement weighs 2.4kg/ltr. A builder's bucket holds 14 ltrs. 2.4 x 14 = 33.6kg. Kick something weighing 33.6kg and you will break your foot.

 

Time for a script rewrite I think.

 

what, theatre and real life in the same universe? :o

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Wet cement is also alkaline and burns the skin. Not really an issue on a builders thick skinned hands, but get it in the eyes or on delicate skin and you are going to be in real difficulty. Not sure if plaster is the same, but as you are effectively throwing it in an uncontrolled manner at people, you need to ensure whatever you use is completely harmless to the target soft prop. ;)

 

Suggest you look for slapstick custard pie mix or similar and colour it.

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What looks quite like concrete and is much easier to deal with is a brown rice and water mix - with cold water, you have quite a while before the rice goes soft and gooey - so add the right water and you can splat it around. From more than 10ft or so it's not obvious it's rice. It's also pretty cheap!
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Does this not need the old reverse spread cheat where the actor getting covered actually has the substance in their hand, bucket kicked and actor covers themselves during the reaction to it?

 

A good friend Billy Clark showed this old trick when a seagull had to poop on someone when filming Supergran for ITV in the 80's.

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<br />Presumably it doesn't have to be a full bucket...<br />A more realistic scenario would be a plasterer with a bucket full of plaster. They would be able to cover the entire theatre in it in no time at all.quote]

 

And probably have several times, over the years. :):)

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