# Vomitorium/Vomitory



## Dally (Sep 2, 2008)

I think one of my favorite things about theatre history is the word "vomitorium". 
Just wanted to get something going on here.


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## derekleffew (Sep 2, 2008)

Dally said:


> ...about theatre history is the word "vomitorium."...


I believe most scholars of the theater of ancient Greece agree the proper term for that tunnel through which pass audience and performers is a "vomitory". The Romans much later bastardized the word into "vomitorium." It is for certain false that either word was ever used to describe the location where one would regurgitate.

_The Living Stage._ Macgowan, Kenneth and Melnitz, William. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1955.
_Theatres and Auditoriums._ Burris-Meyer, Harold and Cole, Edward C. Little, Brown & Company, 1949.

Or, for a more contemporary source: The Straight Dope: Were there really vomitoriums in ancient Rome?.


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## cdub260 (Sep 2, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> It is for certain false that either word was ever used to describe the location where one would regurgitate.



Well I don't know. If the show was bad enough, or if it was dinner theatre with a particularly slovenly cook, people might regurgitate there.


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## Van (Sep 4, 2008)

I've always explained it as tunnels or entrances which vomit actors onto the stage. Pretty picture huh ? I believe, and I could be wrong here, the name vomitorium is applied only to tunnels, or other architectual passagways, that open directly onto the stage. expressly for the purpose of acting entrances.


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## ruinexplorer (Sep 7, 2008)

No, I think Derek is right, the Vom is for the audience, not the actors.


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## elite1trek (Sep 9, 2008)

I agree with Van, I have always been taught that a vomitorium, or vom - for short, is a tunnel under the seating area that leads onto the stage, for use by actors.


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## philhaney (Sep 9, 2008)

From Dictionary.com:

*vom·i·to·ry * [vom-i-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]
_adjective, noun, plural _ *-ries.* 
_–adjective _
1. inducing vomiting; emetic. 
2. of or pertaining to vomiting. 
_–noun _
3. an emetic. 
4. an opening through which something is ejected or discharged. 
5. Also called vomitorium. an opening, as in a stadium or theater, permitting large numbers of people to enter or leave. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1595–1605; < L _vomitōrius_, equiv. to _vomi_-, var. s. of _vomere _to vomit + -_tōrius _-tory]


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## Clifford (Sep 9, 2008)

I always heard it was the spaces through which the audience entered and exited.


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## jneveaux (Apr 13, 2009)

Van's right based on what Tyrone Guthrie/Tanya Moiseivitch and Ralph Rapson used them for in the original Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. See: http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/04guthrie.html;[/url] and photo here: [/media] and here http://collections.mnhs.org/VisualResources/image.cfm?imageid=88591&Page=1&Keywords=Guthrie Theater ; I published my master's thesis on design for the thrust stage and as I recall, virtually every major thrust stage built in the 60s and 70s (when they were the rage) had vomitori (or "voms") as entrances for the performers and sometimes for scenery. There were some great lighting angles down there too.


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## NickJones (Apr 14, 2009)

Another new word, I'm gunna use that word as much as possible now! Just love it. And I didn't make a Dad joke about actors and vomit. Thats allways a good thing.


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## TheatreImage (Apr 14, 2009)

When we were working in Arenas and Stadiums that was the place you did not want to stand to check the sound... those silly beer drinken people above you... never knew what to expect!


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## Van (Apr 14, 2009)

jneveaux said:


> Van's right ......


 

Those are two words I can never hear enough of..... after the last two weeks I really needed to log on and read that. Thanks.


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## wfor (Apr 14, 2009)

We had "voms" in a recent arena-set production I was in.

The only real voms I've seen were at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery. Its about a 1/2 thrust I suppose, and has two ramps that come up to the stage. Used in The Comedy of Errors, very, very well produced show. 

It makes a fantastic entry point, as the performers seem to come up through the audience, rather literally.

The all school audience got a kick out of "vomitorium" when they were asked about in the after show Q&A session.


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## jneveaux (Apr 16, 2009)

Van said:


> Those are two words I can never hear enough of..... after the last two weeks I really needed to log on and read that. Thanks.


Of course. Now that you've seen it in writing, you can rely on it.


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## renegadeblack (Jun 20, 2009)

I'm not sure if it qualifies, but I have what we call the "chute" that leads into the house from back stage, officially, its an emergency exit hallway, but we use it very much so for entrances into the house, would that also be a vomitory?


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## museav (Jun 22, 2009)

I have seen the term "vomitorium" applied to arenas, stadia and even churches in regards to audience entrances, so at least in modern usage I would have to go with the broader interpretation of an entrance through the audience area.


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## seanandkate (Jun 22, 2009)

Another vote for Brad and Derek. I think that it originally was for audience entrances (I believe I read signs to that effect when I was visiting the Roman amphitheatre in Orange, France) and then in a more modern context, it came to mean an entrance through an audience area.


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## Didaskalos (Aug 2, 2009)

In permanent late-Roman theatres, the _vomitoria_ (sing. _vomitorium_) were in fact the barrel-vaulted passages under the stone bleachers through which the audience was "expelled" from the theatre. In modern theatres, however, the tunnels lead onto the stage and are used by actors and crew for entrances and exits.


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