History MoralEventHorizon / Theatre

* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', at least as far as Elphaba was concerned, the Wizard crossed the horizon when he broke Professor Dillamond's will, turning him from a respected professor into a mindless animal. For Madame Morrible, the horizon mark came when she created the cyclone that brought Dorothy to Oz (and killed Elphaba's sister Nessarose). Interestingly enough, once Glinda takes the reins of government, she is willing to simply exile the Wizard from Oz (this might be because [[spoiler: he's realized -- to his horror -- that Elphaba, whom everyone believes is dead, was his daughter]]), but has Morrible sent to prison.

* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', at least as far as Elphaba was concerned, the Wizard crossed the horizon when he broke Professor Dillamond's will, turning him from a respected professor into a mindless animal. For Mrs. Morrible, the horizon mark came when she created the cyclone that brought Dorothy to Oz(and killed Elphaba's sister Nessarosa). Interestingly enough, once Glinda takes the reins of government, she is willing to simply exile the Wizard from Oz (this might be because [[spoiler: he's realized -- to his horror -- that Elphaba, whom everyone believes is dead, was his daughter]]), but has Morrible sent to prison.

* ''Theatre/TheOresteia'':
** Agamemnon crossed it in backstory by [[OffingTheOffspring murdering his daughter Iphigenia]] to appease the gods so he could sail for war in Troy.
** Clytemnestra is a much more sympathetic character, given that she's trying to avenge her daughter's murder, but she eventually goes too far when she slays the innocent Cassandra out of jealousy because her husband took her as a SexSlave.

** Clytemnestra is a much more sympathetic character, given that she's trying to avenge her daughter's murder, but she eventually goes to far when she slays the innocent Cassandra out of jealousy because her husband took her as a SexSlave.

* Stanley's crossing of this in ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' came when he [[spoiler: raped Blanche to insanity and then lied that he never once touched her afterwards]].

* Theatre/PeerGynt plays with the trope. Although it seems Peer Gynt himself is about to cross the MoralEventHorizon a number of times, he secures himself by hovering juusst over the edge of it. He even lampshades this as his leading principle. It occurs to him, a little late in life, that this constant playing with the trope gains him a FateWorseThanDeath, and he crosses the DespairEventHorizon instead. And this freaks the living batshit out of him.

AlternativeCharacterInterpretation in {{Theatre}}.

* ''Theatre/AvenueQ'': The Bad Idea Bears encourage self-destructive behavior in the other characters. They already do their fair share of havoc by manipulating Princeton into spending all his money and having sex with a drunk Kate. They finally cross it when they try to [[spoiler:talk Princeton into hanging himself]].

* In ''Bat Boy: The Musical'', Dr. Parker is a pretty sympathetic character until he murders a kid in order to frame the title character. After that, he's more of a monster than Bat Boy ever was.

* The works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare have [[MoralEventHorizon/WilliamShakespeare their own page]].

* ''Theatre/Medea'' committed numerous atrocities before the play even begins - although these were not all part of her story until after Euripides wrote the play. These include: a) chopping up her younger brother and tossed the pieces into the ocean so that her father would have to delay his pursuit to gather the pieces for a proper burial (this was so awful that Jason's intervention was the only thing keeping the rest of the Argonauts from tossing her overboard too), and b) convincing two kids to cut up their father and put the pieces in boiling water, under the pretense that it will make him younger.

* Medea. She convinces two kids to ''cut up their father and put the pieces in boiling water'', making them think it'll make him younger. And that's even before the scene when she puts the children she had by Jason to the sword.
** She crossed it even before they got back to Argos when she ''chopped up her younger brother and tossed the pieces into the ocean'' so that her father would have to delay his pursuit to gather the pieces for a proper burial. This was so awful that Jason's intervention was the only thing keeping the rest of the Argonauts from tossing her overboard too.
** Though that only happens in the myth. In the play her MoralEventHorizon is stabbing her two children ''purely'' because it will hurt Jason. This is after she kills his wife by lighting her on fire with magic poison. Oh, and then she [[KarmaHoudini sails off to Athens under the aegis of the king]].
** Though, most of these (aside from murdering her brother) weren't included in the story until Euripides introduced the idea that she murdered her children. Up until that point, she was more of a deeply flawed WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, since Jason ''was'' kind of a bastard to her.

* Similarly, Theatre/RichardIII probably hit it when he had the princes murdered. Even ''the play itself'' indicates that he's crossed a line: up until now, Richard has been cajoling his audience and sharing his plans and ambitions. Immediately after the princes' deaths, though, Richard suddenly loses all of his charm and verve, like a rapidly deflating balloon.

* Claudius crosses by murdering his brother before the beginning of ''{{Hamlet}}''.
* In ''Theatre/HenryV'' we are expected to root for the English over the French, despite the fact that the English have a very flimsy justification for going to war and the play admits this. So to make sure the audience knows the French are nasty customers, Shakespeare has the French soldiers, [[SoreLoser when they realize they're going to lose]], massacre the teenage boys who carry the english army's supplies, one of the highest war crimes possible in those days.

* The blinding of Gloucester marks Cornwall's crossing in ''Theatre/KingLear''. Goneril and Regan possibly also cross at this point if they haven't already with their treatment of their father.

* The titular character in Theatre/{{Macbeth}} (the play for which the page image is an illustration) reaches this point when [[spoiler:he has Macduff's family, including the kids, murdered.]]

