Adam Schmitz explores the spooky side of theatre.
Ah theatre. A place for dramatic performances by dramatic people. Theatres tell stories - and those off stage are often more interesting than those on stage. Theatres are full of traditions and superstitions, from the worlds most famous stages on Broadway to your local playhouse. In fact, superstitions and traditions are prominent even in UCD’s own theatres, whether that be only using the left fire exit in Astra Hall or the age old tradition of walking into the DramSoc theatre and being accused of stealing a prop. Ah theatre! In honour of Halloween, here’s some of theatre’s spookiest traditions!
Ghost Lights
A ghost light is a lonely, single standing light that takes centre stage when everyone else has gone home. Practically, the ghost light helps anyone coming in first thing in the morning to make their way to the light switch without falling into the orchestra pit, but where’s the fun in that? Every theatre has a ghost (obviously) and the ghost light does them a number of favours. Firstly, it ensures the theatre isn't completely dark when just the ghost is home, as that would be rude. It also provides the ghosts with a full night of stage lighting, allowing them to perform to their heart’s content, ideally tiring them out so that they won’t haunt the performance taking place the next day. Spooky!
The Scottish Play
Perhaps the most famous of theatre superstitions comes at the hands of theatre’s Shakespeare: William Shakespeare. The legend goes that saying the name of his famous play, Macbeth, while inside a theatre will cause disaster. Now there is one crucial caveat to this, you’re allowed say the name of the character Macbeth, just not the name of the play, Macbeth. So why can’t you mention one of theatre’s most famous shows? Well, history, duh. Performances of MacBeth have seen fires, deaths and stage mishaps. More recently, Chris Rock broke the golden rule by congratulating Denzel Washington on his performance in The Tragedy of Macbeth while hosting the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre. Moments later, well, clearly Will Smith is quite passionate about this particular superstition.
Break a Leg
I’m writing to you here, dear freshers. I can see you now, lining up to take part in your first Fresher’s Takeover with Musical Soc, and you’re wondering to yourself, “These people are all awful, why is nobody wishing me luck?”. Well, fear not, they’re not being rude (probably), they’re actually obeying one of theatre’s oldest superstitions! Saying ‘Good luck’ is one of the unluckiest things you can do in a theatre, ironically. The superstition goes back until at least the 1920s, and has most commonly seen the phrase replaced with theatre’s meanest well wish: “Break a Leg!”. Why? Well, there’s a couple of theories. Some say that its simply insulting someone rather than wishing them luck, thus having the opposite effect. Others say it refers to a bow, where you “break” your leg, to bend at the knee and bow to your audience. Regardless of why we wish broken bones on one another, it's important to remember not to wish your castmates luck, or you could end up on the bad end of a horrible theatre mishap (or worse!).