.
Moderator: busybusybusy
Re: Vomiting on stage without the use of liquid/food - help!
The secret is to simply adjust the blocking so the mouth cannot be seen by the audience and then acting. Pretend vomiting where people do use fluids rarely looks convincing anyway - often looking like it's very fake, because to be realistic, it must be in the mouth, and you can't open it or it falls out. So if you make sure there is a suitable receptacle on stage - which could be a litter bin, pot plant or even behind a chair or sofa, the noises and physical movement will convince the audience. They really do not need to see yukcy stuff come out of somebodies mouth - it's frequently too gross, and just not needed.
The other thing is that the venue seriously need to reconsider blanket bans. There is no Health and safety reason you cannot use foodstuff or liquids on stage - certainly no laws or rules apart from ones they themselves have instigated.
I spend large amounts of time on real safety issues - and as my work is more Chuckle Brothers than Chekov, water and custard pies are a frequent fact of life, and any venue that banned it would not be used again. All that is needed is a simple risk assessment that make sure the use of these things is safe.
Realistically the only reason for banning liquid is if there is a physical problem with the floor or surroundings. Maybe a stage is old and has wooden floorboards with gaps, and underneath is a store room full of valuable paper records. Water on the stage would cause damage, and a ban would be annoying but sensible. If the room below had exposed electrical wiring, then there could be a genuine safety hazard to the performers. Milk, for instance would go bad and smell, so banning milk makes sense. Pretend vomit (which is quite fun to make) offers no health hazards compared to milk - but could possibly be sloppy?
The venue sound as if they have no real idea, and the blanket ban is an unnecessary feature, but perhaps one they quite like as it prevents mess and potential damage - that they dress up as an H&S issue to divert blame. Happens all the time, sadly.
So miming is the solution.
The other thing is that the venue seriously need to reconsider blanket bans. There is no Health and safety reason you cannot use foodstuff or liquids on stage - certainly no laws or rules apart from ones they themselves have instigated.
I spend large amounts of time on real safety issues - and as my work is more Chuckle Brothers than Chekov, water and custard pies are a frequent fact of life, and any venue that banned it would not be used again. All that is needed is a simple risk assessment that make sure the use of these things is safe.
Realistically the only reason for banning liquid is if there is a physical problem with the floor or surroundings. Maybe a stage is old and has wooden floorboards with gaps, and underneath is a store room full of valuable paper records. Water on the stage would cause damage, and a ban would be annoying but sensible. If the room below had exposed electrical wiring, then there could be a genuine safety hazard to the performers. Milk, for instance would go bad and smell, so banning milk makes sense. Pretend vomit (which is quite fun to make) offers no health hazards compared to milk - but could possibly be sloppy?
The venue sound as if they have no real idea, and the blanket ban is an unnecessary feature, but perhaps one they quite like as it prevents mess and potential damage - that they dress up as an H&S issue to divert blame. Happens all the time, sadly.
So miming is the solution.
Re: Vomiting on stage without the use of liquid/food - help!
Deleted
Last edited by ghostofpp on Fri Aug 12, 2016 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Vomiting on stage without the use of liquid/food - help!
Or, you could do what I did when I was in a student play in a university science lab, get a stomach bug and actually vomit on stage!
Only problem was, it wasn't in the script!
Lol True story.
Only problem was, it wasn't in the script!
Lol True story.