hayden

There are a couple of people in my family in the theater, and we were talking about theater traditions, superstitions, etc.

None of us knew why theater people say "break a leg" to wish people luck. Any one know?

Then my SIL said no one in the theater (except of course cast members repeating lines) could say "Macbeth". Was she correct? or is that just a local thing?

What are some of the other traditions?

NJTheatreMOM

Not saying the name of the Scottish Play is certainly not just a local thing where you are! Apparently, productions of Macbeth have been plagued with bad luck ever since the play was first performed, leading to a superstition which is very well known in the theatre world.

My son was in a community theatre production during which somebody backstage said he didn't believe the superstition and uttered the word, and sure enough there were a couple of minor mishaps during that performance. Could just have been that everyone was more nervous than usual, but....

There is actually a Wikipedia article entitled "The Scottish Play."

doctorjohn

There's also a Wikipedia article entitled "break a leg". It's a delightful piece, and includes the Yiddish version, the Polish version, what dancers say, what opera singers say, and many more.

Have fun, Hayden.

forrest

These are simply time-honored superstitions thought to bring bad luck just as serving - if not eating - pickled herring on opening nights is supposed to bring good luck. Fisherman beleive it will bring bad luck to say the word "pig" on board. I asked a fisherman friend if anybody really beleives this and he said. "Of course not. But nobody says it either."

chrissyblu

My daughter was always taught to say "thank you places" after the director says "places." I don't know why.

NJTheatreMOM

Chrissyblu, I found this on a website:

"Thank You ____
When a stage manager (or anyone, for that matter) says anything about time to call, linesets, or lights, in the theatre you say 'Thank you ____.' For example, if it's five minutes to place, and the stage manager calls '5 minutes!' everyone says 'Thank you five!' If someone calls that Lineset 12 is moving, you say 'Thank you twelve!' If someone says 'Going dark!' you say 'Thank you dark!' "

My son had told me about "Thank you 5" but I didn't know about the universality of the tradition as indicated above. (I don't even know what "lineset" means!)

Here is another one......my son has told me that before a play starts, the participants always (?) have "circle time".....I think that's the right term......sort of like a football huddle, with different specific traditions according to the theatre or group. I never entirely understood about that....
.

hayden

This was fascinating. Thanks for the responses.

When I realized from your answers that this was a broad-based tradition, I asked a student in a film program if any theater superstitions carried through to film sets, and she said no, not at all. But then she added "but of course, I'd never say the name of the Scottish play", and she was totally serious.

quilll

Dnacers have something similar, they never wish each other luck, they say Merde, which is French for *****, instead, before a performance.

smrtrtl25

You say "thank you____" because it lets the stage manager know that you heard whatever call correctly. When they say "5 minutes to places" and no one responds, then the stage manager doesn't know if you heard him/her or not. "Thank you___" is simply an acknowledgement.

forrest

Just to be contrary, I have a friend who - after looking around and making sure no one can hear her - utters the name "Macbeth" just before her entrance. To date I have not seen anything go wrong because of this.