Portland Center Stage

PCS Props Wizardry: Decapitating Cloten

Posted by Katie Nolen | 10 February 2012 | Comments (2)

Most of the time, working in a theater is pretty routine. Walk the dog, drink coffee, bike downtown, email, spreadsheets, show. But sometimes... 

Sometimes, you bike to work early so you can watch PCS Prop Master Mike Jones and his lovely associates Jen and Alisha smear Body Double, a skin-safe, silicone-based, brightly-colored goop, all over the face of a visiting actor. 

It's awesome.

First things first, they taped on a bald-cap, draped him in a hair stylist cape, and covered Ryan's face in Vaseline to prevent the goop from sticking.

 

Ryan was an excellent sport.

 

 

Mixing the goop together! Ryan waits enthusiastically. 

 

 

First goop, Ryan seems pleased.  :) 

 

 

The silicone dries incredibly quickly. The team had about two minutes to use each tiny batch before it solidified. 

 

 

 

Keep your eyes closed, Ryan!

And then... 

 

"Look dead." 

 

 

Once his face was completely covered (earplugs in the ears for safety), the props team began wrapping the silicone with gypsum bandages.  I was informed that this is called "The Mother Mold." 

 

 

As you can see, the props team had a lot of fun! It's hard to tell how Ryan felt at this moment. Periodically he'd give us a thumbs-up though, which was both awesome and helpful. 

 

 

ZOMBIE RYAN!

 

 

A heat gun was used to speed up the bandage drying time; note the safety hand gauging temperature. 

 

 

Once the bandages dried, they were removed in two sections, and props used blunt scissors to make a cut up the back of the silicone mold.  

 

 

And then they peeled it off! It looks pretty weird/creepy at this point. 

 

Ryan's job was complete. He got cleaned up and left for rehearsal, while the props team took the mother mold back to the scene shop. 

 

 

Cool. 

From this, they made a mold with plaster, which allowed them to clean up any flaws from the latex.

 

 

Pretty cool, I say. 

Finally, when they were satisfied with the plaster mold, they made a final bust using another silicone-based product, called Dragon-Skin, which created the fleshy-looking head used in the play.  

 

 

Dead silicone Cloten! Boom!  You can see his eyebrow hairs!

For the show they painted it and added a wig, and additionally made molds of Mike's hands to adorn Cloten's dead body.

 

 

 

The final product is really impressive.  Come see the show to get the full effect! And (as if you needed another reason to come see it, ha!), Cloten's head makes its stage debut after one of the most impressive exits/costume changes/re-entries I've ever seen. Seriously, Ryan runs offstage as Cloten, gets killed, and is back onstage as another character in less than 20 seconds.  There's a reason the wardrobe team takes a bow.  Oh! Oh! AND! My hair is the show! I shaved the underside of my hair for Dana, our wig mistress, last summer because she said I have perfect man-beard hair, and because I love her. And it's finally onstage!  On the king's head no less!

 

That's the talented Scott Coopwood wearing my hair! Yes I'm weird. But I digress. 

On top of all that, Cymbeline is really GOOD.  I saw it finally just this week (I'd been busy running The North Plan in the Main Stage prior), and I was expecting to enjoy it.  I don't usually work on studio shows, but I'd read the script, seen the set design and CAD files, watched as the costumes were designed and made, saw the silicone head process (obviously), and had chatted with the actors and PA about rehearsals.  So I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.  But Cymbeline blew my expectations out of the water.  All the facets came together in a really incredible way.  There's nothing but talent in the room, on and offstage.  I laughed, I fretted, I gasped, I was along for the ride for both acts and was on my feet at the end. 

Shakespeare's Amazing Cymbeline. Recommended. Running now through April 8.