JAN
26

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

Constructing a Mirror and Creating the Magic 

By Kevin Stone 

Kevin Stone has been writing and directing plays for over 20 years.  He has experience as an actor and as a director of community theatre, church plays, high school productions and touring collegiate groups.  Besides teaching drama classes, Kevin is the pastor of a church and the managing editor of a ministry website.  Kevin’s play After Hours won the Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest. 

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what director charms them all?”  The answer will be you, because your audience will love the stage magic created by this easy-to-make magic mirror.

Since real magic mirrors are in rather short supply and undoubtedly over-budget, it’s usually better to make your own, non-magic replica.  Fortunately, making your own magic mirror is easy and inexpensive, and your audience will never know the difference between the mirror of Snow White’s stepmother and the one you have hanging onstage.

What You’ll Need

roll of silver polyester film (1 mil)
wood and screws for the frame
staples
masking tape
aluminum tape

Reflective silver polyester film is often called by the brand name Mylar.  This film has a mirror-like quality on both sides, but it can be almost transparent when the lighting is right.  It can be purchased in rolls of various lengths, 48” wide.  When purchasing the silver film, get the thinnest possible, just 1 millimeter thick.

Constructing the Mirror

1. Make a wooden frame the desired size of your mirror, being careful to keep the frame less wide than the silver polyester film, which will be fastened on the outside of the frame.  To keep the outline of the frame from showing through the stretched film, bevel the edges of the frame.
2. Cut the silver Mylar to size.
3. Lay the Mylar flat on a clean, debris-free surface.  Lay the frame, beveled side down, on top of the Mylar.
4. Starting in the middle and pulling from both sides, pull the edges of the film up onto the frame.  Hold the film in place on the frame with masking tape.  Work around the entire frame, pulling out any ripples or wrinkles in the film. 
5. Once the film is taped to the frame, check again for ripples and smooth them out as necessary.  Then staple the film to the frame, using one staple about every four inches.  Finally, apply aluminum tape along the outside of the frame, covering all the staples and helping secure the film.

Creating the Magic

The silver Mylar is highly reflective and opaque when lit from the front.  However, when backlit, the Mylar acts as a scrim, revealing whatever is behind it.  For this reason, it is important to control the light falling on the back side of the mirror.  So here’s the big trick to the magic:  directly behind the mirror should be a light-tight compartment accessible from backstage.

The actor who will magically “appear” in the mirror waits in the darkened compartment.  At the moment of the “reveal,” the actor is illuminated brightly from behind the mirror.  (If necessary to enhance the effect, the lighting on the front side of the mirror can be dimmed simultaneously.)  From the audience’s perspective, what was once a mirror on the wall suddenly becomes a window.  The level of transparency can be controlled by adjusting the intensity of the light in front of and behind the mirror.  The polyester film acts like scrim, but it’s less expensive and there’s no need to paint it.

Other Considerations and Possibilities

Make sure the actor in the mirror is wired for sound.  Also, be careful of the placement of the mirror, as stage lights reflecting into the audience can leave some patrons seeing spots.

Rather than using silver polyester film, you might experiment with a sheet of hard plastic covered with mirrorized window tint or with scrim painted chrome or a reflective silver.  No matter what material you use in the frame, the magic in this effect is the light-tight compartment behind the mirror and the ability to adjust the light intensity both in front of and behind it.