Guillotine - A Tale of Two Cities

[VCTMike]

Ok, new show getting together. A Tale of Two Cities (the musical). Script calls for a guillotine used three times in succession for the final scene. Anyone built a SAFE one? Suggestions? Not sure if it has to be completely visible on stage yet or if we can use shadows of light shown through it (could be a neat effect without actually seeing it).

[Rainmaker]

I wasn't directly involved in the building of it, but when I worked on a show requiring one, the blade was lauan and it slid inside a track that had a stop inside the rails so that the blade could only fall so far. It worked because we hit a blackout as soon as the blade fell. If you need to see it "connect" with the neck and do a fake head switchout then I'm sure someone else would have a more elegant solution.

[ruinexplorer]

I'm thinking that the blade often has a large headblock (I assume for weight) and would provide space for the blade to retract as fake knives retract into their handle. In the brace for the victim's neck, there would be a positive stop so that when the "blade" hit the stop, that would be the catalyst for retracting into the headblock. You could even have a break-away bottom to have the actor's head drop into a bucket. The stop for the blade could also have a blood packet to stain the blade when you lift it back up.

As always, make sure to test it properly before every performance to prevent injury.

EDIT: you can buy ready made plans for a magician style guillotine here.

ALSO: here's a patent for the magician's guillotine with pretty detailed drawings.