In days gone by, actors and theatre people were a very superstitious bunch. Less-so these days but there are still a few people around who might get upset by such things.
So, if you come to the theatre often it’s worth knowing the most common ones so as not to offend anyone.
Break a leg
Some actors believe that you should never wish anyone good luck. Instead, the phrase “break a leg” is often used. There are lots of possible origins for the phrase including:
· It refers to bending the knee to take a bow; in other words you hope the actor has a good enough performance to get a resounding round of applause.
· The side curtains on a stage are known as legs. In the early days of variety acts, performers stayed on stage for as long as the audience were enjoying them, which meant that sometimes acts that were low down in the order never got to perform. So, to wish someone ‘break a leg’ means I hope you get on stage.
· I have also heard the origin as being the tongue-in-cheek greeting given to an actor by his understudy.
· An unlikely explanation is that it comes from the fact that John Wilkes Booth broke his leg jumping to the stage after shooting Abraham Lincoln.
Whistling
Whistling backstage and in particular in the dressing room is considered bad luck. This probably comes from the days when whistles were used for stage crew to communicate to one another, and in particular to signal the flying in of backgrounds or scenery. An inadvertent whistle could have accidently signalled the release of a background and the consequent risk being that the unfortunate whistling actor might be hit with a stage weight.
The Scottish Play
It is considered bad luck to mention the play Macbeth; instead it is simply referred to as “The Scottish Play”. The origin of this is because of the number of theatre disinters associated with the production, such as one of the actors dying during the first time the play was staged.
Fake not real
A little less common is the superstition that it is bad luck to have real flowers on stage – if there are flowers required for the play, they must be fake. Same goes for money. Although that latter superstation might have more to do with worries that whoever supplied the money might not get it back after the show!
The Last Line
There was a time in theatre when it was considered bad luck to speak the last line of the play on a run-through before opening night. This superstition has all but died out, but there are some people who believe, on a similar vein, that the cast shouldn’t take their bows until there is an audience present. Both acknowledge the fact that any play is only truly complete when there is an audience!
Final thoughts
Personally, I am not superstitious, and I think these days most actors aren’t either – it wouldn’t bother me to break any of these ‘rules’. However, I don’t know if any of my fellow actors are or are not. So out of respect I keep these superstitions – if someone does believe them, for me to break them might unsettle them and an unsettled actor may lead to a bad performance and a poor show.
By Ian M Butterfield
