HANDS ON and Palindrome Theatre

DON’T SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT

Texas-based Palindrome Theatre Company (which, incidentally, doesn’t read the same backwards as it does forwards) are performing a unique adaption of Hedda Gabler at the Hill Street Theatre in Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival… with a little last-minute help from a Glasgow-based production company.

The team from Palindrome Theatre had been commissioned by ReMarkable Arts to stage their reworking of the Ibsen classic, and flew over to Scotland last Tuesday to begin their run. Nigel O’Hearn, the Artistic Director, was confident that the replica guns they were travelling with, integral to the script, would be arriving safely with them at Edinburgh Airport. But when they did not, he turned to Hands On Production Services in Glasgow for urgent assistance.

O’Hearn says, “Finding a firing replica gun, or starter pistol, in Texas is like finding an axe, or a handsaw – or anything marginally dangerous but practically useful. When Hedda Gabler was running in the States and I had to obtain a firing pistol for our production, it took me zero phone calls and twenty minutes. I walked into my neighbourhood gun store and asked for a firing cap pistol. They handed it to me, and I paid for it.” As O’Hearn was not a gun owner, he asked what he was to do when he travelled with it or took it anywhere. The response was “Well, it’s not real… So it’ll be no problem trying to take it with you wherever.”

O’Hearn accepted this answer (although he questioned the logic slightly), and the shop was content to send him on his way, after a few safety pointers, with a gun in a plastic carrier bag. “That is how assured gun-dude was that travelling with this thing would be absolutely no problem.”

While he recognises that he may be stereotyping Texans as cavalier with weapons, O’Hearn is keen to tell this story in order to explain “why I believed I wouldn't have any trouble locking a gun in a box, after showing it to some lady at an airport in Texas who put a piece of paper on it saying she checked it, and why I had full confidence that the gun would head with me to Scotland.

“For fellow international Fringers, let me enlighten you now: you CAN NOT take anything that looks like a gun into the UK, or continental Europe, with any sort of ease. Your gun laws are not their gun laws, and what you consider dangerous is not what others consider dangerous.”

Rather unsurprisingly, the replica weapon purchased by Nigel for Palindrome Theatre was taken away from them, in Amsterdam. He had a small, official-looking piece of paper taped to his luggage saying “confiscated materials." Nigel is not confident that he will see the gun again.

Palindrome Theatre’s production of “Hedda Gabler” ends with a gun shot, and there is a lot of action surrounding a gun. “As you might imagine, it tends to break the audiences' suspension of disbelief when someone has to pretend their finger is a gun, and someone else is reduced to shouting ‘BANG!’ at the end of a fairly dramatic play,” says O’Hearn.

He and the theatre group therefore landed in Edinburgh two days before their show opened without an essential prop. “Turns out, it is very difficult to procure a gun in the UK. Due to some laws passed a few years ago, they have become very hard to come by. For the most part, I think this is a positive thing. It does, however, become quite infuriating when one is producing an adaptation of a show written in the midst of the industrial revolution, when apparently guns were abundant and a playwright couldn't stand to end a show without a ‘BANG’.”

Fortunately, O’Hearn was pointed in the direction of Hands On Production Services in Glasgow. He called Hands On around 11am telling them that he needed a gun by 2pm the next day in time for the opening of the show. Although the company offered several delivery options, O’Hearn decided it would be less risky simply to come through to Glasgow and pick up the gun in person.

“When I arrived, my desperation and panic was soothed out of me completely. A selection of possible choices were laid out for me. Hands On has an arsenal of prop guns and weaponry from all eras, and they made sure we had guns that would fit our production's specific period. All appropriate paperwork was prepared, ready for me to read and sign. I was handled with great care and true interest in my production. I received a full tutorial from Perry, the armourer, on how to operate the gun. Suffice to say, when I left Hands On, I could breathe for the first time in 48 hours, because I knew my show would go on.

“That is, go on without my having to stand in the back of the house shouting, ‘Ka-blam!’”

Meet the Marketing Manager

Kirsty's Blog
Recent Happenings at HANDS ON Headquarters


Hello readers. I am Kirsty, and I am the Marketing Manager for HANDS ON. Unlike Perry, I haven't been in the film/TV/theatre industry for thirty years... in fact, I am relatively new to all this. However, I thought I would share my insights into the crazy world of hiring out guns, ordering bespoke swords, rigging up comedians and rugby teams and meeting the people behind some weird and wonderful projects.


Lately we have met some lovely people working hard on amazing stuff. Had a nice chat with the guys at Kilbarchan East Drama Group who tapped into our now-famous Steamie knowledge when they put on the production in June. They had made the whole set from scratch, including working sinks and authentic looking bottles o' ginger. Good effort (view some photos of their work here.)


When I am not chatting away to customers, my day job includes updating the website, designing and sending out the e-flyers and keeping our social media up to date (on Twitter and Facebook.) I am learning a lot about using Adobe Flash in order to create more interactive web content for our customers. My favourite project so far has been letting Albert the Knight - our suit of armour - spread his interesting facts, HANDS ON musings and hilarious Middle Ages jokes with our customers through his Facebook page. 


I spent yesterday helping Perry (our Technical Director and the source of all the interesting stories in this Blog) catalogue all of his live firearms. We have loads... and I am pleased to report that I can now tell the difference between a Moisin Nagant, a Luger and a Beretta. Sort of. These are the guns which can only go out on hire if Perry (an armourer) goes out with them, so they are mainly for film and TV use. He must have some good stories about who has handled his weapons....


At the moment I am working on a lot of events-related marketing material. We want to let everyone know - especially venues - that they can work with us on events and weddings to create something really unique and memorable. An e-flyer to Fringe venues and wedding venues is coming soon, as well as some adverts and meetings. Tell everyone you know! (Also, DON'T BUY CHEAP GAFFER TAPE! As my mum always says, if you buy cheap you buy twice!)