Actor entrance - break through timber panel

[Belfast PM]

Hello everyone

 

I wonder if anybody could help me with a set related question please? I'm production managing a small tour in a couple of months, and the challenge with the set is one that we faced before (we've done the show already earlier in the year) but was never solved in a satisfactory way. It's such a great moment in the production that I really feel it deserves a better solution, I just haven't found one yet, and could really use some expert help and brainstorming...

 

The set consists largely of timber panels; upright planks of 200mm width, varying in height up to 3.5m. A section of this conceals an entrance, through which an actor must burst through to make her surprise appearance, leaving the remains of the broken panels lying around her. From the outside (before the entrance) it must look like the rest of the panels, with as little as possible in the way of noticeable joins. When she breaks the panels it must look and sound realistic, so no tearing paper for example. It must also of course be reliable, and very very safe.

 

For the last run we had sacrificial panels made from 4mm ply, scored to bits on the back until they were barely able to hold them selves together in a light breeze. Because they were so delicate they had to be scored before each show and it took a good 20-30 mins. They then had to be screwed from the front, and of course in time this became more noticeable, along with the seams between real timber panels and the breakaway panels.

 

An ideal material I imagine would be balsa wood, but as ever the budget does not stretch that far! Though I am still searching for a supplier of large sheets at a price we could afford.

 

Has anyone any experience of such a thing? I'd love to hear how it went, the bad and the good! Any other suggestions will be gratefully received...

 

Many thanks

Jen

[richb]

Don't know if it would be a solution (never having worked with it before in the way you describe), but you can get ply down to .04mm (used for model making etc, but still available in 4'x4' sheets) from suppliers such as http://www.tottontimber.com/ ...may be worth trying to get hold of a sheet from a local supplier to do some tests with. Not particularly cheaper either though sadly, but seemed worth a mention in case you weren't aware that it existed.

 

HTH

 

Rich

[boatman]

In a production of Wyrd Sisters last year we made an exploding dungeon door by pre-cutting the door into about twenty pieces in a very random fashion. The door was painted in dark colours to look like the sort of grime you might expect to see in a dungeon and the joins were invisible even just a few feet away.

 

The only downside was that the pyro we planned to use, set off the fire alarm, and yes we did have two fire appliances at the main door during one of the rehearsals. So, the stage crew had to punch out the door and we used a lighting effect to cover it. It was still very convincing.

 

The door was reconstructed before each show in its frame lying on a board and tacked together on the back with short lengths of black electrical tape. Another board was laid on the reverse when it was complete and the whole thing raised upright. The boards were only removed once the door was in position on the set. Quite a tricky operation but the stage crew became very adept at handling it.

[paulears]

I was thinking similarly - instead of breaking the wood each time, how about a jigsaw of pre-cut wreckage. I did something similar years ago and we assembled it face down on the floor and wallpaperpasted thick wallpaper on the rear. When the glue set, it was rigid enough to be used vertically. The panel I used was smaller - it was a door panel and a battering ram came through each performance - but I can't see a problem with a bigger one.

[Belfast PM]

Thanks everyone...

 

The jigsaw approach is interesting... I admit that the previous incarnation of the show was site specific with the audience able to walk right up to the panel on the way to their seats, so it had to be convincing to look at. Whereas the tour is going into pros arch venues so the distance may help us. It is quite a mid-to-light stain on the timber though sadly, rather than anything dark enough to definitely conceal the joins, but it's definitely worth pursuing.

 

Perhaps with some smaller (and therefore cheaper) sections of the thinner ply fixed over the joins at the back we could get a really nice timber cracking sound... :)

[Malcolm Gordon]

To create a kitchen hatch that the actor could dive through in No "S*x Please We're British", we covered a blank frame with polystyrene "veneer". This is very thin foam, about 2mm thick, intended to go under wallpaper to provide insulation. Obtainable by the roll from builders' merchants. It's fire retardant. It might be possible to glue your prepared slats to this, or perhaps two layers for added strength, but use a water-based glue.

[boatman]

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It is quite a mid-to-light stain on the timber though sadly, rather than anything dark enough to definitely conceal the joins, but it's definitely worth pursuing.

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Could you paint the timber with a woodgrain effect? That would give you some lines to cut along and the joins wouldn't show nearly as much.