"...and THEN the actors vomited onto the stage!"

Elizabethan Stage

I went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last week to learn about vomit.

Really!

See, I took a tour of the Elizabethan Stage where the outdoor plays are held, and the actor leading the tour shared something interesting.

In front of the stage are two tunnels that lead beneath the audience. And from these secret entrances, actors can suddenly pop out, almost like they were vomited out of the crowd!

These tunnels are called "voms" or "vomitoria." (Just one tunnel is called a "vomitorium.") What's cool is that the Wikipedia entry for them actually mentions the ones in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Anyway, we got to explore a vomitorium, but to my disappointment, no one blew chunks. But it was sort of a hot day,  and two of the people in the group fainted. We had to call 911 and everything. (It was almost as exciting as seeing someone take a gut dump onstage!)

The fainters were fine. 

I took the first picture; 

the second is from here.