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Is the word 'Macbeth' really cursed?
Jul 13, 2020
T hespians are a seriously superstitious bunch. Most know not to say good luck to an actor but there is So Much More: never leave the stage completely dark; never whistle in the theatre; never use a peacock feather on stage; never knit in the wings; and don’t even think about walking out of the dressing room right foot first. Perhaps the most notorious superstition surrounds the word “Macbeth”, which should not – except during a live performance – be uttered inside the theatre. In fact, the superstition is so deeply embedded that there is no sign for the word “Macbeth” in British Sign Language. To get round this “deadly” issue, actors refer to Macbeth as “The Scottish Play” or “The Bard’s Play”.
But is there any basis to this long-standing superstition? When Macbeth premiered circa 1606, King James I was on the English throne – and James was not a fan of witches. The execution of James’s mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, was said to have inspired a long-lasting obsession with the dark arts, one compounded after the king was caught in a brutal storm at sea when he was king of Scotland. Convinced that witches were to blame, James ordered a witch-hunt on his return home and swiftly wrote a book, Daemonologie, where he outlined his plans to root out witchcraft for good.
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