What is the deal with that Scottish play? Once in high school, I almost witnessed a student get her head hacked off by a very angry director. She only got as far as commenting, “Hey, I saw a production of Mac—” before he shushed her by saying, “Oh no, we never say that in here!”
So, why is it such bad luck? Well, the play, Macbeth, written around 1600, begins with three witches chanting a spell. It’s because of this incantation that saying “Macbeth” inside a theatre is so taboo. Supposedly, you will bring bad luck to whatever play you’re performing, and all those involved in the production. Exception: you can say it if it’s a line in a play.
But if you make the mistake of letting it slip, there is something you can do to reverse the curse. Actually, there’s a lot you can do. I’ve looked around, and I’ve found a few very different, very hilarious ways to combat the scourge…
- Leave the theatre immediately, spin around three times while swearing, and then ask for permission to come back inside
- Spit over each shoulder
- Let out your inner sailor and curse until the captain blushes
- Chant “Thrice around the circle bound, Evil sink into the ground”
- Negate the curse brought on by Shakespeare by reciting a line from another one of his plays
Do you think this is all a load of frackin’ cow plop? Well, check this out!
- 1610: the 1st performance of Macbeth ever, Shakespeare himself had to play the role of Lady Macbeth because the original actor suddenly became ill. Okay, maybe it was stage fright. We’ll let this one slide.
- 1849: the famous riot at Astor Place in which 31 people were trampled on. All right, we’ll call it bad timing.
- 1937: a 25lb stage weight crashed to the ground inches away from Laurence Olivier. His sword also broke on stage, went boomeranging into the audience, and hit a patron who suffered a heart attack. Both the director and Lady Macduff were in a car accident while en route to the theatre. And the owner of the theatre died of a heart attack during the dress rehearsal.
Irrefutable? A bunch of nonsense? It’s yours to decide. But you might want to warn your fellow theatre buddies before you run any tests. Even if you don’t incur the wrath of the muses of theatre, you might be shoved into a trash can by your director.
