Stuart R
Member
Hello all - We're doing Willy Wonka and are trying to come up with cool ways for two characters - Veruca Salt and Mike Teevee - to exit the stage.
Those familiar with the story/movies will recall that Veruca, the spoiled brat who sings "I Want It NOW," does so in the "Nut Room," where workers place giant nuts on a sort of inspection platform to see if they're good enough for Wonka products. They fall down a hopper, and then the machine's display displays either "GOOD" or "BAD." Veruca, in her bid for attention, stands on the platform for the last note of her song, then goes down the chute (voice echoing as she falls), after which the machine displays "BAD." The challenge: how to handle Veruca's exit.
Ideally, she'd stand on a trapdoor with two flaps, hinged on the sides. At the right moment, whatever hardware/supports are holding up the flaps would be withdraw, the flaps would swing down, and Veruca would disappear feet first into the platform. I'm just not sure how/if this can be done safely. Assuming we can come up with a solid mechanism for the trap door, how far can the actress fall and (let's say) land on her feet on a cushioned matt, bending into a squat as she lands? We could also have the trap opening on the front half of the platform, have it open *before* she's supposed to "fall," and have her simply jump into it when the time comes. Except that will look like she's purposefully jumping into it, and dramatically that's not supposed to happen - it's supposed to be a surprise.
Other ideas I've been thinking of include some kind of slide that seems to lead into the machine (how would she end up on her bottom on the slide?) or a 3' revolve that is bisected by a wall (it turns 180 degree, then turns back and she's gone) or have her sit in a chair that tips back (and she tumbles down a padded incline). The safest and most disappointingly unimaginative choice would be to have her stand on the platform, the machine says "BAD" and then Oompa-Loompas drag her off stage in the "bad" direction. Thoughts?
The other exit is by Mike Teevee, the kid obsessed with television. When Mike is told that the Wonkavision apparatus (a sort of giant camera) can transform any item into TV signals that can rush through the air and then be reassembled whole at the other end, he wants to try it on himself. He jumps onto the platform, presses the button, and "dissolves." The other characters watch the bits of information fly overhead and get reassembled on a TV screen on the other side of the stage. The first question is, how does he dissolve or disappear when he presses the button? Might it work to have him step behind a scrim panel (like he's in a chamber), lit so we can see him inside, and then when he presses the button, hit the front of the scrim with light including some kind of moving pattern from a moving light, while taking down the light behind the scrim as he steps out offstage. Then the lights restore and he is gone. Idea #2, a chamber with a false back. He steps in, zap, the door opens, and he's gone. (Too obvious.) Is there something we could do with a mirror? Any other ideas?
When Mike rematerializes, we'll either make the TV screen he appears on a sort of puppet stage, and use a little puppet mike, or play a prerecorded video of tiny Mike on an actual monitor.
Thanks for reading. Any ideas you might have for disappearing Veruca or Mike would be greatly appreciated.
Stu
Those familiar with the story/movies will recall that Veruca, the spoiled brat who sings "I Want It NOW," does so in the "Nut Room," where workers place giant nuts on a sort of inspection platform to see if they're good enough for Wonka products. They fall down a hopper, and then the machine's display displays either "GOOD" or "BAD." Veruca, in her bid for attention, stands on the platform for the last note of her song, then goes down the chute (voice echoing as she falls), after which the machine displays "BAD." The challenge: how to handle Veruca's exit.
Ideally, she'd stand on a trapdoor with two flaps, hinged on the sides. At the right moment, whatever hardware/supports are holding up the flaps would be withdraw, the flaps would swing down, and Veruca would disappear feet first into the platform. I'm just not sure how/if this can be done safely. Assuming we can come up with a solid mechanism for the trap door, how far can the actress fall and (let's say) land on her feet on a cushioned matt, bending into a squat as she lands? We could also have the trap opening on the front half of the platform, have it open *before* she's supposed to "fall," and have her simply jump into it when the time comes. Except that will look like she's purposefully jumping into it, and dramatically that's not supposed to happen - it's supposed to be a surprise.
Other ideas I've been thinking of include some kind of slide that seems to lead into the machine (how would she end up on her bottom on the slide?) or a 3' revolve that is bisected by a wall (it turns 180 degree, then turns back and she's gone) or have her sit in a chair that tips back (and she tumbles down a padded incline). The safest and most disappointingly unimaginative choice would be to have her stand on the platform, the machine says "BAD" and then Oompa-Loompas drag her off stage in the "bad" direction. Thoughts?
The other exit is by Mike Teevee, the kid obsessed with television. When Mike is told that the Wonkavision apparatus (a sort of giant camera) can transform any item into TV signals that can rush through the air and then be reassembled whole at the other end, he wants to try it on himself. He jumps onto the platform, presses the button, and "dissolves." The other characters watch the bits of information fly overhead and get reassembled on a TV screen on the other side of the stage. The first question is, how does he dissolve or disappear when he presses the button? Might it work to have him step behind a scrim panel (like he's in a chamber), lit so we can see him inside, and then when he presses the button, hit the front of the scrim with light including some kind of moving pattern from a moving light, while taking down the light behind the scrim as he steps out offstage. Then the lights restore and he is gone. Idea #2, a chamber with a false back. He steps in, zap, the door opens, and he's gone. (Too obvious.) Is there something we could do with a mirror? Any other ideas?
When Mike rematerializes, we'll either make the TV screen he appears on a sort of puppet stage, and use a little puppet mike, or play a prerecorded video of tiny Mike on an actual monitor.
Thanks for reading. Any ideas you might have for disappearing Veruca or Mike would be greatly appreciated.
Stu