To Steal Someone's Thunder

Younger siblings are notorious for blurting out the punch line just as big brother or sister has built up to the climax of the story. In such an instance, the older child might scream, “Stop stealing my thunder.”

Those who heard the phrase might assume it referred to some Greek or Norse myth similar to the tale of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods. But actually the phrase origin has nothing to do with gods. The idiom refers to play productions.

In modern plays or films, sound effects – dogs barking, stairs creaking, horns honking, thunder rolling – are added electronically. But in pre-electronic times, the sound of a dog barking or a rooster crowing came from an actor offstage, one who was proficient in animal imitations. The sound of thunder might be made by beating a drum or rolling a cannonball across the floorboard, or shaking a sheet of thin metal.

In 1704, Drury Lane Theatre in London presented a production of the Roman play “Appius and Virginia” by John Dennis. For the storm section of the play, Dennis had devised a new method for creating the sound of thunder. However, exactly what that method was has been lost. According to The Phrase Finder (phrases.org.uk), scattered allusions in other literary works suggest it may have involved rolling metal balls in a bowl.

Unfortunately for Dennis, his play was not well received. It closed after a short run.

Not long afterwards, Dennis’ new thunder method was used to create the atmosphere for the opening scene of “Macbeth,” the famous witch scene that begins, “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”

Dennis, still bitter from the unfavorable critique of his own play, was recorded by the literary scholar Joseph Spence as saying, “Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder.”