* Iago's crossing in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' is the enactment of his plan to ruin Othello.

* In ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus'', Tamora, Demetrius, Chiron and Aaron all cross the MEH with Lavinia's rape and mutilation.

* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Caldwell B. Cladwell]] crosses this when he orders Bobby Strong to be sent to {{Urinetown}}, [[spoiler: which is actually being thrown off Cladwell Column,]] knowing full well that his daughter will probably be killed by the rebels. NecessarilyEvil or not, that was just unpardonable

* Stanley's crossing of this in ''AStreetcarNamedDesire'' came when he [[spoiler: raped Blanche to insanity and then lied that he never once touched her afterwards]].

* Regina in ''The Little Foxes'' is greedy and morally bankrupt as it is, but she crosses the event horizon when she lets her husband Horace die of a heart attack because he won't go along with her scheme.

* Theatre/PeerGynt plays with the trope. Although it seems Peer Gynt himself is about to cross the MoralEventHorizon a number of times, he secures himself by hovering juusst over the edge of it. He even lampshades this as his leading principle. It occurs to him, a little late in life, that this constant playing with the trope gains him a FateWorseThanDeath, and he crosses the DespairEvenHorizon good and proper.

* The eponymous man in ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' crosses the MEH when he [[spoiler: ties Raoul to a noose and forces a SadisticChoice on Christine; either confessing love for the Phantom and buying Raoul's freedom, or confessing love for Raoul and watching him die.]] {{Lampshaded}} in Christine's song lyrics: "The tears I might have shed for your dark fate, grow cold and turn to tears of hate!" Though she ''still'' pities him by the end anyway, so maybe this doesn't qualify.

* The titular character in Theatre/{{Macbeth}} (the play for which the page image is an illustration) reaches this point when [[spoiler:he has Macduff's family, including the kids, murdered.]]
* Medea. She convinces two kids to ''cut up their father and put the pieces in boiling water'', making them think it'll make him younger. And that's even before the scene when she puts the children she had by Jason to the sword.
** She crossed it even before they got back to Argos when she ''chopped up her younger brother and tossed the pieces into the ocean'' so that her father would have to delay his pursuit to gather the pieces for a proper burial. This was so awful that Jason's intervention was the only thing keeping the rest of the Argonauts from tossing her overboard too.
** Though that only happens in the myth. In the play her MoralEventHorizon is stabbing her two children ''purely'' because it will hurt Jason. This is after she kills his wife by lighting her on fire with magic poison. Oh, and then she [[KarmaHoudini sails off to Athens under the aegis of the king]].
** Though, most of these (aside from murdering her brother) weren't included in the story until Euripides introduced the idea that she murdered her children. Up until that point, she was more of a deeply flawed WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, since Jason ''was'' kind of a bastard to her.

* The eponymous man in ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' crosses the MEH when he [[spoiler: ties Raoul to a noose and forces a SadisticChoice on Christine; either confessing love for the Phantom and buying Raoul's freedom, or confessing love for Raoul and watching him die.]] {{Lampshaded}} in Christine's song lyrics: "The tears I might have shed for your dark fate, grow cold and turn to tears of hate!" Though she ''still'' pities him by the end anyway, so maybe this doesn't qualify.

* Seneca's play ''Thyestes'' is about King Atreus' MoralEventHorizon. Mad at his brother, the title character, for stealing his wife and attempting to steal the throne, he pretends to call Thyestes and sons back from exile and serves Thyestes his own sons for dinner and takes great pleasure in telling him "you ate your children".
* Stanley's crossing of this in ''AStreetcarNamedDesire'' came when he [[spoiler: raped Blanche to insanity and then lied that he never once touched her afterwards]].
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', at least as far as Elphaba was concerned, the Wizard crossed the horizon when he broke Professor Dillamond's will, turning him from a respected professor into a mindless animal. For Mrs. Morrible, the horizon mark came when she created the cyclone that brought Dorothy to Oz(and killed Elphaba's sister Nessarosa). Interestingly enough, once Glinda takes the reins of government, she is willing to simply exile the Wizard from Oz (this might be because [[spoiler: he's realized -- to his horror -- that Elphaba, whom everyone believes is dead, was his daughter]]), but has Morrible sent to prison.
* [[JerkassGods Hera]] crosses it in ''[[{{Creator/Euripides}} Herakles Mad]]'' when she fills the title character, who has just defeated a tyrant, with a homicidal rage simply because he's one of Zeus' bar sinisters.
* The blinding of Gloucester marks Cornwall's crossing in ''Theatre/KingLear''. Goneril and Regan possibly also cross at this point if they haven't already with their treatment of their father.
* Claudius crosses by murdering his brother before the beginning of ''{{Hamlet}}''.
* In ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus'', Tamora, Demetrius, Chiron and Aaron all cross the MEH with Lavinia's rape and mutilation.
* Iago's crossing in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' is the enactment of his plan to ruin Othello.
* In ''Theatre/{{Giselle}}'', it appears that the curse of the wilis only stays in effect if they had already danced a man to death; considering that [[spoiler:Giselle's refusal to let Albrecht die on her first night with the wilis causes their spell over her to be broken and allows her to pass on]], it's pretty clear that the other wilis have already crossed it before the start of the story. God only knows how many men they had murdered before [[spoiler:they intercepted Hilarion]]...

* Iago's crossing in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' is the enactment of his plan to ruin Othello.