1984

Properties Master

Directed by: Heather Hamilton

Scene Design: Ben Kramer

Costume Design: Scott Anderson

Lighting design: Steve Smith

Sound Design: George Grubb

Technical Director: Dalen O'Connell

Photo by Benjamin Kramer

Constructing the Rat Box

The Rat Box was easily the most iconic and most challenging part of propping 1984. For its short time onstage, it must command fear and dread as it shapes the climax of the show.

"'I have pressed the first lever,' said O'Brien. 'You understand the construction of this cage. The mask will fit over your head, leaving no exit. When I press this other lever, the door of the cage will slide up. These starving brutes will shoot out of it like bullets. Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air? They will leap on to your face and bore straight into it. Sometimes they attack the eyes first. Sometimes they burrow through the cheeks and devour the tongue.' " (P3, CH5)

Photo by Amanda Dyslin

The prompts given by the director were as follows:

1) The box must be able to stay on the actors head as he sits up from laying on the ground.

2) Use live rats if possible

3) Make it scary

Actor safety was my primary concern when constructing the box. With this in mind, we immediately nixed the live rats idea. There would be no way to keep the animals safe in such a small container that wouldn't cause our actor discomfort or harm. We instead substituted with sound effects and discreetly moving the box as if it held rats.

I then decided to make the box out of cardboard instead of an actual metal cage as the box would be mostly held by the actors face when he moved from laying.

I took measurements of our actor to find the right dimensions for the starting cardboard box and then got to work.

I measured and cut squares out of the box over the course of a couple days. I figured this would be sturdier than cutting thin strips of cardboard and slotting them into a frame.

The sides were boxed off and fake rings were added to the top to create the illusion of removable panels to release the rats into the face cavity.

A hinged door that closed up and down was added. In the staging, the actor would lay down into the open door and the door would close on top of his face, sealing him inside. This gave a guillotine effect as the bottom of the cage left just enough room for his neck.

To create the illusion of a metal cage, hot glue 'rivets' were added when the basic construction was completed.

The box was spray painted with first a satin black finish. Before it could totally dry, I spray painted over it with a metallic silver. The pooling and mixing left a galvanized and oily sheen to the box.

A lock was added to the door and counter weights were added to the back. When set down, the weights made a metallic sound which helped further the metal box illusion.

In total, the full construction from start to final dress of the box took about 50 hours.

Over the course of its two week run, it only sustained minor damage with the lock needed to be replaced once.

The American College Theatre Festival Region V, Festival 51 awarded 1984 Rat Box the DTM Legacy Award for outstanding achievement by a first-time festival competitor.