Theatrical superstitions

Theatrical superstitions are superstitions particular to actors or the theater. Acting being a chancy business, there are a lot of these.

• Shakespeare's play Macbeth is said to be cursed, so actors avoid saying its name (the euphemism "That Scottish Play" is used instead). The leads themselves were referred to as "Mr. and Mrs. M". Dire consequences are said to befall anyone who doesn't use the euphemism. However, it is said that cast members are protected from the curse- but that is to be doubted. It is also said that Macbeth has never been staged without at least one of the actors being killed or seriously injured during the run. There is no hard evidence for or against this, but it is worth pointing out that the play includes more fight scenes and other such opportunities for accidents than the average. The origin of this superstition is unknown, but its continued popularity is probably due to the juicy stories of doom that grizzled actors tell newbies. One commonly believed origin is that Macbeth, being a popular play, was commonly put on by theaters in danger of going out of business, or that the high production costs of Macbeth put the theater in financial trouble. An association was made between the production of Macbeth and theaters going out of business. Not to mention, That Scottish Play was- and is- a real crowd pleaser, so acting companies short on cash would put up the show, in hopes to rake up more money to keep themselves from going out of business.
• It's unlucky to wish good luck upon an actor or a production. Instead, one should invite disaster; the phrase "Break a leg!" is most commonly used. As with many theatrical superstitions, there are multiple histories. The specific origin of this is unknown.
  • It may be a relict of a more general superstition against wishing someone good luck. In "the olden days" people believed that there were mischevious sprites around, and so to stop the sprites from having the opposite effect (bad luck) one would wish the actor the opposite- a superstitious reverse pschycology.
  • The phrase "Break a leg!" may date to Vaudeville days. As the story goes, more actors would be in attendance than were actually necessary. An actor needed to actually appear on stage to be paid, thus "breaking a leg" is to appear on stage, and therefore get paid. (A leg is a type of theatrical masking that hides the wings of the stage). The phrase probably would have moved into mainstream through the 1920's and 30's movie industry.
• Another idea or origin is that beig nervous, an actor's muscles or legs could cramp up, and one could overheat in the costume during a show. In that case, break a leg meant something along the likes of "loosen up, and enjoy the show!"
• For similar reasons, actors should not be given flowers before a performance. After is ok.
• One should always leave a light on in an empty theater; this wards off ghosts (hence the light is often referred to as a ghost light). This superstition has practical value. The backstage area of a theater tends to be full of clutter, so someone who enters to find the theater completely dark is liable to injure themselves while hunting for the light switches. (This would have been a worse problem before the invention of electric light.) Theaters that have stood for more than a few decades tend to have lots of associated ghost stories; more than other public buildings of similar age.
• Another ghost-related superstition is that the theater should always be closed one night a week to give the ghosts a chance to perform their own plays. Traditionally this is Monday night. This conveniently gives the actors a day off right after the weekend performances.
• Never whistle on stage or off. This one is related to a similar rule for sailing ships.
  • The original stage crews were hired off of ships in port. Theatrical rigging has its origins in sailing rigging. Sailors, and by extension theatrical riggers, use coded whistles to communicate scene changes. Actors who whistled could confuse them into doing something at the wrong time, which could in turn get someone clobbered with a piece of scenery. Nowadays, the stage crew normally uses an intercom or cuelight system.
• No real money should be used on stage. This might derive from gamblers' superstitions about money, or it could just be a sensible precaution against theft.
• No live flowers or mirrors on stage. This is pure practicality; flowers will wilt under stage lights, and mirrors will reflect stage lights at the audience if the set is not designed with extreme care. (The musical A Chorus Line has a famous mirror scene; it can be done.)
• It is bad luck to complete a performance of a play without an audience in attendance, so one should never say the last line of a play during rehearsals. To get around this, some production companies allow a limited number of people (usually friends, family, and reviewers) to attend the dress rehearsals.
• A bad dress rehearsal foretells a good opening night. This is probably sour grapes.
• No wearing of green unless absolutely necessary. This would be so because in the 1600's (and before and after!) shows were often performed out on the grass in a field. Therefore, an actor wearing green would be very difficult to spot. As times progressed, the same problem occured onstage. A type of popular lighting, often called "limelight" because of its green hue was used to light up stages, causing the same problem from the grass. This may lead to why the play Robin Hood is looked upon as unlucky, for most of the actors are dressed in green.
• The color blue being unlucky, unless countered by wearing silver. This is because years and years ago blue dye was very costly, so a failing acting company would dye some of their garments blue, in the hopes to please the audience. As for the silver to counter it... then one would know that the acting company was truly wealthy, to enable actors to wear real silver.

External links

• [1] (http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/Defymcbeth/Super2.html)

• Theatrical Superstitions and Saints (http://faculty.wm.edu/lecatr/theatrical_superstitions_and_saints.html)
• Theatrical superstitions from the High School Drama Network (http://www.ihigh.com/drama/thingstuff/thingstuff_superstitions.html)