Should I read it or not?
Thu, 29 Jan 2004, 09:49 pmcrgwllms5 posts in thread
Should I read it or not?
Thu, 29 Jan 2004, 09:49 pmReading through some of the suggestions for future polls, I came across this rather odd one.
I don't think it will be listed as an actual poll, because it seems to me to be too obscure, but I thought it might be worth discussing to find out where the idea originated...I've never heard of it.
The poll suggestion was:
SHOULD I READ IT OR NOT?
Should the last line of the script be read before opening night or not?
- Never!
- Not on purpose
- Doesn't matter
- Who really cares
- I love to say Macbeth
Seems strange to me that the most obvious option, "uh, YES" is not listed as a voting choice. So I am assuming that this is supposed to be a theatre superstition, that you should not utter the final line before the show opens?
Have to say I've never heard of this, and I've certainly never seen it observed in practice...in fact it seems to me to be a highly undesirable habit.
Can anyone (perhaps the author of the poll suggestion?) shed some light as to where this notion may have originated, and what it's meaning is? Has anyone ever actually been in a production where this was observed?
Cheers
The Poll-tergeist
[%sig%]
I don't think it will be listed as an actual poll, because it seems to me to be too obscure, but I thought it might be worth discussing to find out where the idea originated...I've never heard of it.
The poll suggestion was:
SHOULD I READ IT OR NOT?
Should the last line of the script be read before opening night or not?
- Never!
- Not on purpose
- Doesn't matter
- Who really cares
- I love to say Macbeth
Seems strange to me that the most obvious option, "uh, YES" is not listed as a voting choice. So I am assuming that this is supposed to be a theatre superstition, that you should not utter the final line before the show opens?
Have to say I've never heard of this, and I've certainly never seen it observed in practice...in fact it seems to me to be a highly undesirable habit.
Can anyone (perhaps the author of the poll suggestion?) shed some light as to where this notion may have originated, and what it's meaning is? Has anyone ever actually been in a production where this was observed?
Cheers
The Poll-tergeist
[%sig%]
Re: Should I read it or not?
Fri, 30 Jan 2004, 12:56 pmFound this on a uni theatre website -
SPEAKING THE PLAY'S LAST LINE IN REHEARSALS
Some theatre folks believe it is bad luck to speak the last line of the play before opening night, because the play isn't "finished" until performed. (Somewhat connected, I've always postponed blocking the curtain call until the very last moment, mostly because doing it says "we're finished" when we aren't. Too, the way a curtain call is blocked necessarily will indicate relative importance of various roles, and I dislike making that statement to the cast because it violates the idea of an ensemble, the creation of which is always one of my directorial goals.)
Thou roguish fat-kidneyed gudgeon!
SPEAKING THE PLAY'S LAST LINE IN REHEARSALS
Some theatre folks believe it is bad luck to speak the last line of the play before opening night, because the play isn't "finished" until performed. (Somewhat connected, I've always postponed blocking the curtain call until the very last moment, mostly because doing it says "we're finished" when we aren't. Too, the way a curtain call is blocked necessarily will indicate relative importance of various roles, and I dislike making that statement to the cast because it violates the idea of an ensemble, the creation of which is always one of my directorial goals.)
Thou roguish fat-kidneyed gudgeon!