Theater superstitions
The most common theater superstition is the idea that wishing one good luck is bad luck, thus to wish someone well in a theater they must tell the actor to “Break a leg.”
Of course according to English theater (or is that theatre?) lore one must not mention the real name of “The Scottish play” (Macbeth) penned by William Shakespeare. There are many popular references to the belief that the Scottish play is cursed (including a Simpsons episode) but I particularly like the inferences from the BBC series Blackadder where the title character torments a couple of actors that have been hired by the prince.
The tale of Macbeth encompasses supernatural influences, ghosts, witches, betrayal, politics and guilt– any combination of which might lend to the play’s “cursed” status. It’s also been noted that there’s an inordinate amount of sword play and fighting throughout the play, which even in pretend can lead to some serious injuries, and the actors could be attempting to use luck to counteract the necessarily unlucky aspects of swinging pointy things around at each other.
Stray animals also bring their luck for better or worse into the theater with them.
It’s said that if a loud frog or toad comes into the theater when the cast is rehearsing it must be kept as a pet until the close of the play or it will take the best and most beautiful voices with it, until shown due kindness. Those that merely throw the frog out the door fair better off than those that kill the frog, since a live frog can be brought back into the theater and be reasoned with to give the voices back– however dead frogs take more work (since the frog’s soul according to legend is able to transport the voices with it to the after life, where it uses it’s new found song to gain all sorts of favor.) The dead frog must be given a pure gold coin, baptized, married (presumably to another frog of the opposite sex), and given a Christian burial upon holy ground, complete with a headstone– at which point the frog will lend the voices that it has taken. The frog’s marriage partner then must be cared for in the theater until the close of production or the frog’s soul will have the ability to take the voices back.
Yellow dogs must not be allowed into a theater at all, since it’s believed that any yellow dog can carry the devil on it’s back (or that the devil may disguise himself as a yellow dog.) Black dogs may not enter a theater without being invited because black dogs represent the angel of death, an unbidden black dog forebodes a disaster or fatal accident.
A hangman’s cat (a long haired black cat) must always be treated kindly within the confines of the theater, and any stray black cat should be fed, then removed as gently as possible to avoid problems with the ropes curtains and pulleys. While a black or mostly black cat with a smooth coat can be allowed to hunt for mice and rodents, but must be confined during rehearsals and performances for the safety of the cast and crew.
A cat of any color that leads her kittens to the audience area during rehearsal means that the production will be particularly blessed if they are allowed to stay until the last line is spoken. It is also bad luck to complete a play without an audience, so unless select friends and family of the cast are in attendance during rehearsals the last line of a play is left unspoken.
The only time a cat is considered unlucky is when it crosses the stage, foretelling injury or disaster.
Whistling in a theater is bad luck for a rather practical reason; the stage hands were given cue signals using sailors whistles. A jaunty tune whistled by an actor or passer by could set off a cascade of misdirected props, curtains, and stage directions and result in a clumsy production catastrophe.
There’s one superstition that says an actor or actress must never wear new makeup on opening night and another that says the lead male should always use new crayons on his face throughout the production, but especially on opening night. Its unclear if there’s any supernatural reason for wearing used make up, but the normal explanation is that make up (like many things in olden days) had poor quality control, thus using a formula that had worked during rehearsals insured that it would work during production.
Now the story of why the lead male should always wear new make up, not only on opening but through each night of production is interesting. There’s a tale of a handsome young stage hand (who was an out of work sailor) that fell madly in love with an understudy, the lead actress fell ill and the female understudy was promoted. Some say that the lead actor seduced her then was cruel to her, others say that he was just cruel but the original lead actress quickly recovered from her illness and the understudy was demoted again– the end result was that the stage hand found the object of his affections in the ropes hanging above the stage, again some stories say suicide, some say that the director refused to demote her back to understudy and that she was murdered.
Someone (maybe the stage hand, maybe the soul of the forelorn and betrayed young woman) then pushed sharp pins into the lead actors makeup crayons, and tainted his wine with juniper. Being expert at putting on his make up, the lead actor did so without a mirror and due to the juniper didn’t feel a thing. He then put on his mask and went out to perform a comedy. During curtain call, on that fateful opening night he pulled the mask from his face, expecting applause– only to hear the horrified gasps and screams from the audience.
While the story is great (and would make an excellent campfire tale for spooking teenagers) there’s no recorded event that collaborates it. Which could mean that it was moral tale made up to convince experienced men to avoid breaking the hearts of pretty innocent women, and somehow mutated over the years. Or it might be a very old story that (given the universal theme of love, betrayal and vengeance) updates well to more modern times through each telling. It has elements that are very old (like the wearing of a mask throughout the play which dates back to Greek theater) and elements that are fairly modern (the stage hand being an unemployed sailor which was very common in England during the 18th century as well as the use of elaborate sets that required ropes and pulleys.)
And one more bit of Blackadder for your amusement:
