Well, since you asked...
Pod #4 is another world unto itself. One of the biggest challenges I faced was a voice actor who wanted to speak very quickly. At first he balked when I asked him to slow down so I could lip sync. I figured that the only way to get him to see my point of view was to switch places and put him in the puppet. I’ll just say that he came around quickly and became a great performing partner.
Pod 4, when built according to Martin Robinson’s
How to Audrey II is operated generally in a crouching position. The puppeteer’s feet are in contact with the floor though an opening at the base of the pod. There are two shoulder straps that criss-cross and attach to the lower pod. The lower lip is operated by a strap that connects at the very front of the puppet, at the lower lip. The upper pod is operated by a crossbar that runs across the pod left-to-right. I padded this bar with a piece of pipe insulation, which made it easier on my hand, and also protected the “eating” victims. When Twoey is particularly menacing the pod is lifted from the floor and rested on the knees to give her some height.
I would crouch facing about 45 degrees off-axis to the left, allowing my right arm to remain tucked closer to the body. This allowed me to lift and lower the upper pod faster than if I faced straight-on with the puppet. For basic lip sync I would lift the upper pod, keeping it essentially level while lowering the lower pod with the strap. So the right hand was going up and down in tandem with the left hand going forward and backward.
Eating Mr. Mushnik was fairly easy. He would knock on the pod and I slowly raised the upper pod, allowing the lower pod to simply rest on the floor. Once inside, Mushnik would crouch slightly and I would chomp down very quickly, and immediately open the mouth very wide and Mushnik would fall back onto the lower lip and I would chomp down across his chest while he shrieked. (We referred to this as our tribute to Robert Shaw in
Jaws.) During the fall he would hook his ankles around mine. Then I’d open wide again and he pulled himself into the pod and execute a third chomp. Then I immediately stepped to the side, standing sideways in the pod to allow Mushnik passages to scramble out the back as quickly as he could. While he was making his escape I would “chew” vigorously with the upper pod, not raising it more than a couple of inches, and accompanied by appropriate vocal effects from the voice actor. Once Mushnik had escaped I would stop the chewing which was the voice actor’s cue to take a one second pause and then erupt in a large, evil laugh. This allowed me to open the pod wide and demonstrate in a natural way that Mushnik had been “digested”. It was a GREAT way to end the scene.
For scenes with the “grabbing branches” we had our timing carefully planned so that I would slightly move the pod to match the actions of the arms. I have seen productions where the arms move and the pod is still. This makes them look like separate entities rather than a single plant. When Audrey first gets chomped at the end of
Sominex she was the one in charge of the ensuing thrashing about. I could really do nothing but go along for the ride, and a good actress can really sell it. When Seymour rushes in to save her Twoey laughs and I would just go straight to the floor. After the
Somewhere That’s Green reprise we had it timed so that right when the offstage chorus begins singing their “ahhhhh”s the pod would very slowly open. Seymour would place her in, getting her head as deep into the plant as he could, but leaving her lower legs protruding. I would, again very slowly, close the pod over her. Audrey would grab either the upper pod’s lifting bar or my ankles (I always preferred it when she grabbed my ankles somehow
...). In preparation for the “big slurp” I would ever so slightly rock the pod forward to sync the pod, Audrey and the voice together. As the pod rocked back Audrey would slowly pull herself the rest of the way into the pod while the voice slurped. The voice and I would then do some very gentle chewing and a swallow, then fall to complete rest.
Seymour’s final confrontation was a bit of a challenge. Fist the gunshots. We had to be very clear at what points he would fire the gun so I could slightly recoil to their sounds. For one production, when he fed the rat poison we had a tube arranged with a squeeze bulb. The end of the tube had been loaded with powder so I could squeeze the bulb to expel the “poison”. It was an OK effect, but I’m not certain it was worth the effort. Once he pried open the pod with the machete I aimed the pod downstage left. Seymour ran to that corner of the stage after the “...I’ll hack you to bits” line. I had opened the pod this time by standing wide and raising the top of the pod with my back and shoulders. Seymour finished his line and RAN and dove into the pod. I immediately slammed down the pod and began chewing violently while Seymour escaped. (with a running start it didn’t take long!) On his way into the pod he deposited the machete right at the front of the pod. This was the only way we could devise where I could find it every time. So I had crawled into the mouth to the front to get the machete, “chewing” all the while. Once I stopped, the voice actor would take a beat and then belch while I opened the mouth only enough to allow me to toss the machete downstage center.
Getting ready for the finale needed to be carefully drilled with everyone involved. I stood and moved the pod as close to center stage as I could guess. An assistant would come and place me specifically while others attached the finale branches. While waiting for the curtain to raise I would make sure the trunk “skirt” was in good position simply by kicking it into place so I would not trip over it.
Right at the line “Look out, here comes Audrey II” I would begin inching straight downstage. I never wore shoes in the puppet so I could feel where I was at all times. I would move all the way downstage until my toes reached the edge of the stage. This would leave a majority of the pod hanging into the audience where I could appropriately menace the audience. On the very last “Don’t Feed the Plants” I would raise the upper pod as high as I could and lower the bottom pod as low as I could so I could execute one last huge chomp right on the button/blackout of the number. I’d pause for a 3 count to make sure the stage was in total blackness and then run backwards upstage as quickly as I could. I knew to stop when I ran into the set. Then I collapsed until it was time to pop the pod and come out for my curtain call.
Hope this info is helpful! Any questions, just ask.
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Also, just how heavy is it likely to be? 
