OCT
6

Fire Up Your Next Production

Simulating Fire Onstage 

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. 

Fire on stage — whether it’s the glow from a candle, the raging of a building engulfed in flame, the embers of a dying campfire, or the warmth of a fireplace in a manor — contributes greatly to the ambiance of a production.  Even when the script does not expressly call for it, simulating fire on stage can enhance the theater-going experience by providing a bit of realism to a scene.

A Note on Real Fire

Resist the urge to use real fire on stage.  To state the obvious, real fire is hot, and real fire is dangerous.  Chances are the fire codes at your venue won’t allow it anyway.  While it’s true that the judicious, controlled use of real fire can be appropriate sometimes, extreme caution is necessary, even for the smallest spark.  If all the fire you need is a flash of flame and some smoke, a flash pot is in order.  (How to make a flash pot will be the subject of a future article.)  If you’re doing a stage production of Dante’s Inferno, real flame is not recommended.  It’s always better to create the illusion of fire than to produce the real thing.

Open Flame

The classic way to simulate open flame is to use strips of orange, yellow, and red silk or tissue paper, a colored light source, and a fan.  Secure the ends of the silk or tissue paper to the logs.  Hide colored lights beneath the logs, and place the fan beneath the whole.  Turn on the lights and fan, and the silk or tissue strips should waft upwards, creating a simulation of an open fire.  Experiment with the size and shape of the silk or tissue pieces to achieve the best effect for the size of fire you have.  If you use silk, some of the pieces can also be cut into a conical or cylindrical shapes for a nice 3-D effect.

Embers

A dying fire in a campfire or fireplace can be simulated with painted logs, colored lights, and a flickering circuit.  One method of making the logs is with a thin material (such as butter muslin, a fine cheesecloth) over a wire frame.  Paint the material to simulate logs — experiment with the amount of material and paint to achieve the right look, still allowing spaces for light to shine through.  Beneath the logs place yellow, red, and orange lights.  Colored cellophane can be used to fill in the gaps between logs, if desired.  For the flickering circuit, wire a fluorescent starter (FS-2 or FS-5) into one or more of the lights in series.  (Note:  The fluorescent starter cannot be used effectively with battery power or on a dimmer.)

Another method of making the logs is to paint clear plastic rolls (such as fluorescent tube protectors) to appear as logs.  When the paint is dry, scrape/chip away enough of it to allow some light to shine through.  Light the logs as detailed above.

Candles, Lanterns, and Torches

The simplest way to simulate a candle on stage is by using a flicker bulb or a non-flickering, painted bulb.  Lanterns can be modified to contain a battery-powered bulb and batteries.  Torches can be made simply by starting with a cardboard or papier-mâché torch handle.  Inside the handle place a light source, battery-powered or wired, depending on whether your torch is to be hand-held or mounted.  To create the flames, a cone of silk above a small fan can be attached to the upper part of the torch.  A fan-less torch can be created by using crumpled yellow and red cellophane instead of silk.

Offstage Fires

Creating the appearance of an offstage fire is done through lighting.  Changing the color of a backdrop seen through a window or doorway is effective, especially when a flickering effect is added.  Flickers can be produced with fluorescent starters, explained above, or with a rotating gobo.

Where There’s Smoke...

Depending on the proximity of the offstage fire, smoke may also be a factor in a scene.  There is a variety of commercially available smoke machines to choose from.  If you opt to use dry ice instead, remember that dry ice “smoke” sinks rather than rises.

As you choose your Pioneer Drama scripts for the upcoming season, consider heating things up with a little simulated fire.  Break a leg, and be safe!