Pop open a bottle every night!

[gafftaper]

The director wants the actors on stage to pop open a bottle of wine every night. Suggestions? I was thinking some sort of carbonated fruit drink, cork the bottle, shake to pressurize.

It's a big space so the audience will never be able to see the bubbles in the drink. We just want the sound.

Thoughts?

[gafftapegreenia]

Make it a sound cue! Record the sound of an actual bottle popping (or find one - recorded will probably sound better) and then use that.

[Dionysus]

Unless you want to go with a sound cue....

A bottle of "Champnaide" (Spelling?) from the grocery store (Sparkling Wine?)... Essentially a non-alchaholic champagne-like beverage. Even comes in the same bottles as the real stuff!!

Often used for dinner when the grown ups want the real thing, so that you have something to give the kids!

There used to be a tradition at Theatre Sheridan of opening champagne after the closing night show for every show. They tried to see how far/high the cork would go indoors sometimes. Anyways they switched to this non-alcoholic substitute, much to the dismay to many.
(and yes, there is a liquor licence in the theatre).

Oh well. This may indeed work... And if your micing the actors/stage you can pickup the cork too.

[gafftaper]

Three problems:

They are drinking wine... the cork doesn't need to explode out... just have a decent pop and wine doesn't sound the same recorked.

Secondly, at least here in the states, non-alcoholic drinks seem to all have bottle caps and I need a cork.

We are doing this at the big proscenium theater down the street and the sound system can't do a localized sound effects cue. It would have to be over the house speakers which isn't acceptable.

[cprted]

No budget for a bottle of cheap wine for every show?

[Brandofhawk]

why not try a cd player (a little portable plug in to the wall) offstage the closest side. That way you've got the sound effect on a cd ready to go all you have to do is push play! (and hope your technician doens't forget)

[Footer]

Does a corkscrew have to be used to pull the cork? If you do, this could still work, it would just take a bit of prop magic to pull off.



I have one of these things and they do give the "pop" back to a bottle of wine. Corks never really re-seal all the way.

[thommyboy]

I have found that most of the less expensive wines these days come with a synthetic/rubber-plastic cork. You could always replace the wine with the appropriate grape juice and shove the cork back in. The cork will be able to be put back in because it does not expand like an actual cork.

[jwl868]

It might take some trial and error, but if you add some hot water to the bottle before recorking it, it will create a little bit of a vacuum as it cools. If the cork hasn't been pierced through, it should hold the vacuum.

I also suspect that the speed that the cork is pulled out will make a difference. A cork-screw with the mechanical arms might be too slow, but a traditional "T" shaped corkscrew (plus brute strength) may make for a better effect. I'm not a fan of the bladed type, but I digress.


Joe

[derekleffew]

Buy your director a bottle of inexpensive wine. Have him open it and attempt to make to loudest pop possible. Then explain to him that in a large proscenium theatre, the sound will never be heard. Does he want to spend the money to mic the bottle?

Theatre is not film or television, we don't use foley artists (except for gunshots and other cases where the risks in using the actual item to produce the sound outweigh the benefits).