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Why We designed Audrey II the way We did!
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As you know, in the play, "Little Shop
of Horrors", the carnivorous plant, Audrey II has four stages: Stage one--the little plant in the coffee
can, Stage two--the larger plant that Seymour carries around in the flower pot,
Stage three--the big plant that munches body parts, and Stage four--the huge
plant that can swallow people whole. When the director and I first discussed
Audrey II, we shared a mutual concern. While Stages one through three become
successively more active and aggressive, the Stage four Audrey II becomes
downright sedentary due to the awkward size and weight of its huge clamshell
pod.
Of course, in the movie version, Stage four
Audrey II is the most active and aggressive stage of all. Since our plant budget was $500 and we
didn't have 60 puppeteers, we couldn't duplicate the movie version! But still,
there had to be a way to increase the animation and menace of Stage four Audrey
II. Here is what we considered:
1) If we could carry the Stage three pod over
into Stage four, it would be more active and animated. But how would it swallow it's victims
whole?
2) What if the pod drank blood and talked,
but another part of the plant consumed flesh and bone and whole victims?
3) What part of the plant would consume its
victims and where would this part be in relation to the talking pod?
That's when the concept developed for a large
bulb, as the base of the plant, that could open and consume its victims. Then, placing the pod atop the bulb on a
stem. This way, Audrey II can sing
clearly while munching on Audrey at the same time!
When the stage and set design precluded
hidden puppeteers to operate Audrey II's vine tentacles, the concept of
Plantlings was born. (That and an
ongoing battle with blackberry vines in the backyard. They constantly spread
via runners: vines that branch off of the main plant and take root when they
touch the ground, forming new plants.)
Plantlings, then, are attached to Audrey II via runners. They have a root base and clusters of leaves
above (a puppeteer costume). They also
have vine tentacles to coax prey into Audrey II's bulb. In the finale, the victims become Plantlings
as well, with flower heads instead of tentacles.
All together, these features add up to a more
animated Stage four Audrey II. And,
since Audrey II's base is on casters, Audrey II and the Plantlings are all free
to move forward and menace the audience at the close of the finale. Also, Audrey II spreading through the use of
runners is quite terrifying, especially if you have blackberry vines in your
back yard!
Eric, who was the voice of our Audrey II has
a goatee. This is why our Audrey II has
a goatee as well!