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  • 1.  Sleeping Beauty Stage Kiss

    Posted 01-11-2023 19:17
    Alright - another small town theater teacher question! 

    I'm directing Sleeping Beauty by Charles Way this Spring. My Sleeping Beauty and Prince do not feel comfortable having their first kisses be on stage (understandable). I'm not sure how to stage the final kiss without ruining the iconic Sleeping Beauty kiss moment. If I angle her upstage, would that work? 

    Any ideas welcome!

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    Melanie Duke
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  • 2.  RE: Sleeping Beauty Stage Kiss

    Posted 01-12-2023 03:19

    A couple solutions that I have seen work.

    If you want a small comedy moment, you can have him feed her a Hershey's kiss (that's what I had to do for censorship reasons).

    You could also have someone hold up a "censored" bar and have a kiss sound effect.

    If you want to keep the integrity of the moment, I would suggest that if the prince has a cape as part of the costume, to sweep it around to block both of their faces from view (would need to be downstage from SB) and pretend to make the kiss.



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    Joshua Watters
    Mr.
    LaGrange Park IL
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Sleeping Beauty Stage Kiss

    Posted 01-12-2023 08:56
    I had a similar situation a couple of years ago with a play that had Snow White.  I angled her upstage and had the Prince come in front of her with his back to the audience.  He leaned over her and it looked like they were kissing to the audience because of the body positioning.  Another option would be to have him kiss her on the forehead or the cheek.

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    Jeremy Grant
    Madison Southern High School
    KY
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Sleeping Beauty Stage Kiss

    Posted 01-12-2023 12:26
    I've had to fake a kiss on stage a couple time (although actually is always better and preferred) here's a couple ideas that worked with my kids.

    Cheat the angle a bit and have them angle their heads to go in for the kiss and have them touch noses instead. When done right it gives a decent illusion of a kiss. It gets them close enough that when angled right the audience doesn't notice it's fake. This works well on a bigger stage.

    On smaller stages where the audience is closer or on multiple sides I've used this technique. Have the guy place his hand on her cheek and draw her in for the kiss. At the very last minute he quickly puts his thumb on her lips and kisses his own thumb instead of her lips. The timing can be a bit tricky as you don't want the thumb to be on the lips too early so that the audience notices, but done right it does work. He just needs to be quick getting his thumb in place, kiss, and move the thumb away quickly as he pulls away.

    In both cases, body language will go a long way to helping disguise the kiss as well. The more in love and longing to kiss each other the actors behave the more that will help to sell the illusion.

    Good luck!



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    Jillian Lietzau
    Lutheran High School
    CO
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Sleeping Beauty Stage Kiss

    Posted 01-12-2023 12:45
    I've had good results with choreographing a dip, angled upstage -- I think this is similar to what Jeremy is describing. 

    example -- Actors face each other; Prince puts downstage hand around SB's waist and upstage hand behind SB's head/neck for support; SB puts downstage hand around Prince's neck or shoulders and upstage hand around Prince's waist. SB rotates to face downstage & leans back while Prince rotates to face upstage and leans over SB. With practice, it can look very swoopy and romantic.

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    Sullivan Mackintosh
    Drama Advisor/Theater Director
    Canby Union High School
    OR
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Sleeping Beauty Stage Kiss

    Posted 01-13-2023 09:06
    After my first "kiss issue" in a school play, I came up with a procedure that has largely headed off such problems ever since.  When a play contains a kiss that is necessary to the story, and when that kiss really needs to be seen by the audience, I ask on the audition form if the students and their parents would be comfortable with the student kissing another cast member, whomever that might be.  Students who say yes can be considered for the role(s) in question, while those who say no are considered for other roles.  I even explain to them that neither choice is "good" or "bad" - that all actors make choices about lines that they will or won't cross in order to accept roles.

    About including the parents on this: I do that because that very first kiss issue came up with a girl who had no problem kissing a boy onstage.  Her parents did have a problem with it, and they only contacted me a couple of days before our opening to object to the kiss.  (To be fair, they may not have known about it any earlier.)  They also weren't happy with my proposal to fake the kiss, because this was a matter of a religious practice where their daughter could not show that kind of affection in public.  Since this was Elaine happily accepting Mortimer's marriage proposal at the end of Arsenic and Old Lace, the kiss was rather important to the story, and to the emotional vibe of the moment.

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    Jeff Grove
    Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
    Stanton College Prep
    FL
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    Original Message


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