Talk:The Scottish Play/Archive 1

Archive 1

Rituals

The ritual I learned was exit, turn three times, spit, curse, and wait to be invited in. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.210.251.87 (talk) 01:26, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

In effort to get a sense of what the general concensus on The Scottish Play superstition is, perhaps some people could post here what their experiences with it have been? From my foray into high school theater, our conception was that Macbeth should not be said inside a theater on the night in which a show other than Macbeth is being performed. The related ritual was to turn three times, spit over one's left shoulder, and recite "Angels and ministers of grace defend us" — referred to as the "spin and spit" procedure. ~ Booyabazooka 18:34, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, this is all original research, of course, but any excuse to share stories!

In most of the professional theatres where I've worked, there's a strong taboo against saying 'Macbeth' anywhere in the theatre itself, the lobby, or backstage areas at any time, even if there's no show running, and usually against saying it in other areas of the building (ie, administrative offices). It's generally taken quite seriously, though less because everyone believes in the curse than because everyone respects that some people do.

The ritual varies wildly, and even though it's taken seriously in that it must be performed properly, there's usually an element of fun in deciding the particulars and the subsequent taunting of the offender, especially if they're a relative newcomer to theatre. It's rather like hazing. The ritual is often made up on the spot combining this or that favorite element from those present. When I've been involved in productions and someone invoked the curse backstage, someone (generally either a senior member of the company or the most superstitious person on hand) would take the lead in instructing the offender in what to do, with onlookers making suggestions. "Hop on one leg!" "We should blindfold him first!"

I've heard 'fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you' more often than 'angels and ministers of grace defend us': I'm told the former is often used because Merchant of Venice is a 'lucky' play, but no one has been able to satisfactorily explain to me what's lucky about it. ;) My personal favorite is any version where the 'penitent' is required to actually leave the building to perform the ward and then request re-admittance.

I've never worked on the play, but I've also heard that you shouldn't say 'Macbeth' even if you're in the middle of a production, unless you're rehearsing or performing and it's in your lines. At any rate, I think the article gives a pretty good feel for the ritual and the history behind the curse, although I'm inclined to think that the article Macbeth ritual should either contain a clearer link here, or should perhaps be relocated to Macbeth ritual (Blackadder) or something similar and Macbeth ritual redirected here. -- Vary | Talk 20:24, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

I have seen it on the DVD "Blackadder 3" in the episode "Sense and Senility". 213.113.125.158 (talk) 18:21, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

I'd appreciate information on whether it's just meant to taboo for cast and crew to say 'Macbeth', or if an audience member or random theatre visitor will also incur the curse. -dmmaus 04:11, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe Corner Gas parodies this, as when the name of Wullerton, the rival town, is mentioned, everyone spits over their left shoulder. It may not be a specific reference, however. --Agent_Koopa 14:17, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

From what I've heard, no one can say "MacBeth" while in the theater--including the audience (personally, I don't believe in superstitions, which is why I think it a bit odd that some drama people believe that an audience member could just walk into a theater, say "MacBeth", and ruin the entire production). Regardless, I made the unfortunate mistake of saying it yesterday at a production of Metamorphoses I was working at, and the director immediately had me leave the theater, knock on the door, come in and spin around three times, then curse--apparently in some hope that the "curse" would be warded off. Needless to say, the production did NOT go as planned thereafter: the LSG (low-smoke generator) failed during the majority of the play, someone went onstage without their requisite mask, someone else lost an important earing, and one of the actresses proceded to cry exhaustively during the first act, intermission, and actually while on stage (although it was during a scene where her character was to cry as well). Long story short, I took a lot of heat for my aforementioned statement of said word, but, not being a theater person and thinking rationally, I think that the "myth" or "curse" of MacBeth is nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy: my saying it only led the actors and actresses to BELIEVE that something would go wrong, and, in turn, they were so preoccupied with worrying about a SUPPOSED failure that they themselves caused the unfortunate events to occur. What do you think? (side note: the first time the director had someone say MacBeth in one of her plays [a few years ago], apparently a sandbag backstage fell and broke someone's shoulder--just FYI; I still think it's more of a coincidence than anything else) --LoganK 14:45, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I was told during my brief foray into college theater that when the play was blocked and rehearsed, the last line was never to be spoken aloud; the only time it was heard in context was during performance. I also heard that if a theater had a trapdoor in the stage, that once it was used for Macbeth that it could no longer be safely used by certain characters in other plays (I don't remember the details.) If these are common rituals, someone with a clue should add them to the page. Jerhill 18:13, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Just the play?

I'd heard a version that it's only the name of the *play* that's taboo, that the character is fine. So that you can happily say <luvvie>"ah, yes, it's like that time we did The Scottish Play. The chap playing Macbeth was a rum old sort..."</luvvie>.

(For the record, we did it at university and broke pretty much every theatrical superstition in the book. King Duncan cracked his head on a doorframe in the pre-dress and had to go and sit down for a bit, but everything else went fine and it was a stupidly low doorframe anyway :D) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brickie (talk • contribs) 15:50, 15 December 2006 (UTC).

