Seek advice: Stopper a set without touching it!?

[sp010123]

I am doing a production about a gay man's life and death of his innocence. In the last scene, the gay man's lover will push a bed with rope lights inside to the stage from the rear, and the gay man and his lover would leap onto it and have sex.

The problem here is, the bed is on wheels so it's not stable but the director want neither ASMs or the lover who push the bed out to lock the stoppers at the back of the bed, as the rope lights will be on and people will see the action...can anyone please advise on how to make the bed stand firm automatically after the lover push it to the stage?

P.S. To turn on the rope lights, there're cables extending from the back of the bed.

Thanks in advance!

 

[n1ist]

What about the pneumatics Footer used in http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/scenery/13955-who-says-only-god-can-make-tree.html ?

 

[Chris15]

You might be able to do it with sprung castors, so that when weight is applied, the springs compress and the bed sits on feet. You might however run into issues with getting the bed to lock as they leap onto it, it might slide as they leap...

Footer's version would be better, but more pricey...

 

[cprted]

I'm a big fan pneumatic appliances.

 

[Footer]

Whats the budget.... Under a hundred? More then a thousand?

 

[sp010123]

Thanks guys...I am sorry to say Footer's option is a bit out of our budget..we only have like approx $50 for it...but we have connections so we might try borrowing sprung castors from our fellow techies.

 

[seanandkate]

Could you lose the wheels on the end of the bed (or jam them somehow so they don't move) so the bed has two legs that role and two legs that are rock solid. Then the actor could lift the end of the bed to push it on, and when he sets it down it shouldn't move. Unless it's a great flying leap that he's taking when he jumps on it. I know my wife discourages that sort of thing . . .

 

[Footer]

Depending on your deck, furniture sliders might work. You would be amazed what a good piece of Teflon will do.

 

[Van]

It seems odd that if the guy is there, pushing the bed on, anyway that he can't take a second to drop a pin. You could add a levered caster plate under the bed so all the guy had to do was kick the lever out of it's retainer to drop the bed off it's wheels.He could do that in the time it took to turn around.

 

[BrianWolfe]

Can you attach two lengths of aircraft cable to the upstage side of the bed which are anchored upstage with only enough purchase to stop the bed when it reaches its spike?

 

[NickJones]

A simple answer is to have a crew member hide on the side of it so as not seen by the audience, and then push it out and stop it, we had a couch in my last show, that needed to be moved on and of very quickly, and so it got pushed out by a guy hiding behind it, and in the blackout, he jumped up and ran with the couch offstage. This would give you the gentle stop, rather than the hard brake given by those casters that stop turning when weight is put on them, and if you used them you would have to include the weight of the bed, otherwise it wouldn't move at all.
Nick

 

[sp010123]

A simple answer is to have a crew member hide on the side of it so as not seen by the audience

Coz the bed is not very big and we r doing the show ina very small studio theatre...that cannot be done but thanks : ) I once made a fax machine out of paper box and let a kid hide so he can push the fax out : ) and the fax machine mysteriously move during scene change lol

Eventually we tried the sprung castors...they worked well : ) Thanks everyone! (BTW we sold out tickets for all 5 shows lol)

 

[Dionysus]

KISS: Keep it simple, stupid...

I've used the following simple device to great effect....

An rather unfortunate techie is under the bed and drops the breaks without ever being seen!!! Just make sure the techie is not crushed when the gay lovers jump onto the bed.... that would be... unfortunate.

Just make sure there is enough room down there, and access to the breaks, and yeehaw.

If you want to make it big enough for the techie to move it as well that would be even more 'special'.

 

[tjrobb]

Slightly o/t, but the 'under-bed' trick reminds me of the tech that got stuck under an oversized roll of quarters during 42nd St. He was then deafened by the actor tap-dancing above him. Darn light cue was called too early for him to clear the stage, so he dove under.
/end ot