Rain effects

[Guest NDcollage]

I am enquiring as to whether it is possible to hire a machine to create rain on stage, how much, where from and mainly how big are they? Has anyone had any experience using something like this in their theatre? x x x

[MarkPAman]

Have a look at the Singing in the Rain thread.

[Seano]

I am enquiring as to whether it is possible to hire a machine to create rain on stage, how much, where from and mainly how big are they? Has anyone had any experience using something like this in their theatre? x x x

 

What kind of rain? Projection? Real water? How long do you need it to go on for? What kind of intensity (on a 1-10 scale from drizzle to monsoon)?

[gareth]

We've just finished the run of a production which contained a 'live' rain effect. The effect ran for the last few minutes of the show, and looked (and sounded!) rather good. BUT ... it was a to achieve.

 

The equipment consisted of a large feed tank, a powerful pump, a system of valves and feed hoses to direct the flow of water to any combination of the three 'rain bars' that hung over the stage, and the bars themselves. The bars are configurable to give either a very fine spray or a much coarser 'downpour' sort of effect (the designer selected the spray option for this particular show - personally, I prefer the heavier effect). Each bar also has a system of solenoid-operated valves at the feed end to control the flow - for the rain to happen, the "feed" valve opens and the "drain" valve closes. At the end of the run period, the water flow is shut off, the "feed" valve closed and the "drain" valve opened - this allows any remaining water in the system to drain safely off into a suitable receptacle, therefore avoiding excess water dripping from the rain heads long after the effect has finished.

 

Drainage is of course an issue - no matter what precautions you take, there's inevitably going to end up being some leakage somewhere along the line. You also have to factor in the problem of getting rid of the water that's dropped onto the stage (there's going to be a few new hardboard panels required on our stage floor after this show!).

 

I have no idea what this kind of kit would cost to hire (we own all the gear mentioned above), but I think the bulk of the cost of such an effect would come from the time required to set it up correctly and the tech rehearsal time required to get it looking right.

[Seano]

A much simpler 'rain' effect, from a production of Romeo and Juliet (the ballet) I worked on some years ago. I'm sure I've posted this here before.

 

At the end of Act1, as Juliet is weeping over the body of Tybalt, the heavens open and there's a sudden downpour as the tabs close. Its very heavy rain, but just for a few seconds.

 

It was done with rice (dry, obviously) in a traditional snowbag. It looks great falling, bounces (off the floor and the cast) in a very convincing way, and as a bonus also sounds great as it hits the stage. The downside is that you can only have a few seconds at the end of the act, as you get through lots of it and it needs sweeping up straight away. (Can be swept up and recycled several times, like 'snow'.)

 

Sean

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