Cello that plays itself

[phillo79]

Hi guys, we're doing a production of witches of eastwick in march and need to build a cello that playas itself, it doesn't have to make noise just need the bow to move faster and faster etc. any helpful ideas would be appreciated

[pjb304]

When we did Witches of Eastwick we went for the very simple option: a bloke in full blacks... Admittedly in our set it was behind a gauze and the cello was very tightly lit which would have helped.

[Wol]

Yeah, last time I did it, we just had a guy in bla.... oh yeah , it was the same production as pjb304's ;-)

[cedd]

We're probably doing this next year. Sounds like a nice new challenge! :-)

[WiLL]

go with the gauze and man in black (a full black morphsuit would only cost about £25 :P ). Any animatronics you can devise for a mechanical alternative would be complex, expensive and probably result in a jerky look.

As an aside a cello will make a noise even if bowed inexpertly so if you do go down the animatronic route, make sure the bow doesn;t actually touch the strings.

[GridGirl]

As an aside a cello will make a noise even if bowed inexpertly so if you do go down the animatronic route, make sure the bow doesn;t actually touch the strings.

 

Not if there's no rosin on the bow's hairs - when I did A Little Night Music, where one of the actors mimes playing a cello while the part is played from the pit, we got an old bow from somewhere and cleaned the hairs on it very very thoroughly with meths and an old toothbrush to remove all the rosin. The hairs just slide right over the string then and you don't get a sound. Other option is to buy a new (cheap) bow and don't put any rosin on it - they don't usually arrive already rosined up.