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stickingplace,” Shakespeare stepped into the role at the last minute.
Laterthe boy actor died, and the idea that Macbeth (Hush now!)
is a cursed play was born.
Shakespeare’s tragedy is filled with foul murders,
ghostly apparitions, and weird witches chanting “Double,
double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”
Four hundred years later, superstitions surrounding
its performance remain strong among actors. In fact,
merely saying the title of the play inside the theater is
strictly taboo, unless a cast is rehearsing or performing
the tragedy. If you must refer to the play, please call it
“the Scottish play” or “the Bard’s play” instead.
However, if you slip up, don’t worry. There’s an
antidote to prevent bad luck and disastrous performances,
though it will make you look very silly. Simply exit the theater,

IT’S 1606. THE stage is set, and the King’s Men
players are costumed and ready to perform a new
play before King James I at Hampton Court in
London. The play, written by their director,
William Shakespeare, is Macbeth. (Shh!
Don’t say that!) However, there’s a problem.
In Shakespeare’s time, women’s roles were
played by young men with high voices, and
the teenage boy who is cast to take the stage
as Lady Macbeth has fallen deathly ill. Even
in 1606 actors believed the show must go
on, especially when you’re performing before a
king. So taking to heart Lady Macbeth’s adviceto
her trembling husband to “screw your courage tothe

BREAK A LEG, MACBETH (SHH!)


Theater Superstitions for the Unsuspecting


BY JENNIFER SNEED


Illustrated by Kellan Stover
text © 2019 by Jennifer Sneed, art © 2019 by Kellan Stover

Free download pdf