"Break-away" chair

[Van]

I've got a fun and interesting challenge. So far I haven't come up with a good solution. In our current production an Actor need to sit in a chair and have it 'break' under him. He first picks it up by the back < It's a kids sized sort of ladder-back kind of chair> set's it down then dramatically sits, whereupon the chair falls aprt beneath him The original setup I designed didn't account for him picking it up < we didn't get that note> the second design, I was told, "Worked brilliantly" 'course it also destroyed one of the legs and snapped on of the seat supports. So my question is:
Have you ever designed or built a chair that could fall apart nightly for a 6 week run ? My current method is buildingit like a real ladder back but using balsa wood dowels instead of hardwood dowels to hold it together. I'll let you all know how the run goes today, In the meantime let me know what you think.

 

[MarshallPope]

Would it be possible to use one or two loose-pin hinges at strategic points that could be subtly removed? Or if it isn't too heavy, I would probably try to use matching or painted gaff to hold the chair together. If used at the right locations, it should be able to hold the weight of the chair itself.

 

[GBtimex]

My first question is how much does it have to break apart?

Could you just have the front legs break?
Do all of the legs need to break?
Do you want the guy to fall forward or backward or to the side?

I am imagining a set up where you have a pin set into a leg somewhere that makes it strait. When you want the guy to fall you pull the pin and the leg either hinges in or out or the leg itself collapses in. you could do this with a pressure switch, a pin pull or some string depending on how you design it.

This may not work at all but if you could give us a pic, maybe we could think of some better ideas.

This is an interesting challenge and I hope it goes well for you. Please show us the final result and how it worked!

All the Best,

GBTimex

 

[TheatrePros]

I have done it before by starting from scratch with the chair carpentry and just put it together with no glue. You can leave the joints loose, or undersize a few pieces so they never get tight. The trick is having extra pieces for when they break, because they will.

 

[erichart]

I've used the dowel method before and it usually works pretty well. A number of other prop masters have had great success using rare earth magnets in the joints as well. The advantage is that you don't have to change out the broken dowel after every show. Of course, breaking an actual dowel gives you that nice sound effect. You want to countersink the magnets into the wood of the chair, and it helps to put two magnets side by side to keep the pieces from rotating in place.