Perhaps the most famous curse in the Shakespeare canon is not a specific profanity hurled at someone, but a curse connected to a whole play. The play I am referring to is Macbeth. In the world of the theatre it is considered to be extremely bad, and even dangerous to mention the name Macbeth back stage or while the play is being performed. Instead it is usually referred to as 'the Scottish' or the 'M' play' or something similar. Just don't call this play by its name. Why? Throughout the history of this play's productions, many terrible and fatal things have happened.
* During the play's first performance in 1606, Hal Berridge, the boy playing Lady Macbeth, died backstage. According to
tradition, our Will took over and played the part.
* In 1672 in Amsterdam, the actor playing Macbeth used a real dagger and in front of the audience, killed the actor playing
Duncan.
* In 1865, the newly re-elected President Lincoln met up with a few friends to read the play. The following night he went to
Ford's theatre and.... the rest is history.
* In 1937 at the Old Vic theatre in London, a 25 pound weight
came crashing down from above the stage narrowly missing
Laurence Olivier who was then playing Macbeth. During this
same production, the director and the actress playing lady
Macbeth were involved in a car crash and the famous
actress, Lilian Bayliss died of a heart attack on the day of the dress rehearsal.
* In 1942, the actor John Gielgud produced a very fatal version of the play. Three actors - Duncan and two of the witches -
died and the set designer committed suicide.
* In 1947, the actor, Harold Norman was stabbed to death as
someone had substituted a real dagger for the false one.
* In the 1950s in Moscow, actor Paul Rogers, playing Macbeth, clashed so violently with Macduff that his claymore
(broadsword) flew out of his hands. It stuck in the seat where President Kruschev was destined to sit three hours later.
*In 1954 in Dublin, the company manager broke both of his
legs; the stage electrician electrocuted himself and the actor
playing Banquo committed suicide.
* In 2001, in a production by the Cambridge Shakespeare
Company, Lady Macbeth hit her head; Ross broke a toe;
Macduff injured his back and two trees fell down which
destroyed the set.
* Other Macbeth calamities include:
Charlton Heston suffered from severe burns when his tights, accidentally soaked in kerosene caught fire.
Actress Sybil Thorndyke, playing Lady Macbeth was nearly strangled by another actor.
Paul Schofield, Orson Welles and Stanislavski were also
injured in some memorable way.
* However, all of the above pale into insignificance in
comparison to what happened in 1849 in New York. Two
different and rival dramatic companies both staged Macbeth one evening. A riot broke out between the rival groups of
spectators and as a result, TWENTY PEOPLE died!
Is there a cure for this curse? Fortunately there is.
Anyone found uttering the 'M' word in a dressing room has to leave the room, turn around three times and ask for permission to re-enter. They may also be asked to quote a line from Hamlet, (Act I, sc.iv) "Angels and ministers of grace defend us."
Finally, there is the famous curse that is written above Shakespeare's grave in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford-upon-Avon. This curse was probably written to prevent anyone disturbing the grave in order to use this site for another burial. The following true story proved that this curse worked.
In 1852, Delia Bacon, (1811-1159 an American English literature teacher from New Haven, Connecticut, sailed over to England to prove that Sir Francis bacon (no family connection) was the real author of Shakespeare's works. One night she entered Shakespeare's church in Stratford with a pick and a spade, with the idea of digging him up. One look at the curse written on the stone above his grave persuaded her otherwise.
She returned to her lodgings, became ill, and later sailed back to the USA. There she wrote a long 600-page boring book, Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespere Unfolded, a tome that sold very few copies. Soon after this she went mad and died in an asylum. Her book became the first serious book tat claimed that our Will had not written the works attributed to his name.
Some curse!
Next time, to lighten up, a few Shakespearean cartoons.
For comments: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
or dly-books.weebly.com
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