July 27, 2007

• The inverta chair.
• Thanks Hank. But it looks like it only goes end over end. I need it to rotate side to side, like a pin wheel, and high enough that my head can clear the floor. Anyone else?
• Something like a Hoyer lift? But you would have to have a sling, and whether or not you could be inverted completely, I doubt. Maybe something like a Hammock Chair is what you are looking for.
• Just act.
• Have two guys dressed in black throw you on the ground & stomp you.
• Rig up something with gaffa tape.
• Space Hopper.
• No, serious idea: I would rig up 2 or 4 bungie cords to the lighting truss, hooked to a normal chair, & have the chair totally free-floating, essentially. You could kick yourself around with your feet & such, do all the actions, Flintstone-style with the feets, moving the chair around as you 'drive' etc, then when it came time to do your roll.. whoops! Very ky00t to watch, & save some moniez too.
• Maybe add an extra weighted cord to control the upside downiness? I presume you're going to continue speaking while hanging in the air?
• No practical advice here, just encouragement. Sounds like a great show, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who;d like to see pictures of what you finally come up with!
• Are you looking for something like this? I have no idea if it exists, just drew this to clarify, or maybe help if you want someone to build it. (Plus I thought it sounded neat). If you click on it you can download a 3d pdf of the drawing which you can rotate and look at from different angles, but you need Adobe Reader 8 or better.
• Nothing much to add, just well done, boys!
• ReverendJohn, I cannot believe you did that. Yes, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. Now if only I can find it in the real world. Thanks for all the responses everyone. TUM, if I can get it, you'll see it.
• that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. Very specialized market for this type of thing, I'd think. Be prepared for it to be outrageously expensive even if you find anyone making anything like it. Can you get someone to build one for you?
• You just need to attach a chair to an engine stand. Those things are very sturdy and designed to allow rotation of the engine block (or guy on chair). You can probably rent one for cheap.
• RJ, that looks like a headsmasher! Might want to put the pivot point and seat assembly up considerably higher than it would be on a normal chair. However, you're still going to run the issue of putting your face near the floor after rotation, which isn't good for a one man show (seeing the face is the major focal point, what with the monologuing, and all) the way stages are designed. The engine stand won't work for a similar reason. They are designed to hold an engine at a workable level, not aloft, which is what you'd need. What I'd suggest is using RJ's design, but making a barrel frame to surround the seat, leaving adequate headroom and foot room within. Put the pivot point on the centre axis of the barrel frame itself and have that point somewhere behind the head area when deciding on the seat placement(or probably better: chest to give the illusion of the head being in a lower position - near the ground - without having to actually put your face near the ground and ruin it for the short folks behind the big-hat folks). The barrel frame will help you visualize your safe swing zone, so that no props or stage limits will give you a real accident while pretending to have a fake one. You'll also have more places to secure yourself to. You'll need a lot of weight and sideways length for the base (as wide or wider than the barrel) because the centre of gravity will change during the travel of the barrel, possibly causing an accident. You can fasten two ropes to a shaft coming off the pivot point, wound in opposite directions, so that it can be operated by the flyboy to upturn it and then return it for getting off after the blackout. I'm sure you could even rig up some sort of lever in the barrel itself (using a series of cogs) which you could pull to upturn the barrel and make it look like a hand-brake for the added fun. It looks expensive enough without the mechanical parts, however. And it should be operated by a flyboy for maximum safety.
• I just remembered Tim Roth's performance of Kafka's Metamorphoses as a one-man show(? can't remember if anyone else was in it). In it, they used a jungle gym which Roth hung upside down from to simulate a cockroach hanging from the ceiling and crawling about. Even though he looked more like a sloth or monkey the point came across. Maybe a chair setup is unnecessary?
• This is more or less what I meant, but attached to RJ's base.
• Thanks Rocket88! Wow Insolent Chimp. That's also a great idea. How did you know what I look like?
• Alternatively, you could just drive onstage in a Geo Tracker and take a sharp left turn.