I want a ghost for a play.
So I need items to levitate.
Items to move on their own.
An appriation would nice.
I’m thinking a image on a slide projected onto the glass of a window. But maybe a two way mirror would work if I knew how to make one.
Any other ideas on how to have a ghost in a play? (think small theatre and on the cheap)
In my theatre group, we used to say that the producer could only pick two of three: done fast, done cheap, and done well. Of course, we were always working with small budgets and a bizarre theatre space.
More information about your situation would be helpful for making suggestions that are doable with your time and budget considerations.
What play are you doing? Is the ghost a character, played by an actor, or an atmosphereic effect?
What’s the stage like? What kind of resources do you have there to work with?
It’s not a play you know.
The ghost is an effect only, not a person in a sheet.
Basically I’m re-writing a play and I want the ghost character to have a bigger pressence.
Since this play will probably never be produced we can do it cheap and well as there no time constraints. I just want to know what I can write for a ‘ghost’ to do in a play.
Cheesecloth soaked in glow-in-the-dark paint can do decent apparitions. Cheesecloth and phosphorus were a staple fake ectoplasm back in the heyday of the spiritualists.
Nothin’ wrong with the projected-image-on-glass idea either…
Nylon thread (use quilting thread, cobbler’s thread, or beading nylon, you get a better strength-to-thickness ratio) to levitate and move objects, but can be a BITCH if the blocking isn’t done with this in mind. We don’t usually want the actors tripping mid-scene, right? Use white thread if the stage drops are pale, black if dark enough. Don’t use fishing line, 'cause light will refract from it here and there.
If you can get the angles right, item-onna-stick would work as well. Fasten a long, slender manipulator (stick, car antenna, etc…) the object-to-be-moved, paint the manipulator the same colour as the background (like, say, a vase on a mantlepiece, manipulator should be the colour of the wall behind it). Cut small slot in the stage drop, put fabric painted the same color as the stage drop in to conver the slot, and away you go. Just watch your backstage lighting when moving the objects.
Man, I’d love to be crew on this one…I was a props semi-specialist for a while…
the first thing I’d do is find a local magician. this kind of effect, particularly in front of a live audience, is their stock-in-trade.
The main key to making things like this work, I think, is lighting and sound. Dim the lights a bit, play the obligatory spoooooky music… people will believe just about anything.
thwartme