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ARCHIVED - Teatro Romea in Murcia restores seat which is never occupied due to the curse of the friar
Legend has it that a devastating fire will destroy the theatre when there is a full house
The renovation and restoration has been completed in the Teatro Romea in Murcia, of arguably the most important seat in the house; one which is never occupied!
The seat is located in Box 10 of the parterre level, and although it is without doubt one of those best placed to watch performances, no-one is ever allowed to sit in it due to a curious superstition which arose in the years after the Romea opened. According to the legend, if the theatre is ever completely full for a performance it will be devastated by a disastrous fire, and in honour of the tradition the seat has now been upholstered with black velvet in order to mark it out from its claret neighbours.
The origins of the legend go back to the time when the theatre was built in the mid-19th century, when the square now named Plaza Romea was the Plaza del Esparto and the construction necessitated the appropriation of land from the church and monastery of Santo Domingo. This, it is said, so angered one of the friars that he placed a curse on the new theatre – which was originally named the Teatro de los Infantes – ensuring that three fires would break out in the building and that the third one would be the most tragic as it would occur when the theatre was full.
When this legend first gained popular credence is unclear, but what is for certain is that on 7th February 1877 the evening performance included fireworks, and the following morning at around midday the theatre was ablaze, almost certainly due to a slow-burning remnant of the pyrotechnics. Not until two days later were the flames extinguished, by which time the building had been completely gutted, and a total reconstruction was needed.
On 10th December 1899, disaster struck again. The evening’s program had been reorganized to include a performance of “Jugar con Fuego” (Playing with Fire), and when the audience saw what appeared to be a flash of lightning while the orchestra was playing the prelude, they assumed it to be a part of the production. They were wrong, and the directors of the performance had to plead for calm while the orchestra played on: the curtain fell down in flames, and as everyone suddenly hurried to the exits one young man lost his life.
It was probably at this point that the curse of the friar emerged, and since the third official opening of the theatre in 1901 the seat in Box 10 has never been occupied in order to ensure that although the “sold out” signs may be in evidence there is never, ever, a full house at the Teatro Romea in Murcia city!