Once upon a time I was a member of the local Red Cross First Aid patrol and once a year we attended a big competition in Norway, as actors.
We gathered about one hundred and twenty youths, put on makeup in all kinds of wounds and let the Red Cross First Aid patrols in Norway put on Band-Aids.
For two years I planned all the stations. I got a list with locations and basic setup and I did the rest.
There was one big hook: they had a deal with a local towing firm and most stations were car crashes. I wanted some variations. And most of all I needed them to get psychically involved, and not just put on plasters and bandages.
So I designed a “car crash” where a drunk driver simply had run off the road with a couple making love in the back seat, nobody physically hurt, but an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation.
When the actors had taken their positions I got a call: “We’ve got a problem here. The car is upside down.” The towing firm had simply dumped car wrecks on the stations without considering the situation on each station. I organized for the car to be overturned back on its wheels.
“It’s still a problem.”
“What?”
“It must have been in the jungle on a Thursday*.”
“Say what?”
“It’s flat.”
To act in a first aid competition is to improvise as it is, but a car stomped flat with three unharmed youths - that were supposed to have be inside the car when it run off the road - dancing around the car, a bit buttoned up, waving with a “used” condom... Well, it didn't turn out as I had hoped.
*Q: Why shouldn’t you enter the jungle on the Thursday?
A: Because the elephants jump in parachutes.
Q: Why are crocodiles so flat?
A: Because they entered the jungle on the Thursday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment