2025 Workshop - General - Stage Blood

Stage Blood - How to make and use fake blood!

It works for theatre and also, it is never too early to get ready for Halloween! 

In Shakespearian tragedy there are ... well, a lot of unfortunate deaths. And what is a good death without a bit of blood! Over the years of staging a number of Shakespeare's tragedies at Lester B. Pearson School for the Arts we went through a lot of stage blood. So much that we developed our own recipe that can be made in quantity, looks really good, and tastes great! (Umm ... chocolate) 

We will show you our recipe for stage blood, have you make some yourself, and show you how to make simple blood packets.

Rob Cairns & Alexis McKenzie

Rob is Past-President of OGEHR and director of the Jubilate Bells from London. He also sings and conducts a number of vocal groups. That is on the music side, but theatre is also a large part of his life. Rob taught both vocal music and drama at Pearson for 29 of his 34 years of teaching. In that time he directed over 70 shows, many of them Shakespeare tragedies. 

Alexis is a grade 10 student at London Central Secondary School. She recently stage managed the Met Live production of Hamlet and was in King Lear and DeRailed, both at Lester B. Pearson.  Outside of school Alexis was in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. She loves the arts and plays the cello, as well as sings in her spare time. In the Met Live and Pearson production Alexis was in charge of making stage blood and the packet for use on stage.