WP:BARD rating

I rated the article Stub/Low—mostly just to avoid it being Unassessed—but I'd hardly claim to be infallible in that assessement. If I missed the mark there, please do feel free to reassess it!--Xover 13:17, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

An Experience

Thought I'd mention, just this morning, a guy in the Macbeth Production using the same theater blew his artery in a sword fight after the manager called for the "actors doing Macbeth". We're doing another play, but overheard it anyway. They had to stop the production.

Hum.

I don't believe in superstition, but I imagine the producer/manager might feel a bit guilty about that.--210.3.39.32 (talk) 05:56, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

It is my experience as an amateur actor that prop swords are more commonly used as a less dangerous alternative to actual swords when fighting onstage. Urban legends like these are not uncommon, but should be rationalized first. Vertigo893 (talk) 18:33, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

It is my experience as a professional stage manager that you can still get badly hurt with a flattened or blunted prop sword if the person holding it doesn't know what they're doing. Just sayin'. -- Vary | (Talk) 01:56, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Merge

How about redirecting these euphemisims to the relevant article, and merging this article into a 'Superstitions' section? Just an idea. ajmint (talk•email•contribs•subpages) 22:16, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

The dubious dagger

The line "According to legend, this dates back to the premiere of the play: an actor died because a real dagger was mistakenly used instead of the prop" is marked as "dubious" and I agree, however it is prefaced with "According to legend. . ." so I think it should be safe to leave in. It would be nice to get some citations of people spreading that legend. Naznarreb (talk) 04:38, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

I agree that it does not seem sensible to have inserted a 'dubious – discuss' tag when the sentence itself begins "According to legend ..." I have deleted the tag for that reason. Russ London (talk) 17:03, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Another one

An explanation I once heard on TV, was, that if a new play was debuting, and not doing very well, the actors might be heckled into giving up, and instead start entertaining the audience with some scenes from Shakespeare, a few standards, always popular. A good fight scene would keep the audience's interest.

Particularly in "the olden days", when props and costumes were mostly imaginary, plays often performed on a bare stage, or outdoors on an improvised stage. It would be quite easy to drop a boring play and switch to something popular.

So the embargo on speaking THAT name, was simply not to give the audience ideas, or before long they'd all be shouting out Shakespeare plays they'd rather be watching. Same way people shout out requests for their favourite songs when going to see a band.

188.28.120.23 (talk) 20:06, 24 June 2011 (UTC) Sam.

bad bad bad

I don't think I've ever read a worse article on Wiki. "Actors who do not believe will also abstain from saying the name due to being taught not to." Good grief. Eschatologicalguy (talk) 00:34, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Similar Superstitions with Other Plays

MacBeth is not the only Shakespeare play which is subject to a superstition of that sort: Hamlet is sometimes referred to euphemistically as the "Danish Play" and Twelfth Night as the "Croatian Play." Timothy Horrigan (talk) 22:42, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

Makes no sense

There are a number of things in here that make me cringe and facepalm, but I had to delete this passage because it literally makes no sense at all:

  "According to the actor Sir Donald Sinden, in his Sky Arts TV series Great West End Theatres, "Contrary to popular myth, Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is not the unluckiest play as superstition likes to portray it. Exactly the opposite! The origin of the unfortunate moniker dates back to repertory theatre days when each town and village had at least one theatre to entertain the public. If a play was not doing well, it would invariably get 'pulled' and replaced with a sure-fire audience pleaser – Macbeth guaranteed full-houses. So when the weekly theatre newspaper, The Stage was published, listing what was on in each theatre in the country, it was instantly noticed what shows had not worked the previous week, as they had been replaced by a definite crowd-pleaser. More actors have died during performances of Hamlet than in the "Scottish play" as the profession still calls it. It is forbidden to quote from it backstage as this could cause the current play to collapse and have to be replaced, causing possible unemployment."

So...now merely quoting from Macbeth backstage will cause ANOTHER production to collapse? How does this work (and youre supposed to be explaining WHY Macbeth is cursed)? Maybe he was saying that they were afraid if they mentioned the play it would give the manager ideas about putting that play on instead? If so, it needs to say so more clearly. It also out to explain why the cast would find it so terrible to put on a play that is a "sure winner" instead of the potential loser they are working on. Sounds terrible. I will also mention that NOT every town and village had a theater, or even close to it. I would say that MOST didn't. This was likely typical TV patter that shouldn't be taken seriously...which is exactly why things like this ought to be PARAPHRASED, the important facts outlined and the wording changed, not quoted in whole as this was.

64.223.165.28 (talk) 03:15, 25 March 2018 (UTC)

Historical mishaps

Believers have attributed the curse to problems in early productions staged by Shakespeare himself, such as the arson in 1721 by a disgruntled patron.

Uhh, Shakespeare died in 1616 but there was a production "staged by Shakespeare himself" in 1721? Serhalp (talk) 17:38, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Got a date?

When is the first written reference...

to “it” being bad luck?

How widespread? UK only? Prevalent before 1945?

MBG02 (talk) 06:10, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Archive 1