Have You Heard of These Theatre Superstitions?

Ghost Light.

Most theatres have at least one night a week when they have no performance on and are therefore ‘dark’. Superstitious theatre managers would leave a lit candle on the stage on these evenings allegedly in order to appease the ghosts of the theatre, who can then use the light to see and thus stage their own performance that night.

Whistling.

Whistling in the theatre is thought to bring bad luck on the whistler. This can be traced back to the days when sailors on leave would work as stage crew and communicate the dropping of ropes and scenery to each other by whistling. Thus, if an actor whistled, it might result in a piece of scenery being dropped on them