I was told by a very experienced fight director not to whistle on stage or in it's vicinity whilst rehearsing.The reason being apparently that in days of yore sailors used to operate the flys and scenery and used whistling as cues to bring in the big scenery changes.So if you don't want to be hit by a flying backdrop during your big number,good advice i guess.
A Grid Key is....held by only those who are entrusted to keep it's secrets! I'm sorry that I cannot impart the True Wisdom of the Grid Key to anyone not already in the know until I'm on my death bed and then only to one who is qualified to carry it.
Otherwise my heart will be rent out and buried a cable's length from the shore on which the sea regularly ebbs and flows!
Lil...I was told by an ex director of the Bolton Octagon that ALAN might well be holder of one of the Grid Keys. As such, he is INDEED sworn to secrecy as to its import by The One Who Watches Over Him.
If Alan fears the wrath of Sir John Gielgud's ghost then...perhaps...our own Leer Avitz might know of someone here who would oblige...I DARE NOT I'm afraid!
I profess to know nothing of the grid key. Though I may have an inkling.
Apparently, no - one knows why they call a 'green room' a 'green room', either.
I remember someone telling me something like: when the lighting in the theatres was provided by using the phosphorescent properties of burning lime (hence, naturally, being 'in the limelight') in the nineteenth century, you didn't wear green because the lime gives off a greeny sort of light. This, meant that if you wore green, you couldn't be seen nearly as well from the back rows of the theatre. Hence, actors remain superstitious about wearing green. Supposedly.
Similarly, as regards the famed 'unluckiness' of performing the 'Scottish play', although most people seem to think it has to do with the content hardly proving conducive to generating 'good vibes' (might the same not be said of Hamlet, Lear etc.???!), one school of thought maintains it was, rather, 'bad luck' to perform that particular piece of Shakespearean brilliance because it always brought in an audience. Idiotic though that sounds, the idea was that, if you were already down on your luck, you needed to promote a crowd pleaser in the season, and that was when M**beth (see what I did there?:)) was rolled out. In other words, to perform it was a clear indicator that you had run out of ideas/money/public support.
John Wilkes Booth, incidentally, broke his leg because he got one of his riding spurs stuck in the bunting that was adorning one of the boxes (I think it had been laid out especially to celebrate the fact that the President was in to see the show that night). He proceeded to land very heavily on the stage. This has always struck me as quite an amusing mixture of the tragic and the absurd.
Another interesting 'theatrically' related fact about the killing of Lincoln is not that Booth was an actor (I think most of us are vaguely aware of that), nor that he came from one of the most respected acting families in the USA at the time (although he did - though his brother was the real 'star'), nor even that he had performed in a number of productions of 'Julius Caesar' and came over all Roman Republican on the night ('sic semper tyrannis' - 'so do all tyrants [perish]' was his cry as he shot the President). No, I still think the most interesting fact about all this was that Booth knew the play that Lincoln was watching that night (a hugely popular piece called 'Our American Cousin') so well (because, again, he'd acted it more than a few times) that he deliberately chose to fire the shot at the point in the play at which he knew the biggest laugh of the night would be produced. This would have served as good temporary cover for Booth's action if he hadn't got that spur tangled up...though it may also be the worst case of upstaging the business has ever known. Tells you something about the man. Who knows?
Hardly a comment on a theatrical superstition, but I do love an oddity. I'll see if I can find anymore soon.
I should point out here that all actors are superstitious to a degree.
All those superstitions are based on the fact thatno-one wants to be responsible for a show 'closing' early. So the 'last line' and 'shoes on chairs or tables' always refer to the end of the play, packing up, etc.
It's generally believed that if everyone involved with the show thinks positively about it then it will run forever.
A lot the others can often be put down to 'distractions' on stage that make you forget your lines. Catching a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, for example, could make you think of what you look like and so change your mind set at a crucial moment! Real jewelry can throw off a sharp light which could also be distracting for the audience as well as the actors.
I'm not superstitious at all. I just don't allow anyone to mention the Scottish play, whistle, wear real jewelry or drink my tea in the green room before a play performance. Since I always seem to have the last line of the play, these days, I never remember it so that isn't a problem.
In Blood Brothers there was a new immature cast member who was discussing these superstitions before his first performance and took great delight in making sure he did everything that he wasn't supposed to superstitously speaking. That was the first (and last, I'm sure) night that the gun shot went off prematurely at the end of the show!
I covered it with 'That was a warning shot, Mickey. Put the gun down!' But it proves the point!
I have no time for superstitions myself but I do try and be understanding of other peoples feelings and not do anything to upset them if they have a real belief in it.
Do you really honestly think that any of those things actually effect the show/performance? If things go badly it's for other reasons or just coincidence.
I still never go under any ladders. However, I remember I always felt I had to take my "Rescue Remedy" at drama school and probably for a year or so after graduating, just to relax me before I went on stage. As I became more confident within myself as an actress, I forgot to take it oneday and haven't taken it since. It basically consists of various different ingredients thrown into a grape alcohol solution!
'I'm not superstitious' the Mother said 'No, I'm not superstitious' the Mother said!
One of my lines in Blood Brothers after Mrs Johnson saw new shoes on the table! Then goes into a mad fugue until they are taken off the table by the woman who put them there!
That reminds me of you, Libi!
'I'm not superstitious' but three footed rabbits inhabit your garden, right?
ANIMAL HOUSE => "Adolescents Need Idiotic Moves, And Landis Has Obliged Us"
DRACULA => Dark Royal As Cunning Undead Lady Attacker
DUNE => Dull, Uninteresting, Needs Editing
EVITA => Endless Vivacity In The Argentine
MASH => Medical Army Surviving Horrors
RAMBO => Rocky As Military Bozo in Orient
STAR TREK => Space Tirade About Romulan Tyrannical Rule, Evil Klingons
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER => The Heated Event Has Unfolded Now, That Foxy Old Red Russian Earns Defection Over Crisis, The Operative Bought: Enigmatic Ryan
TWIN PEAKS => The Wierdest Imagary Never Previously Encountered, Also Kompletely Surreal
WAYNE'S WORLD => Wacky And Young Newcomers Excite Screen With Original Repartee, Lunacy, Dialogue
Damn, got me started now. Please note - that in the example above, I shouldn't have emphasised the 'W' in right - wingers, because that just makes me look like I was trying to spell the title, CABERWET, doesn't it? Anyway...
I just made one up for TREASURE ISLAND:
The really enigmatic adventures surrounding unchartered realms embodied in some legless and nautical deckhand!"
Although HONEY WAGGON is defined as "A honey waggon is used to clean out the sewage and septic holding tanks. ", I have always thought it was so called because the old portaloos were hexagonal in shape and had small windows round the top, resembling a bee hive....hence HONEY WAGGON!
You must login as a candidate to participate in the forum.
Please note:Messages written in the forum do not represent the views of The Mandy Network, nor have they been vetted by The Mandy Network staff.
If you read something which you believe to be offensive or defamatory, please contact us and we will take the appropriate action.
