Noises Off.

I'm currently being pressured to do "Noises Off". As some of you know, the show requires that act I be done with a box and act II display the oppisite side of the set. We don't have a revolve...Is putting the thing on wagons my only option? Have any of you seen any really cleaver way of getting around this set issue?

 

We did the show last year without a revolve. The set was comprised of three pieces, two main ones built out of scaffolding and a stair unit. the scaffolding was on wheels and screwed together in the middle. For the switch, the two main pieces were detached and flipped around (much like the game Rush Hour). the swap took about 5 min with an untrained crew, so if you have people who know what they are doing you should be all set. We were able to get the scaffolding off craigs list really cheap too. I have some picts of the set if you are interested.

 

I am currently the stage manager for a college production of "Noises Off". We just opened this weekend. Here is how my set works. We have a main unit that consists of the upstairs and the down stairs. then we have three sets of stairs that come off of the main unit. Two stairs for backstage and then one for the front(act 1 and 3).Everything is on casters. The stairs come off the main unit rotates around and then you move the stairs to the respective locations, attach them and you are good to go. If you have any more questions, just let me know.

 

I've seen it done where the set breaks up into three sections and each section spins. It's easier to manage, plus your space doesn't have to be as deep as it is wide like in a standard revolve.

But yes, wagons are really the way to go...unless you wanted to just set up flats, or fly in a drop for the 2nd act, but I think part of the comedy is seeing the set rotate and being able to see the show going on through the windows/doors.

Good luck!

-Chris

 

we did this show my junior year; the whole thing wa one unit. we have about twelve decks on casters we use for everything, so we just built the whole set on that. bring in curtain, fly out legs, give it a spin, ur set.

here's a link

http://www.theatre.vt.edu/Design/cathybowren/noises.shtml

 

We did this in a REALLY small stage in Community Theater in College...I was the TD...just about drove me over the edge!....so our set was made up of hardcovered flats attatched to each other with loose pin hinges...our "second level" which was about two feet high with one step down ROFL was a set of platforms attatched with coffin locks. During intermission we pulled the pins, took every flat off stage and went back on in reverse order. Just goes to show it can be done anywhere!
It worked really well the first two weeks and then as more wear and tear started happening....you started hearing power tools during intermission.
What a blast!

 

Hi tdbatman I looked around but I couldn't find your intro post on the new members thread. Maybe you haven't done one. If not please post on there and tell us all about yourself. We really are interested (well some of us are, Van is grumpy and Gafftaper and Chris15 are involved in the great metric war).
So say Hi and if you have a website lets do show and tell.

 

I'm on the board...just gotta go back to January

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4431

Anyway, I dropped out of sight because i was doing Beauty and The Beast, Wizard of Oz and Honk! overlapping in two different theaters...and teaching Art at Elementary School....been a busy year.
Starting two more shows right now so I might be reading more than posting...but thanks for the friendly hello.
Alas...no website besides Myspace where I have some of my favorite set pieces/masks/costumes that i've made. Maybe sometime this century I'll get to make a website...probably not