A Few Questions ...

Hello!

So my plan is to Bonnie & Clyde in June and Matilda in July (my excitement is through the roof!) but there are a few things I can’t figure out.

Ideas on how to build the death car and non death car for B&C? My goal is for it not to look cheesy.

And how do you do the special effect of the chalk writing on the chalk board on its own for Matilda? I know it must have something to do with magnets, but I can’t figure it out. Also the glass tipping over on its own?

Thanks! At least I have time to figure these shows out, but I’m stumped with these set pieces.

Wow you will be busy. Love Matilda.

For the chalkboard, you could try taking one of those washer magnets on each side of a thin chalkboard, then attach a stick of chalk in the hole of the magnet. Then hide that inside of a large piece of sidewalk chalk like this. Someone behind the board can move the rear magnet to pull the chalk around and draw. I don't know if that's how it's professionally done, but it's simple and quick.

Just saw Matilda in London tonight, and I was watching the chalkboard effect closely. For the longest time I was certain they used projection. Finally confirmed from shadows that they didn't use projections. I wonder if it was something "like" an old invisible ink effect.

In any event, projections would be easiest, at least if you keep the chalkboard static and don't move it down and upstage like they do in the London production.

http://stage-directions.com/5215-magic-to-do.html Thats an article about the illusionist that Matilda hired.

I read somewhere once that the chalkboard is actually something like a piece of acrylic and the letters are already there and clear whereas the rest is black and treated like a chalkboard. The chalk was metal tipped and they just followed along with the magnet guiding them from the back as a light came up to glow the letters. BUT the article says it was a real chalkboard, so I don't know how accurate the other information was.

Certainly you could find a way to do it with a projector behind it like a RP screen.