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Real Grass vs Fake Grass


jamesegcarey

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We are putting on a production of "Spring Awakening" and as much of the play takes place in a forest we are using real turf/grass on the stage.

Has any one else attempted this?

I know that a recent production of "All My Sons" in the West End is doing something similar.

I have attached two links to photos to show how I am getting on with it.

 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?f...99647.506510801

 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?f...mp;id=506510801

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Many people have attempted this with success in the past. I personally recall working on a production of an opera called The Knot Garden at the Royal College of Music in the early 1990s which featured real flowerbeds and turf lawns. More recently a production of Twelfth Night at Unicorn Theatre was set in-the-round, with audience sitting around an ornamental pond in the middle of a lawn (real water, real grass, reall wildflowers and (so I believe) a real pain for the technical staff, who of course just got on with their job with a minimum of fuss (!). I'm sure there will be many people on the BR forums who have similar experiences.

 

some points to bear in mind:

 

the real stuff needs light and fresh air (and water - but not too much) to survive. grow lights can be useful, but daylight is best.

 

and however much care you take, be prepared to replace the living plants when they die. The Knot Garden was a student production (with professional direction, design and technical support) and had a short run of two weeks, and despite watering, using growlights and keeping the dock doors open whenever possible, all the grass and plants needed to be replaced at the end of the first week.

 

the basic cost of the turf can be pretty cheap, which is appealing, but there may be running / replacement costs. I was coincidently chatting to a friend in the pub last night who has a show with a garden set coming up, it's a longish run, and he's decided to go for astroturf this time, at about £12 per square metre, I think he said, but of course once you've installed it there are no real maintenance costs. however I'd say astroturf only really suits if you are re-creating a fairly well cared-for lawn, not so good for lush pasture / long grass, although there is some extremely realistic fake grass available now.

 

If you might allow me a "subjective" comment on the idea of using grass, I saw a production of Spring Awakening (admittedly many years ago when I was at school), and recollect quite a lot of interior scenes as well as the forest, so it can be good to consider the balance of "practicality" versus "design concept" .... and think about whether the interior scenes are going to have to be played on a grass "carpet".

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Considering the range of fake grass you can get and of course astro turf, I think using real turf is just more problamatic than its worth - as mentioned, a run of up to a week I guess is ok, but any longer than that and its best to go fake!!

 

The one quality I do love about using real turf if possible is not so much what it looks like - but the SMELL ! It really is like bringing a fresh summers day into the theatre! :-)

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Andy speaks from experience as I can confirm. One set designer demanded "real" trees which had to be rotated so that after each rehearsal and performance half of them were taken outdoors until just before the next evenings show. From an audience PoV this worked but after two weeks there were signs of them becoming 'distressed' It is also going to be difficult to get meadow turf with long grass especially at this time of year.

 

If you do use turf then some form of palletisation to maintain shape would be needed which could help in carrying it out for 'airing'. However I would go for astroturf because of the difficulties with wear and tear and secure footing for the actors. Outdoor events guys will tell you that nothing damages grass more or quicker than human footfall.

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One problem with astroturf is that it isn't fire resistant.

I have had lengthy discussions with (Australian) manufacturers about this and their position is that it is primarily designed for outdoor use. As a result they aren't really interested in looking at fire retardant versions, certainly not for the small amount your average production requires.

And as the stuff is made from purely synthetic fibres, treatment is very difficult.

 

If someone knows or finds a solution, please let me know.

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We used raffia matting which we then painted (with a dye if I remember correctly). Looked great.

The lovely thing was that it tended to wear more where it was walked on during the run leaving quite natural looking paths.

 

Astro turf can look a bit even.

 

T

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Depending on your budget, you could give Palmbrokers a call. They specialise in greenery for film/TV, and may be able to give advice if nothing else. If you've seen the kids TV show Waybuloo, that set was their handiwork.

 

It also depends if you JUST want grass, or foliage etc too.

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One problem with astroturf is that it isn't fire resistant.

I have had lengthy discussions with (Australian) manufacturers about this and their position is that it is primarily designed for outdoor use. As a result they aren't really interested in looking at fire retardant versions, certainly not for the small amount your average production requires.

And as the stuff is made from purely synthetic fibres, treatment is very difficult.

 

If someone knows or finds a solution, please let me know.

 

This may not be much use to you in Australia, but this company Evergreens UK is pretty big in the field (pardon the pun) over here in Pomland:

 

One company that’s gone a step further is Coca-Cola, which brought in Evergreens UK to install a promotional football pitch at the headquarters of Coca-Cola (GB & Ireland) Ltd in Hammersmith, London.

Produced using fire-retardant artificial grass, the 700 square metre promotional pitch was installed in just 10 hours last Friday night, to avoid interfering with business hours - just in time for World Cup fever to hit this week!

 

I agree about the smell - impossible to recreate any other way, and it's very evocative.

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I agree about the smell - impossible to recreate any other way, and it's very evocative.

I once constructed a load of turfed features in a circus tent in the middle of a field for a 2 week run. To build the various levels I was provided with a load of additional soil which had come from a farm complete with potatoes. After two weeks under canvas in summer with a daily watering to keep the grass alive the smell could best be described as 'interesting'.

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Having toured a small production around East Anglia over a 3 month period (May-July, iirc) with only a 2m x 2m section of meadow grasses/plants/flowers, I can confirm that it is a nightmare to ensure it stays in good condition! This was toured through many different venues including a school, village hall and a church.

 

The show was then taken over by a theatre company who I also did a tour of the production with, but this time in proper theatres. With only myself, the actor, director and whoever else we could get to help us, meant that it was actually quite tricky to ensure the correct plants/grasses/flowers for that time period of the play and also of when the play was performed. This second run was Sep-Nov I think, which was much more difficult.

 

Any questions though, feel free to PM me. Good luck with it all though :up:

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Having toured a small production around East Anglia over a 3 month period (May-July, iirc) with only a 2m x 2m section of meadow grasses/plants/flowers, I can confirm that it is a nightmare to ensure it stays in good condition! This was toured through many different venues including a school, village hall and a church.

 

The show was then taken over by a theatre company who I also did a tour of the production with, but this time in proper theatres. With only myself, the actor, director and whoever else we could get to help us, meant that it was actually quite tricky to ensure the correct plants/grasses/flowers for that time period of the play and also of when the play was performed. This second run was Sep-Nov I think, which was much more difficult.

 

Any questions though, feel free to PM me. Good luck with it all though :up:

 

I am in the middle preparing a tour of a show with similar needs though a slightly bigger area is required. Was your grass / meadow layed flat or in a hill / mound shape. If it was a mound how was it created a s this is the look I need to achieve. Thanks

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Hi poteen, et al,

 

Ours was an odd-shaped wooden box structure that we used large trays to keep the grasses in, all on the flat I'm afraid. One thing I would advise is breaking it down into smaller sections, that fit together like a jigsaw. The sheer weight of earth + grasses/plants really does add up, so by keeping it small makes it easier to manage in a few different logistical ways. And also, if you think of classic 80s video games where you see the polygons making up the shape, the more of them and the smaller they are, the better the shape - this may help with creating a mound effect.

 

Oh, and before I forget, we used some fake grass (long version of astroturf, I think, was spare in our cupboards!) to cover over all the joins where trays were next to each other. Considering we were sometimes in traverse style, people were sometimes sat about 2m from the set and no-one realised how it was all constructed.

 

Hope that helps, but send me a PM if you want more information.

 

Thanks :up:

 

Also, well done james for going for the real thing! Bet it was worth the hard work in the end ;)

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