OCT
7

Water, Water Everywhere!

how to bring showers, storms, and seas to the theater stage 

By Christina Hamlett 

Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is an award-winning author whose credits to date include 53 books, 279 stage plays and squillions of articles on the performing arts.  www.authorhamlett.com. 

On April 14, 1912, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and was lost to the North Atlantic less than three hours later.  In 1997, Maury Yeston and Peter Stone’s Titanic:  The Musical sank the majestic ocean liner onstage in roughly the same amount of time with nary a drop of H₂O.

So how was this achieved, and how can you conjure similar “liquid” events for your own productions?  Read on!

Stormy weather

Whether it’s a heavy downpour or just light drizzle, there are several economical ways to harness Mother Nature for a stage play.

The first is sound and light.  Whenever we hear thunder and see lightning, our assumption is that it must be raining, too.  When your characters make their entrances with wet hair and raincoats which have just been spritzed with water, we automatically accept that they have just dodged a storm.

Here are several more suggestions to recreate the look and sound of rain:

• Are there windows in your set?  Hang vertical strips of silver Mylar ribbon and utilize a small fan to make them shimmer. 
• Longer lengths of Mylar ribbons can also be used as a backdrop if your characters are supposed to be outdoors.  Attach to suspended clouds on a pulley if it’s a light rain in progress.
• Dry rice poured on a metal surface can emulate the sound of rain.  For a heavier storm, use dry peas.
• Is it windy?  Place a microphone in front of smooth wooden boards and drag lengths of silk across them.
• Tape reflective “puddles” on the floor to suggest a street is wet.
• Gobos — metal plates with patterns etched into them — are an effective lighting device and can create a dappled or streaky effect.
• If your tech crew is savvy and your budget allows for it, consider rain/storm hologram videos which can be projected on a back screen.

Everyone into the pool!

A play I penned a number of years ago was about Gertrude Ederle, an American swimmer who became the first woman to cross the English Channel in 1926.  I wanted to show what she was thinking while in the water as well as the hopes, fears and concerns of those in the tracking boat on the surface.

The stage right boat was a tall plywood façade whereupon the spectators stood on a bench with their binoculars.  A long piece of ocean blue fabric about four feet tall stretched stage left.  The actress playing Gertrude needed only to “walk” behind the wall whilst doing swimming motions with her arms.

A shorter version of the blue fabric trick works if your character jumps off a pier or into a swimming pool.  What they jump onto (and hidden from sight) is a mattress.  A spritz of water from underneath only adds to the illusion.  Feeling more ambitious?  Create a blue and white “splash” cutout which pops up after the jump.

Don’t have time to build a set but want to stage a water race?  Use long strips of blue and green crepe paper which run the length of the stage.  Unseen assistants at either end gently rock the strips up and down while swimmers race against one another in the center “lane.”

Sinking a ship without water

So how did Yeston and Stone cause audiences to gasp in the second act when a supposedly unsinkable ship slid into the icy depths right before their eyes?  While the technology is beyond the budget of most school drama departments, the methods employed can be applied to much smaller sinkings and even modest floods.

The first part of the effect was the use of hydraulic lifts on a three-level set.  Throughout the second act, the floor incrementally sloped until it finally reached a 45-degree angle.  The second part of the illusion was a black scrim curtain which ominously rose from the floor downstage as, simultaneously, the bulk of the set was lowered.

How can the second technique be used on a smaller scale?  Let’s say you have a character who’s an escape artist in a box the size of a telephone booth being filled with water.  A dark scrim creeps upward as he struggles to escape.  When it reaches the top of the box, go to blackout.  The actor then slips out the back and appears somewhere else!

Storm damage

Was a window left open during a hurricane?  Use daubs and streaks of RIT dye on curtains and upholstery.  Clear Elmer’s glue when dry looks surprisingly wet as does clear Karo syrup and brushed silicone caulking.

For wet-looking costumes, my designer had two effective tricks up his sleeve.  The first was to sew ball bearings into the sleeves, waists and hems to drag down the fabric and spritz the hemline with tea.  The other was to spray the costume with Scotchgard water-shield, then spritz the performer with water right before they went onstage.  Note:  If you do anything that will result in actual water droplets, be sure to clean up between scenes to prevent slips or damage to hardwood floors.

Lastly, what if you need mud onstage to show the effects of a flood?  Strew the stage floor with wadded up brown sheets and place overturned furniture, crates and cattywampus trees.  In dim lighting, it will look like the real deal plus provide just enough suppleness for your actors to slog through.