Stage | The Guardian: Bodies hacked to pieces, brains dribbling out of skulls, tongues sliced out of screaming mouths … Theatre has long been filled with the most macabre visions of guts and gore. But it is a tricky business to make such scenes work for today’s audiences, who are acclimatised to screen violence and perhaps even numbed by it.
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I have memories from early elementary school being strangely intrigued by gore and how to replicate it. I’d make fake blood and pretend to cough it up in front of strangers, or try to make fake bones and organs. I agree with the article that because of all of the movies, video games, etc. that we’ve become somewhat acclimated to violence and gore; but I also think that there is a difference between seeing something like that on a screen vs. seeing it in real life. Sort of like to how watching a spooky movie is similar but also much different than going into a haunted house. So while what needs to be done on the theatre stage to get a good reaction may have increased, I don’t think it needs to be quite at the level of move FX since most people understand that it’s digitally mastered.
Something I thought was really interesting was that they used 9 litres of blood per show for “The Duchess of Malfi,” and the fact that after the show it took five people 1.5hrs to clean the entire set. I’m also curious what it was like for the costumes people as well - if putting the outfits in the washer was enough or if their process was intense too. Also because of the constant use of fake blood and cleaning agents used on the set every night, I wonder what the construction/treatment of it was like in order to accommodate it. Everything must have been sealed or made from something that wouldn’t get destroyed from liquid.
I have to give so much credit to the performers who, night after night get covered in fake blood, put oatmeal mixtures in their mouth and pretend that actual meat is their - just cut out - tongue. Sometimes the absence of physical blood makes a profound statement - but sometimes the audience just wants blood. I remember during previews for American Psycho, the musical, the audience complained that there wasn’t enough blood. They were going into the show expecting to see blood and they didn’t see enough. It’s the same if you were going in to see a production of Titus Andronicus. I worked on a production that did not use real blood or fresh meat, because we were a small company, and as the article mentions - these “gags” are quite pricey. We instead opted for a more abstract, red ribbon, dance technique. When the Globe did Titus Andronicus, people fainted at the pure sight of Lavinia emerging covered in blood and the brothers being hung and drained. Blood and guts and gore are effective. It’s really interesting to hear about how some of these effects were made, but I have a cowardly stomach so I don’t know if I could see them in real life.
Some performers really have no shame, good for them! That opening photo is very interesting. I don’t think I have ever been apart of or seen a show with gore (I am surprised thinking about that now) Todd was teaching us a little about fake blood and gore during our stagecraft mini and it was really cool to know more about how fake blood is used on stage (and also how much blood is used onstage vs the real amount that would come out of a real person) They talked a little about how the special effects designer has a few things to keep in mind while designing an effect and it was interesting to read about flavoring. Some would forget to think “hey if a performer has to do this multiple times why not make the experience a little more pleasant than tasting glops of plain corn syrup. I thought of this while looking at the second picture, but how do these actors put themselves in these roles? It must take a lot out of them mentally and emotionally to act out some of these scenes. Special effect designers are just like any other designer, they go through trial and error and create something that makes the audience feel a certain way. I found the part about the tongue and how it hits the ground fascinating.
Whenever it comes to blood and special effects on stage, I automatically grant the props department a certain level of respect. Achieving realistic gore on stage is no easy task. The article brings up a couple examples of special effects companies that specialize in on-stage gore. For whatever reason, I did not know that these types of companies existed but it certainly makes sense that they do. I really think they hit it out of the park with the title of this article. Since we all know that they are not using real blood on stage, many companies and props departments have their own recipe for making fake blood. A lot of parameters must be considered when making blood such as, does it need to be edible, how does it interact with the costume, and how does it make the actor feel. Personally, I have never been a part of a production that used realistic special effects like blood and gore. I am really interested to see what the process is like to test those kinds of effects and the fine-tuning to get them just right on stage.
I love stage gore. In high school, I did a production of Macbeth that necessitated blood packs and a severed head. I am still in awe of the props master to this day. I also just finished the props mini. Todd Kulik spent half of one of our stagecraft classes talking about fake blood. He brought out a jar of the premade and purchased stuff to show us and had us all dip out fingers into it to feel the consistency. It was very very sticky. He talked about how he did a production of The Whipping Man and how the director decided to show the first incision of Caleb's amputation on stage. To achieve this, he put tubes through the actor's costume that connected to liters of fake blood underneath the stage. The blood would be pumped up and would seep through the actor's costume as Simon cut into Caleb's leg just below the knee. Cleanup is always a beast, I'm sure.
It is so cool to see just how creative people can be in this industry when faced with the toughest challenges. The theatre I have seen usually does everything in its power to avoid showing graphic on stage violence, so it's fascinating to read all of the different possibilities of just how gruesome the violence can get. After my props stagecraft I became more aware of the different techniques used for gore in theatre, but Todd always said that every prop master had a different approach, so this article was a fun read for the variety of technique. The best part of this article was reading the terrified reactions they got for the effects. It just proves their hard work paid off (and what I wouldn’t do to be there). It’s a great reference for how to get creative in crafting fake violence for a medium that relies so heavily on the believability of a live performance.
It is so cool to see just how creative people can be in this industry when faced with the toughest challenges. The theatre I have seen usually does everything in its power to avoid showing graphic on stage violence, so it's fascinating to read all of the different possibilities of just how gruesome the violence can get. After my props stagecraft I became more aware of the different techniques used for gore in theatre, but Todd always said that every prop master had a different approach, so this article was a fun read for the variety of technique. The best part of this article was reading the terrified reactions they got for the effects. It just proves their hard work paid off (and what I wouldn’t do to be there). It’s a great reference for how to get creative in crafting fake violence for a medium that relies so heavily on the believability of a live performance.
It is so cool to see just how creative people can be in this industry when faced with the toughest challenges. The theatre I have seen usually does everything in its power to avoid showing graphic on stage violence, so it's fascinating to read all of the different possibilities of just how gruesome the violence can get. After my props stagecraft I became more aware of the different techniques used for gore in theatre, but Todd always said that every prop master had a different approach, so this article was a fun read for the variety of technique. The best part of this article was reading the terrified reactions they got for the effects. It just proves their hard work paid off (and what I wouldn’t do to be there). It’s a great reference for how to get creative in crafting fake violence for a medium that relies so heavily on the believability of a live performance.
Realistic fake blood and gore is so interesting to think about, and causes so many logistical nightmares. I did a show in high school where by the end of it almost everyone in the cast had at least some fake blood on them, and during a tech rehearsal even I ended up with blood on me somehow. The blood we used was pretty high-quality - designed to be totally washable, edible, tasted like mint - but even then some people had difficulty washing it out of their clothes, and cleanup every night was awful as by the end of the show it congealed into a sticky mess on the stage. It’s so interesting to hear about professional shows performing gory scenes onstage because often the reason for that is that the show is being performed as a gritty, realistic drama and therefore the blood and gore should also be realistic. I think that whole concept is interesting because obviously the audience knows that someone isn’t actually being killed onstage in front of them, but the point of making it so realistic is to make them wonder for a moment, or forget that it’s fake.
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