Peter Quince is a character in William Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night's Dream . He is one of the six mechanicals of Athens who perform the play which Quince himself authored, "The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe " for the Duke Theseus and his wife Hippolyta at their wedding. Titania's Fairies also watch from a distance: Moth, Peaseblossom, Cobweb and Mustardseed. His name is derived from "quines" or " quoins ", which are interlocked oversized corner blocks used by masons to add extra strength at corners and edges of stone walls.
14-443: A green room is an off-stage space or facility for accommodating people about to be making public appearances. Green room may also refer to: Green room In show business , the green room is the space in a theatre , or a similar venue, that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage . Green rooms typically have seating for
28-430: A green room above one's station. As often in etymological questions, the precise origins of a term are difficult to establish. This has led to many folk-etymological hypotheses and claims for high-profile terms such as green room . One of the oldest stories is that London's Blackfriars Theatre (1599) included a room behind the scenes, where the actors waited to go on stage, which happened to be painted green, and
42-412: A parody of the popular mystery plays of the pre-Elizabethan era, which were also produced by craftspeople. His metrical preferences refer to vernacular ballads. Despite Quince's obvious shortcomings as a writer, Stanley Wells argues that he partly resembles Shakespeare himself. Both are from a craftsmanly background, both work quickly and both take secondary roles in their own plays. Robert Leach makes
56-476: A performance, and one of the symptoms of nervousness is nausea. As a person who feels nauseous is often said to look "green", suggesting that the 'green room' is the place where the nervous actors wait. Comedian and dancer Max Wall attributes the phrase to Cockney rhyming slang , where 'greengage' is 'stage', therefore 'greengage room' is 'stage room'; like most rhyming slang, the term was shortened, hence '"green" room'. Rhyming slang can be traced only as early as
70-439: 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. It is possible that 'green room' might be a corruption of 'scene room', the room where scenery was stored which doubled as the actors' waiting and warm-up room. Many actors also experience nervous anxiety before
84-457: A traditional actors' term for the stage ever since. Even in proscenium arch theatres, there was a tradition that a green stage cloth should be used for a tragedy . The green room could thus be considered the transition room on the way to the green/stage. Technical staff at some West End theatres (such as the London Coliseum) still refer to the stage as 'the green'. It is sometimes said that
98-465: The 1999 film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream , he is portrayed by Roger Rees as a strong character extremely capable of being a director. It is he who leads the search party looking for Nick Bottom in the middle of the play. The character is named in the title of a Wallace Stevens poem, " Peter Quince at the Clavier ", which is written in the first person as if spoken by Quince. Peter Quince
112-418: The "glare" might well be apocryphal, a modern reference to bright stage lighting. Richard Southern , in his studies of medieval theatre in the round , states that in this period the acting area was referred to as 'the green'. This central space, often grass-covered, was used by the actors, while the surrounding space and circular banks were occupied by the spectators; Southern states that 'the green' has been
126-561: The 1840s, whereas the phrase "green room" predates this by several centuries, making such an etymology unlikely. In Shakespeare's day, the actors waited in a "tiring house" probably because actors were attired (put on or changed costumes) in this space. Here it is mentioned by Peter Quince as he plans for his acting troupe to rehearse in the woods: QUINCE: Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house; and we will do it in action as we will do it before
140-639: The duke. Samuel Pepys mentions these locations at the Drury Lane Theatre Royal in 1667: ...she took us up into the Tireing-rooms and to the women's Shift, where Nell was dressing herself and...then below into the Scene-room, and...here I read the Qu's (cues) to Knepp while she answered me, through all her part of Flora's Figarys... Peter Quince Quince's amateurish playwriting is usually taken to be
154-437: The performers, such as upholstered chairs and sofas. The origin of the term is often ascribed to such rooms historically being painted green. Modern green rooms need not necessarily adhere to a specifically green colour scheme, though the theatrical tradition of the name remains. Some English theatres contained several green rooms, each ranked according to the status, fame, and salary of the actor: one could be fined for using
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#1733085745634168-435: The same point. In performing the play Quince recites the prologue but struggles to fit his lines into the meter and make the rhymes. The noble audience makes jocular comments, whilst the rest of the mechanicals struggle (except for Bottom, who rather confidently improvises). Traditionally, Peter Quince is portrayed as a bookish character, caught up in the minute details of his play, but as a theatrical organizer. However, in
182-422: 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 colour . Furthermore, limelight was invented in 1820 and the term "green room" was used many years prior to that. The term 'green room' is also attributed to the makeup worn by actors; long before modern makeup was invented, the actors had to apply makeup before
196-411: Was called "the green room". A later renovation of London's Cockpit-in-Court theatre in 1662 included a green baize dressing room, which has also been suggested as the origin of the term. It has also been theorised that such waiting rooms were originally painted green to "relieve the eyes from the glare of the stage." On the other hand, early stage lighting was by candlelight and later by gaslight, so
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