Theatre Curses 1: Macbeth

'Hello! My name is Buffy. Ask me about curses.'
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  episode 1, Season 6

Welcome to Buddha's Black Dog, my blog on curses and spells: for what it's about  (and my other blogs).  see

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

Buddha's Black Dog is  organised thematically, and older posts will be linked to  after each post.



Everyone knows that actors (most of them anyway) don't like saying the name of the play  Macbeth and refer to it as the 'Scottish Play'.  `As Wiki says -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_Play

tradition  holds that there is a real  curse - maybe curses - embedded in the text, and for that reason some of the witches' lines are frequently amended - or even cut.


Even creepier perhaps is the notion that the curse is not that obvious, and occurs in an otherwise innocuous passage.

The actor/director Mark Rylance refused  to believe in  the curse (and doesn't believe William Shakespeare write the plays attribiuted to him), and as it  happens, his touring Macbeth of 1995 is by far the worst Macbeth I have ever seen, though in Glasgow at least we were spared the sight of seeing Jane Horrocks weeing on stage.

For some examples of disasters associated  with Macbeth, see

http://pretallez.com/onstage/theatre/broadway/macbeth/macbeth_curse.html

PREVIOUS POSTS



INTRODUCTION

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

ANCIENT CURSES 1: the Curse of Akkad

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ancient-curses-1-curse-of-akkad.html

ANCIENT CURSES 2: Otzi the Ice Man

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011/07/ancient-curses-2-otzi-ice-man.html

ANCIENT CURSES 3: Egyptian Curses

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011/07/ancient-curses-3-egyptian-curses.html

Curses and Music 1: The 27 Curse and Amy Winehouse

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011/07/curses-and-music-1-27-curse-and-amy.html

CURSES THAT WORKED 1: the Curse of Shakespeare's Tomb

http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011/06/curses-that-worked-1-curse-of.html

Historical Curses 1: the Monition of Cursing Against the Border Reivers
http://buddhasblackdog.blogspot.com/2011/09/historical-curses-1-monition-of-cursing.html