Green Room
A green room is a room in a theater, studio, or other public venue for the accommodation of performers or speakers when not required on the stage. Its function is as a break/touch-up lounge so that performers do not have to go back to wardrobe/dressing rooms and are still easily accessible for their call. The first recorded use of the term was in 1701 but the origin of the term is unknown and is the source of many folk etymologies such as:
- The room was originally painted green to “relieve the eyes from the glare of the stage.” On the other hand, early stage lighting was by candlelight, so the “glare” might be apocryphal, a modern reference to electric stage lighting.
- It is sometimes said that the term green room was a response to limelight, though the name is merely a coincidence — “limelight” refers to calcium oxide, not to the fruit or color. Furthermore limelight was invented in 1820 and the term was used many years prior to that.
- Many actors experience nervous anxiety before a performance and one of the symptoms of nervousness is nausea. As a person who feels neauseous is often said to look “green”, so the “Green Room” is the place where the nervous actors wait.
- Some studies state that the green room was originally called the retaining room. The ensemble of a production would wait there for their appearance onstage, listening to the performance of the principal actors and critiquing their acting. When made aware of this practice, the leads began to call the retaining room the green room, mocking the (green) envy of these actors.
- In Restoration theatres, the main, seasoned actors waited for their entrances in the wings – or sometimes even at the sides of the stage – while the minor players, usually young, less experienced “green” actors, were banished behind the scenes. Hence, the backstage room was for the “green” players and came to be called the green-room.
- According to one theory, long before modern makeup was invented the actors had to apply makeup before a show and allow it to set up or cure before performing. Until the makeup was cured, it was green and people were advised to sit quietly in the green room until such time as the makeup was stable enough for performing. Uncured makeup is gone, but the green room lives on.
- In Shakespearean theatre actors would prepare for their performances in a room filled with plants and shrubs. It was believed that the moisture in the topiary was beneficial to the actors’ voices. Thus the green room may refer to the green plants in this stage preparation area.