HOw do i die?

Question

I am in a play and i am shot dead but i don't know how to die. i really need help because the play is tomorrow. please do you know any ways for my play death to look real at the moment it just looks like i collapse onto the floor seriously injured but not dead. I NEED HELP!

I say 2 lines when im on the floor

a few things you need to know

The stage is round and the audience sits around me

My lines are
"another one down for the american friendly fire, back to the studio"

I'm a reporter in the middle of a war when i was shot.

Both drama and comedy!

Answer 1

I just changed my answer to your question for like the fourth time :-) and knowing that you were shot by friendly fire explains a bit more that would change my answer yet again! LOL I'm feeling like I needs sides now! :-) OK, My current opinion is that you are doing your job when suddenly some dumb soldier shoots you. You become indignant. Being shot and bleeding is an inconvenience... Excuse me? Oh great... screw the war, there goes my career. Does this moron know what it took for me to get here? All the work I did, etc. etc... that's your attitude. But then you realize you have to finish the broadcast... Every time you twinge from the pain, you get mad. Maybe you glare at the soldier and make a fist or any other kind of frustration gesture everytime you get a pain or your breathing gets more labored. You look at the soldier with absolute disgust and hatred... thanks a lot. No really, thank you. Know what I mean? Then when you die, it's not willingly. You did not plan this. You've planned everything else in your life, but this was not planned! You're still mad and you will haunt this soldirer for the rest of his days. :-)

Answer 2

Because there are 'time considerations' in any stage/screen representation of death, you CAN NOT 'die naturally' in your play. Try 'staggering backward' with your hands groping toward your wound, try to 'lift your head' then close your eyes and let your head 'fall' toward the floor ... and if possible, the audience should 'hear' the 'thud' that makes ... if you can add some 'vocalization' and 'stop' when you die (moaning to screaming) you'll look 'dead' not just 'seriously injured.'

Answer 3

Your director or drama teacher didn't help you with this? S/he should have worked on that with you, it is his/her job to.

Get your family to help you with this. Get them to watch you as you recreate your death. Try staggering backwards, clutching the wound, gasping for air, swallowing hard, falling to your knees first, being very dramatic. Ask your family if it they believed it. If they didn't try again, doing it way over dramatic and then not going far enough. My drama teacher always told me it's hard to over-act something, and if you do overact, it is easier to tone it down than if you aren't going all the way to make it more dramatic. Also, be fully commited to dying, you can fill in sub-text(I think that's what it's called), which is what your character is thinking. This can also help you and the way you say your line.

Good luck with your play, and I suggest you ask your director how to make it more believable if you have time before the performance or final rehersal.

Answer 4

When people get shot in real life, they just fall down without drama.

I think to do it comedically, you could fall down, wait a beat for the audience to register their surprise, then lift your head (and if you have a microphone, hold it up), say your line, then fall back down again. Less is more.

Answer 5

In reality people who are shot just drop down...they don't get blown backwards like in the movies, I think depending on the scrpit maybe you can put in a last word, but I don't know the play talk to your director and others for input could help!

Answer 6

Let the bullet push you back a little as you fall, a cry or yell is good as a visual clue to the audience. Fall so that you are slightly on your side facing the audience to deliver you lines.

Answer 7

You could add fake blood?? I don't know, it might help.

You could ask the director if you can make it more dramatic and say something right before you die. For example, if it's a love death (like Romeo and Juliet) you could say something like "Romeo, I love you" or "I will never forget you" or even something long and romantic.

If it was something action-y you can say something like "How could you, Bob?"

I've never been in a play, so I don't know how they work, but just wing it and put in the emotion as if you were dieing.

I hope this helps =)

<33Emie

Answer 8

depends on what gun:

Machine gun:
keep you arms bent, with your forearm inline with your waist, and jerk around about 3 times, before twisting 180 degrees and fall down, then reach your hand up about 75 degrees above ground then relax and roll and shiver

pistol:clench the area you get shot in then step back twice then fall backwards and while you are still on the floor often move your head into different positions

Answer 9

gasp when your shot then dramatically fall to the floor once you are dead do not move!!!

Answer 10

How about your evil mother in law smothers you in your hospital room?