Stage Directions: Fire is almost commonplace in Broadway theatres this year. There was a burning cross onstage during A Time To Kill and three battens of fire lit up several scenes in the recent production of Romeo and Juliet. Special effects design consultant Jeremy Chernick assisted Gregory Meeh with the former show and designed the effects for the latter. To make the effect happen safely he leaned on his years of experience to help him understand both the engineering of the effect and the process of working within fire regulations and with the New York Fire Department.
3 comments:
It is impressive that Romeo and Juliet used such extensive fire on their set. It seems that the key to using fire in any production is planning. If the design team of Romeo and Juliet had decided any later that they wanted to integrate fire into the design, it may not have happened. It also seems that having an experienced professional such as Chernick is also extremely beneficial. Chernick seems to know exactly what he's doing and talking about, and it took him three months to get the fire department, state, and theater to approve the design from the first time it was tested. Many productions do not have that sort of time to spend, and if a production is very serious and committed to using fire onstage, they should definitely consider hiring someone with Chernick's expertise. I wonder how much Romeo and Juliet spent in their budget on the use of fire in the set. I am not sure of NYC fire codes, but I imagine a fire marshall had to be present during every performance of the production, and this couldn't have been cheap. Either way, it seems that the spectacle the fire added to Romeo and Juliet was well worth it for this particular production.
Wow, that's a lot of fire. I liked the bit in the article where they said that the earlier the fire is in the design the safer it will be when it is incorporated into the set. I realize that this early incorporation is important for other reasons- it would prevent the fire from becoming just a flashy unnecessary effect put in in the last minute. I feel that fire can be very cool, but can also be distracting and can overpower the rest of the design. However, it's clear that when a theater puts so much thought into the fire and works with such experienced professionals that it can be very effective.
I knew that fire SFX took a lot of planning, preparation, and approval, but this article really illustrated the process very well. I found it interesting that the guy mentioned that he had 3 months to plan everything out, and he still would have liked more time. I remember in high school we used pyro boxes in the show and we had to have a fire inspector on site every time we triggered them. I can see why having everything planned out could potentially save money in the long run.
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