Читать книгу How to Become an Actor - Aaron A. Warford - Страница 4

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If the room in which the performances are to be given is furnished with folding doors there will be no need of a proscenium, but if not, any enterprising lad can, by means of a few boards, rig up one to suit, and drape it with colored muslin, to be bought for a few cents per yard at any drygoods store. This done, a sheet may be tacked securely across the top, with a heavy pole at the bottom to facilitate its falling. Four rows of brass rings may next be sewed at intervals of a foot apart, from the top of the curtain to the pole at the bottom. Strings must then be fastened upon this pole, brought up through the lines of rings, and attached to a larger piece of twine running horizontally across the top, and passing through a screw-eye in the proscenium, leaving a long end to dangle down, handy for the person who is to attend to the rising and falling of the curtain. By simply pulling this piece of twine, the drapery will be found to ascend in graceful folds, and at the signal for descent, will drop easily by the weight of the pole. In the following diagram a is the upper cord, b the rings through which the others pass, c the dangling end, e the pole at the bottom.

“Wings,” or side pieces, may be constructed by stretching muslin over an ordinary frame of common wood, and braced by a stout stick to the floor, thus completely obscuring the performers after they have made their exits.

“Flats,” or scenes at the back, upon frames, to draw off and on, will be found too difficult to use in drawing-rooms, as they necessitate the use of grooves above for them to slide in; therefore, I would suggest the use of “drops”—that is, scenes working after the manner of the curtain, and when drawn up, concealed behind the “borders,” or straight rows of muslin, tacked horizontally across the top, and forming the ceiling of the scene, when completed.

In order that there shall be as little cost as possible in furnishing the scenery, let one lad, who has a taste for drawing, stretch the “drop” upon a bare floor (drawn tightly and tacked to the boards), and then, take a wood, a garden, or a parlor, and with a piece of charcoal, copy the trees, etc., upon the muslin, and then paint them in to the best of his ability. The same plan should be followed with the “wings.”

Care should be taken, however, not to remove the paintings from the floor until they are quite dry, and then stretch them over the frames and fasten securely.

One set of “wings” should be braced firmly to the floor, and when a change of scene is required, the “drop” may be drawn up and the other “wings” slid in and rested against the braced ones. Lamps may be placed on each side of the proscenium, and if footlights are desired, a board may be put across before the curtain, with several lamps placed so as to shine directly upon the stage, while the board prevents them from glaring upon the audience.

The effect can be heightened by a board with a row of candles in tin plates to catch the wax, behind each “border,” so that they may shine down upon the actors; but this is both troublesome and dangerous, as the ceiling is liable to be smutted, and a breath of air may blow the dangling “borders” into the flame and produce a disastrous effect.

This done, the stage may be set as the play requires.

Should the action require a storm, peas may be shaken upon the head of a drum to imitate the rain, a sheet of zinc will furnish thunder, and the effect of lightning may be produced with no danger by filling an ordinary putty blower with licopodium and blowing it into the flame of a candle. (An article for doing this, and called the “flash-box,” is used on the regular stage.)

Colored fires may be produced by following these directions:

Green.
Nitrate of Barytes	62 1/2 parts.
Sulphur	10 1/2 parts.
Potash	23 1/2 parts.
Orpiment	1 1/2 parts.
Charcoal	1 1/2 parts.
Red.
Strontia	8 ounces.
Potash	4 ounces.
Shellac	2 ounces.
Licopodium	1/4 ounce.
Blue.
Nitre	8 ounces.
Sulphur	3 ounces.
Charcoal	1/2 ounce.
Antimony	1 ounce.

These fires when used should be spread either upon a tin pan, or an ordinary fire shovel, and ignited by means of a piece of cotton cord soaked in oil, and forming a quick match. When lit, it should be raised above the head, and will cast a brilliant tinge upon every object. A pail of water should, however, be handy, so that immediately after using it can be plunged into it, as the stench from the cinders is by no means pleasant. The above recipes will furnish enough fire for several performances, and if the trouble of making must be disposed of, they can be bought in tins at all first-class drug-stores, or places where fireworks are sold.

To represent breaking glass, rattle broken crockery in a closed basket; breaking wood, place a few laths over a couple of bricks, lay a heavy book upon them, and strike the volume with force enough to smash the laths.

To imitate the sighing of the wind, draw a piece of silk—an old dress, for instance—over the rough edge of a pine board, or make a wheel, after the manner in which boys make water-wheels, and turn this, with the silk hanging over it—the effect will be found good.