Theatre Superstitions

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by ReiRei

And once upon a time ago, my friend walked under a ladder with an umbrella while whistling and saying Macbeth before a show. In front of actors.

The walking under a ladder one actually has a fairly mundane and somewhat obvious origin. People who walk under ladders have a nasty habit of getting things dropped on them. Hence the belief that it's unlucky to walk under a ladder.

Personally, I'd consider this one more of a safety tip than a superstition.

[TOG]

Originally Posted by sk8rsdad

"...I am not sure how it relates to the theatre unless it involves over-tightening a cast c-clamp without a safety chain attached, thereby killing an innocent bystander below.

You let 'danes on deck while hanging?

I refuse to be the blunt instrument for some Darwin Award contender. The last noob who tried to walk under my ladder got to spend the next hour walking backwards through the house seats row-by-row while singing the "A-B-C" song over and over.

[philhaney]

Originally Posted by Grog12

How many dancers does it take to change a light bulb?

Heh dancer's can't find their light.

How many Master Electricians does it take to change a light bulb?


One, and it's a lamp, d_mn it!

[Van]

Originally Posted by philhaney

How many Master Electricians does it take to change a light bulb?


One, and it's a lamp, d_mn it!

How many IATSE electricians does it take to change a light bulb?





5 .....You got a problem wi' dat?

[Smurphy]

Ok that mad me laugh van. I am actually very superstitious, (coming from my acting background) I was acting before teching, I find tech tweaks my interest more. But anyway I do not say the M word in the theatre and do not say good luck but I do whistle thats just crazy.

[toyboyt122]

Regardless of the superstitions, I knew I found my long sought black shoes when i found the brand Macbeth. I don't have to say it to proudly wear the dreaded name for every performance.

[TheSlowPoisoner]

Well, I'm not much for superstitions, other than the "M" word, but last week, I think I may have gained myself a new one. I'm not really one for whistling usually, I'm more of a hummer for the most part, but on this particular day I had pantomimed stealing a sardine from the set, and thus whistled as the universal sign of "I didn't do it".

The very next day, while retrieving a lamp base from our storage space, the top rung pulled out of the ladder on which I was climbing and I went splat. I probably didn't fall more than eight feet, but apparently it was loud enough to terrify the people in the hallway by the stage door on the opposite side of where I was that somebody had finally crashed our revolving set into one of the side set pieces. Luckily, I didn't hit my head on impact, and my only lasting injuries were a bruised rib, whiplash (or at least a neck muscle injury that felt a lot like it), and an overwhelming feeling I'm a fat***.

Although it probably had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was whistling on stage, I probably won't be doing it again any time soon.

[derekleffew]

Well, okay, TheSlowPoisoner, but you DO realize that not whistling onstage is not a superstition, but a tradition, regardless of whether or not one believes the oft-debated fable about sailors.

Originally Posted by philhaney

...
- Never whistle on stage unless it is part of the play. The reason for this is that most theatres were in sea ports. They were hemp houses, and they employed sailors ashore to run the rigging. The sailors would whistle commands to each other. So, whistling on stage was an open invitation to have a batten or sandbag fall on your head. ...

Some theatre historians have totally debunked this as myth, and have suggested it must have been started by someone who found whistling annoying. What would prevent the audience from hearing these whistles, and wouldn't that be distracting?

See Theater Superstitions for more fiction.

[TheSlowPoisoner]

Interesting that you didn't call out any of the other nine thousand people in this thread who cited whistling in a theatre as a superstition.

Superstition, tradition--I don't care. I was merely telling a story that seemed to pertain to what this thread was intended to discuss.

[WestlakeTech]

One of the Tech1s on the crew said Good Luck to one of the actors last night. He got a bit sarcastically upset.
"You never say GL!"
"oh, sorry, break a leg."

We actually made a joke on the last show that techies should say "Break a light."

Whistling on stage is a new one for me. I know plenty of people who have whistled on stage and no one's had a sandbag or batten dropped on them yet.