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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Gun Gag
I got an email the other day from TheatreFace.com member Lauren asking about the gun gag for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In case you're unfamiliar, at one point George threatens Martha with a shotgun, but when he pulls the trigger, a parasol pops out. It's a fun moment -- but not a simple gag for the props department. Lauren was wondering how people built the gun. I remembered that a couple years ago I shot some video at USITT of Greg Bell from Otterbein University explaining how he built the gun for their production -- so I figured I'd share that video below.
But like any other props challenge, there's more than one way to do it well. So I'm putting the query out to you: How'd you handle the gun gag? Share your tips below!
Comment
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Comment by Deanne Grace on October 8, 2012 at 6:11am -
No umbrella. I think as a literal prop, it's dated. Much stronger just to use a shotgun, one blank, some fishing wire and one pop bottle confetti. George enters behind Martha and fires into the ceiling, then cocks and aims at her and pulls the fishing wire attached to a pop bottle top which was concealed in his fist as it holds the butt of the shotgun and it explodes all over her - shows the rage of an already cocked firearm aiming the joke at Martha, leaving her covered in streamers. Everyone is startled. I hate the umbrella. Right on, if you do the tech, but I just have to feel solid on the purpose - and the umbrella... Albee!
Here's another good Albee tech problem for ya!
GOAT, or who is Sylvia? - a dead goat! (omg, can that go tragically wrong.)
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