The age of actors in theatre programmes

[aadenny]

Why do theatre 'biogs' of ac-tors never tell you his/her age? I can understan an ac-tor getting peeved at every mention of his age in a 50-word tabloid story (witness the theatrical reviews this week for '43-year old Madonna') but when it's a thousand words in a theatre program, going back many years, are they really that coy? Or is it just (irritating!) custom?

[firefly]

The reason why ages are mentioned more in newspapers than in books is that newspapers are transient things-they are only meant for that week, or more usually, that day. With books you are meant to have no idea of the date of publication (hence the complicated Roman numerals), hence to keep republication costs done and allow for the book to be constantly sold years later.

[aadenny]

'Firefly' misunderstands my question. By 'biog', I mean the potted histories of actors that appear in theatre programmes, with lists of the things they've appeared in. When an actor appears in a play, or even a long-running musical, they rarely do so for very long. And anyway, why don't they say the year of birth. OK, I can understand the coyness when it comes to 'ladies of a certain age', but it's clearly a custom that they even avoid the years of when they appeared in plays or films - ladies and gents both. If I was an actor this would irritate me to distraction, and I'd insist the dates appeared in the programme. After all, I consider the year that things happened is an essential part of my life. .

[firefly]

Do you mean the year that you wore born is an essential part of your life? Certainly, people who promote newspapers on the day you're born agree with you, but is it that important? I think the 'biogs' in theatrical programs are more to do with what productions an actor has been in before. Other facts-year the actor was born, their interests, their politics etc, tend to be left behind.

[JohnPPotts]

Publishing the dates of when they appeared in productions might be worse, as it might give rise to comments such as "if this is such a great actor why haven't they done anything in the last x years." But I suspect it is mainly actors' vanity.

[andy hughes]

Actors like to keep the range of parts they are offered as wide as possible. So, if a casting director is looking for a 'thirty-something' male lead, he may be put off by knowing that actor 'X' is 45, even though he can easily pass for thirty-something - so actors like to keep people focused on the ages they can play, not the age they actually are. It's the same logic that means most actors use black-and-white publicity photos - its amazing how much of an impression can be made by the colour of someone's clothing. So actors keep their appearance as neutral as possible, in photos, and in programmes.