| re: But why would a stage gun even have the capability of "going off"? | |
| Last Edit: waterfall 09:12 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
| Posted by: waterfall 09:00 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Is this theater story true? - KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| I don't know about this particular production of the 80s WSS, but 40 years ago, it was not uncommon to have stage guns that were fired by performers. Said guns, which fired "blanks" were considered dangerous, even then, and were kept under a prop master/mistress' lock and key until just before they were used, handed directly from props to the performer in the wings. Two awful examples of how this could go wrong (film related) are the deaths of Jon-Erik Hexum, who shot himself in the head with a blank pistol while clowning around between takes in the 80s, and the death of Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee's son, in the 90s. Actor Michael Massee fired an improperly prepared prop gun at Lee, killing him. On a lighter note, regarding improv and stage guns: Vivian Beaumont's CONTACT. Part two was titled "Did You Move?" and was about a Mafioso and his wife, out for dinner in an Italian restaurant. Towards the end of the evening, the increasingly irascible mafia man pulls out a gun, which he immediately loses possession of. Three waiters engage him in a shell game with the weapon under pot lids. While the Mafioso is distracted, one of the waiters slides the gun along the stage to the wife, who traps it under her skirt. The husband bribes the waiters to reveal which pot lid the gun is under, and they lift all three lids, to show they no longer have the gun. Disgusted and infuriated, the man turns towards his wife and [SPOILER ALERT!] she shoots him. ...at least that's what is supposed to happen. On this night, the actor sliding the gun did it a little too enthusiastically. It shot past the actress, lost beyond the curtain just upstage of her. She didn't have the gun she needed to kill her husband seconds later - so she shot him with her forefinger. The gunshot was a sound effect, and it all happened so fast that I don't think the audience noticed that she wasn't actually holding a gun. It was either Ziemba or d'Amboise. |
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| Previous: | re: Is this theater story true? - KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 08/30/21 |
| Next: | re: But why would a stage gun even have the capability of "going off"? - BHandshy 06:02 pm EDT 08/30/21 |
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