Should I read it or not?

Reading 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%]

Found 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!

I had only ever heard of the superstition in relation to a certain Shakespeare play.

Something about the line is supposed to invoke Hubris...
Can't remember exactly what...

Pamela wrote:
>
> Found 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.)
>


Thanks for that, Pamela. I'd never heard of the practice, and now that I have, I can't say that I agree with it.

My inclination would be that the benefits of practicing much outweigh the disadvantages.
A shoddily rehearsed curtain call can dissipate the final effect of a successful play, whereas one that looks good (...or perhaps better, one that includes business or choreography in keeping with the final mood of the performance...?) can add to the feeling of a cast and director working together to impress an audience. What better statement of ensemble than that?

Particularly when casts return for an encore bow; that can sometimes spell disaster if it hasn't been somewhat planned. Some performers returning to the stage, when others are halfway back to the dressing rooms...everyone shuffling about rather self consciously...no one in the line knowing when to bow...urgh! HOWEVER it's just as bad to see a mechanical, automatic choreographed encore when it's obviously not spontaneous, or even called for by the audience response.

Performers ought to be immediately ready to return to the stage, with a fair idea of where to go and how to respond...someone needs to be responsible to make the decision whether to return or NOT, based on good judgement of crowd reaction...and yes, some happy casual bewilderment is still appropriate...to acknowledge that the encore is genuinely spontaneous and not mechanical.


As far as indicating the relative importance of roles, it would be a pretty unaware ensemble who doesn't have that figured by day one! If you're worried that a hierarchical curtain call will violate the 'idea of an ensemble', I'd be more worried that you haven't done enough work creating an ensemble in the first place.
A true ensemble will be totally comfortable with the rather obvious fact that there are often roles that require greater effort than others. A curtain call is not only for the actors, but also to allow the audience to acknowledge this fact.
You're still onstage, there's no excuse for it to be under-rehearsed.


Cheers,
Craig

[%sig%]

Pantomimes usually end with all the couples who have ended up married (as is the case with all good pantos), speaking a set of rhyming couplets each, with the hero and heroine doing the last set. It is pantomime tradition for these last two lines not to be spoken until the last dress rehearsal. These lines are often directed to the audience, along the lines of "haven't you all had a good time?"