Vomitorium/Vomitory

[Dally]

I think one of my favorite things about theatre history is the word "vomitorium".
Just wanted to get something going on here.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by Dally

...about theatre history is the word "vomitorium."...

I believe most scholars of the theater of ancient Greece agree the proper term for that tunnel through which pass audience and performers is a "vomitory". The Romans much later bastardized the word into "vomitorium." It is for certain false that either word was ever used to describe the location where one would regurgitate.

The Living Stage. Macgowan, Kenneth and Melnitz, William. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1955.
Theatres and Auditoriums. Burris-Meyer, Harold and Cole, Edward C. Little, Brown & Company, 1949.

Or, for a more contemporary source: The Straight Dope: Were there really vomitoriums in ancient Rome?.

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

It is for certain false that either word was ever used to describe the location where one would regurgitate.

Well I don't know. If the show was bad enough, or if it was dinner theatre with a particularly slovenly cook, people might regurgitate there.

[Van]

I've always explained it as tunnels or entrances which vomit actors onto the stage. Pretty picture huh ? I believe, and I could be wrong here, the name vomitorium is applied only to tunnels, or other architectual passagways, that open directly onto the stage. expressly for the purpose of acting entrances.

[ruinexplorer]

No, I think Derek is right, the Vom is for the audience, not the actors.

[elite1trek]

I agree with Van, I have always been taught that a vomitorium, or vom - for short, is a tunnel under the seating area that leads onto the stage, for use by actors.

[philhaney]

From Dictionary.com:

vom·i·to·ry [vom-i-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]
adjective, noun, plural -ries.
–adjective
1. inducing vomiting; emetic.
2. of or pertaining to vomiting.
–noun
3. an emetic.
4. an opening through which something is ejected or discharged.
5. Also called vomitorium. an opening, as in a stadium or theater, permitting large numbers of people to enter or leave.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1595–1605; < L vomitōrius, equiv. to vomi-, var. s. of vomere to vomit + -tōrius -tory]

[Clifford]

I always heard it was the spaces through which the audience entered and exited.

[jneveaux]

Van's right based on what Tyrone Guthrie/Tanya Moiseivitch and Ralph Rapson used them for in the original Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. See: http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/04guthrie.html;[/url] and photo here:

[/media] and here http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualRe...hrie%20Theater ; I published my master's thesis on design for the thrust stage and as I recall, virtually every major thrust stage built in the 60s and 70s (when they were the rage) had vomitori (or "voms") as entrances for the performers and sometimes for scenery. There were some great lighting angles down there too.

[NickJones]

Another new word, I'm gunna use that word as much as possible now! Just love it. And I didn't make a Dad joke about actors and vomit. Thats allways a good thing.