On 26/07/2018 10:59, Bert Coules wrote:
For reason far too boring to go into (but related to a stage play) I
have to build a full-sized dummy person which has to disappear on cue.
The figure will be wearing a full-face mask and long flowing robes, and
they *don't* have to vanish: the effect should be that the man
disintegrates and the mask and robes just collapse, empty.

Any thoughts on how to construct the dummy figure?Â* A lightweight head
and shoulders which support the robes, suspended and released from
above?Â* A collapsible lazy-tongs arrangement rising from a base, again
with a dummy head at the top?Â* An inflatable figure punctured with a pin
(and presumably patched up each night for the next show)?

Any and all suggestions will be very welcome.Â* Thanks.

You probably ought to be asking a magician. It sounds very similar to
the trick where a woman was covered by a cloth, before being levitated.
After that, the cloth suddenly collapsed and fell to the floor before
she walked in from the wings. I have no idea how it worked, but it was
done in the 19th century, so it must have been something mechanical.


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Colin Bignell