Thursday, October 13, 2011
Making Fake Drinks
Prop Agenda: A toast to drinking! Playwrights love to make their characters drink. More popular than eating on stage, drinking on stage can be found even in plays where it is not directed by the text; a bottle of booze or well-concealed flask is a common comedic bit or a way to add layers to a character. It’s not surprising; nearly every culture through the history of civilization has had some form of fermented drink.
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Some really interesting suggestions in this article - I was interested to hear about the "frog throat" effects of drinking cola, which used to be my standby for doing whiskey or similar colored drinks. One of the most problematic drinks that I've had to make for a scene on stage was a frozen strawberry daiquiri. No websites seemed to have any suggestions, but the solution that ended up working (very surprisingly) was an unsweetened strawberry applesauce that we lightly froze before the scene. The consistency provided the right sound and feel of the slurp, and it was incredibly easy compared to some of the other solutions (most involving real crushed ice).
In the beginning, I thought this article was going to be a long bit about how drinking was portrayed on the stage. After learning it was about how to portray a drink on the stage, it became a whole different thing. There are so many things that I simply didn't consider when making an actor drink or even eat something on stage. The facts about milk and real whisky or wine were a bit of an eye opener. Alcohol was a bit obvious for why actors don't drink it every night but the unexpected part was the effect that it has on the voice. I guess that it is always important to also talk to the other people working on the show. So now, if the director says the words "red wine" I'll know to make a quick dash at the lighting people, costume people, and maybe even the set designer.
In my experience with making fake alchohol tea works the best of hard liquor. Tea is also nice because you can just dilute it and it will become different types of liquor. Also using caramel food dye and water can work, in fact that is what was used for all of the alcohol in good person of Szechwan. In this article the props master actually has a ton of great ideas, the beer one sounded very interesting I feel like it might be really gross to drink though. And that is the thing that works in alcohols favor, generally people don't really like the taste and so if you make things that don't taste very good it's alright because actors will generally make a disgusted face anyway if they are pretending to drink straight liquor.
Having worked with different drinks needed onstage in the last few years, I wish I'd read this article a little bit sooner, as it condenses a lot of what you need to know about actors drinking onstage. In Good Person of Setzuan, we used water or colored water for all of the different alcohols (which included white wine, whiskey, run, and vodka). As strange as it sounds (since drinking relatively dark-colored water does not sound too appetizing), the actors were grateful that the whiskey and rum that they had to drink onstage was not strong tea, since it is dehydrating. They were happy to have water that they could drink onstage during a show in which they do not exit. On another note, I do not think that this article stressed enough how important it is to talk to the costume and scenic designers, specifically, since any spilled liquid can drastically affect and change their designs.
I've always wondered what they had put into replacement drinks for props in scenes onstage in theater, but never investigated fully/ put to much thought into it. This article actually opened up so many elements I have not yet considered- flem for milk- horse throat for caffeine and food allergy! I have a much larger appreciation for prop masters and decision makers who actually have to sort out all these details for a show to run smoothly!
This is a very useful article! I've always admired the many different techniques that a prop master can pull from to create something incredibly show specific and non-harmful to actors or costumes. This article does a really good job of detailing the thought and creation process of a popular demand in the theatre world: fake drinks. Because fake drinks are, as the article says, so high in demand in many kinds of plays, it is especially helpful to have these many techniques laid out in an easy-to-process manner. After all, it may not always be a veteran prop master preparing these drinks, and this would not be a good instance to attempt "trial and error" prop-making. I also appreciated the fact that many of the concerns and considerations of fake drinks were added into the article, sparing somebody the stress of having to learn from those mistakes.
This is a very useful article! I've always admired the many different techniques that a prop master can pull from to create something incredibly show specific and non-harmful to actors or costumes. This article does a really good job of detailing the thought and creation process of a popular demand in the theatre world: fake drinks. Because fake drinks are, as the article says, so high in demand in many kinds of plays, it is especially helpful to have these many techniques laid out in an easy-to-process manner. After all, it may not always be a veteran prop master preparing these drinks, and this would not be a good instance to attempt "trial and error" prop-making. I also appreciated the fact that many of the concerns and considerations of fake drinks were added into the article, sparing somebody the stress of having to learn from those mistakes.
What I wonder about drinking onstage is something that the author touches on in the beginning of the article. Usually these beverages cause some sort of phlegm or build-up in the performer's chords. Are there opera or musical theater companies that take specific and direct care in what liquids are included in those mixtures, if drinking is needed onstage? What kind of companies or theaters have a collaboration between performer and prop master? Should the prop master not be in communication with Stage Management or the performer about what they will be putting in their body?
I do love the breakdown that this article provides. I wonder if prop masters have a "drink cheat sheet". Some sort of document that outlines how to fake certain things, in a multitude of ways to accommodate the needs of the show as well as performer.
I feel that this article is particularly relevant to my life since my main job as a member of Good Person run crew was to wash and re-fill all of the bottles of alcoholic beverages on stage. I hadn't really considered until now just how many plays call for on-stage alcohol consumption.
Once I did a production of Noises Off which includes a lot of on-stage whiskey drinking. The props crew filled the bottle with Arizona Tea almost ever night, which was fantastic because it was really easy to chug. (Chugging whiskey might not be entirely realistic, but it added to the comedic effect.) However, towards the end of our run, they ran out of tea and instead filled the bottle with a mixture of apple juice and Coca-Cola. The Coke's carbonation, combined with the fact that the bottle was flung around on stage quite a bit before it was drunk from, made some problems. The cork almost popped off and we almost had a huge mess. This article could've come in very handy.
My drink-mixing routine for Good Person was relatively simple: one drop of yellow food dye for white wine, and a few drops of caramel coloring for whiskey and rum. I had some troubles getting the color right for the liquor, so I agree with this article that having a bottle on hand for comparison is helpful (though that was obviously not possible).
I wonder if there is a handbook that has a compilation on stage food and beverage recipes. If it does exist, it might be something I would look into purchasing.
Another solution I have heard of that would be interesting to delve further into is having glasses or cups that look as though they have a liquid in them, but actually don't. This works well if you just need the appearance of a drink, and don't actually have to be able to drink from it. I have heard about high success in using epoxy and spreading that on the inside of the glass to make it look like it is holding something. It would be interesting to hear other solutions to this idea.
For most of my fake drink mixing, I've used various different fruit juices (grape, cranberry etc) diluted to various extents with water. The tea suggestion for whiskey or other hard liquors is a great one, though the problems proposed are also great to note. I agree that the article could have stressed more strongly how helpful it could be to discuss various recipes with the scenic and costume designers in case of spills. I almost wish the article had gone into a bit how different substances (juice vs. tea vs. soda) could harm fabrics (staining vs. stickiness etc.).
I really enjoyed this article. I shows how sometimes the simplest and most common things can be challenge to pull off. Sometimes thought the problem with alcohol or and beverage on stage can come not just from the drinking of it but the delivery process. A few years ago I worked on a production of "Lend Me A Tenor" where the re-corked bottle of Chianti had to travel in a suitcase with a costume used later in the production. It was always a huge deal each night to make sure our dark red concoction didn't drip or leak even if jostled around.
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