Theatrical Superstitions/Sayings
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
There are many famous theatrical superstitions: saying 'Macbeth' in a theatre or having live flowers or mirrors on stage. Equally, theatreland has many sayings: 'break a leg', for example. Each of these has a perfectly simple, yet little-known explanation.
"Break A Leg"
The saying 'break a leg' is a reference to the front curtains, or tabs [all curtains are called 'legs']. If you have a successful night, the curtains will of course be raised many times for encores, and in older theatres, they are hand-cranked. Repeated raising and lowering could cause the mechanism to break, thus 'breaking a leg'.
Mirrors and Flowers
Others are more based in common sense. The strong lights onstage will reflect horribly from a mirror or mirrored surface, blinding the audience; thus, they are a REALLY bad thing to have on a set. Similarly, flowers will wilt under such strong heat, so if placed on a set, they'll look a little pathetic after a night under hot lights.
Macbeth
The Macbeth myth probably stems from the fact that it is the most-performed play of the Shakespeare canon - short, crowd-pleasing, full of action, and with plenty of meaty roles. Therefore, there have been more 'incidents' since it was written than with any other play (as well as the fact that it has three fights - the death of Banquo, Macbeth's battle with Young Siward and Macbeth's final struggle with Macduff - which gives more scope for accidents than your average comedy). However, proportionally, there have been no more accidents during the performing of Macbeth than with any other play.