🚀 go-pugleaf

Daniel Mahler writes:

>     I'm doing some stage/technical direction for a play in a few months,
>and the script calls for a God-like character to come in hurling bolts of
>lightning. Can anyone suggest a way of doing this (the lightning) so that
>it at least LOOKS genuine?

I don't know about "hurling bolts of lightning", but I once helped out
a church group doing an oratorio (don't remember which one), and the
script called for a bolt of lightning to set an altar on fire.

I strung two enamel insulated wires from the proscenium arch down to
the altar. Every 6 inches or so, I soldered one of those "baseless"
photoflash bulbs across the wires, and at the bottom, on the altar, was
a pan of flash powder, where the enamel wires terminated in a short piece
of iron wire used as an ignitor. A 12 volt car battery provided the rather
high current required.

Careful aiming of the stage lights avoided the wires, so the setup was
practically invisible... until the battery was connected.

We had a row of high-intensity photoflood lamps mounted behind the
proscenium, and we'd flash those on and off while playing recordings
of thunder through the massive electronic organ's speakers for a little
while for a kind of build-up. Then the actor would say something
appropriate, and I'd throw the switch.

The effect was stunning, but tedious to set up, as the flash bulbs all
had to be replaced between performances.

I did a lot of technical theater while in college, but always enjoyed
helping out the local churches with their stuff because you could use
generally more garish and spectacular effects than "normal" plays
ordinarily call for.

Isaac
isw@cup.portal.com