Random and unrelated things. Things that could have happened anytime, but didn't. Just all at once during one run. And haven't really happened since.
Ones I remember:
- Opening night, actress slipped on a stair, and fractured her ankle.
- Mirror in the changerooms had its hook break (warden said internal manufacturing defect, could not be seen ahead of time), and smashes an actor in the head. Concussion.
- A door jammed after the weather changed. Someone tried to open it without realising, and dislocated their shoulder. (200 year old building.)
Apropos of the curse, an explanation that I heard from a reasonably famous Scottish stage actor:
Macbeth is Shakespeare’s most popular play, cause it’s got sex and blood and poetry all over, a really tight plot, and it’s not too long. It is pretty well guaranteed to fill a theatre. Also, every actor knows the script so you can find a cast in no time.
So if your current play is not selling a lot of tickets and is about to be cancelled, the theatre is going to put on Macbeth right after you to try to make its money back quickly. That’s why thespians hate to hear the name ‘Macbeth’ — because if there’s talk of that play going about, you could be out of a job next week.
Thank you for this article. What a refreshment from so many articles about AI…
What’s important and complex in Shakespeare plays, is not what it’s written, but what’s left to the interpretation of the director, or even of the public — the ambiguities, the imperfections, that let us imagine the motivations of the characters (as the article points - the motives are clear but not the motivations), and let us perceive their emotions, feel their reactions, mixed with ours.
Bro are you OK? IDK if one or ten of you cowardly create accounts every day to be negative but hope you figure out what’s up and enjoy some cool ocean breezes or great outdoors or great friends or something. See if anyone else you know, or your psych, or maybe even some subreddit mirrors this behavior, see if it checks out, cuz I’m concerned. With love from a stranger
This unearths some thoughts, back from my English degree twenty years ago
But basically I don't think those problems are all meant to be solved
Yes, the supernatural events described on stage are very difficult to pull off even with modern effects. But they were impossible with Jacobean setups. And that's kind of the point
There is always a tension between what is seen and spoken in that play. We're meant to get the sense that Macbeth is partly talking himself into his frenzy
Supernatural events happen but they kind of have a bathetic, eye-rolling quality to them, like the prophecy that "Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him"
Which YEAH, it does, in that Macbeth's enemies construct a bunch of battering rams from the forest timber. You are supposed to groan at that. Magic is way weaker than any of the human beings and their ordinary vices
> the supernatural events described on stage are very difficult to pull off even with modern effects. But they were impossible with Jacobean setups
Speaking generally, as a former theatre professional, using onstage "effects" is less effective than firing the audience's imagination, and inviting them to do the work - which, of course, Jacobean artists were well able to do, and their audiences arguably more prepared to accept. The best plays - and I do think Maccers is among them, although the three productions of it I've been in were mediocre to dire - give huge scope for that.
This was a wonderful article, that nails what's wonderful - and frustrating - about the show.
>Which YEAH, it does, in that Macbeth's enemies construct a bunch of battering rams from the forest timber
My memory might be failing but I thought it was that the soldiers were disguising their movements using branches cut from the trees so it gave the impression that the trees themselves were moving towards Macbeth's castle.
One of the high points of my acting career (such as it was, second only to doing a scene with Russell Crowe as math consultant to A Beautiful Mind) was MacBeth.
While Avatar actor Stephen Lang was still in college, he played MacBeth. I brought him news that Birnam Wood had moved, and he drew inspiration from every fiber of my being to deliver his "tale told by an idiot" spiel.
I had the opportunity to play Macbeth in my last year of undergrad, and would confidently speculate that Lang probably remembers that moment with the same fondness you do.
It’s a role that, under a conscientious actor, demands attention and introspection years (decades) after the curtain drops.
I always enjoyed the nod to the superstition in Hamilton, a nod which also winks. Indeed the name Macbeth is spoken in Hamilton, but only after the character Hamilton makes clear that he is naming the character of Macbeth rather than "naming the play"
Definitely my favorite of Shakespeare's tragedies. I've got a special place for the wild tone shift between the murder and the comic relief scene that follows in particular, as the rather temporary release of the tension that had been building for the prior act is incredible. In my AP Literature class, we had to perform a scene or so from a Shakespeare play of our choosing, but thankfully the only injury during our performance was somewhat intentional. After two weeks of trying and failing to get the girl playing Lady Macbeth to pull off a convincing stage slap, I told her to just give me her best shot the day of. Turns out this 4'10", 90 lb soaking wet fury had a heck of an arm, and thus I ended up finishing up my lines scrubbing my hands while seeing stars.
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[ 0.28 ms ] story [ 21.1 ms ] threadThe crowd loved the short five-night run, last time. It made all the papers, tickets sold out, tourists rocked up for it.
Seven actors were injured, in a space that usually saw one injury a year. Six were ruled unavoidable by the fire warden doing the post-assessments.
Or this is a joke on the “curse”?
But I want to know more
Ones I remember:
- Opening night, actress slipped on a stair, and fractured her ankle.
- Mirror in the changerooms had its hook break (warden said internal manufacturing defect, could not be seen ahead of time), and smashes an actor in the head. Concussion.
- A door jammed after the weather changed. Someone tried to open it without realising, and dislocated their shoulder. (200 year old building.)
This happens in my thirty year old house! The more things change, the more they stay the same!
Macbeth is Shakespeare’s most popular play, cause it’s got sex and blood and poetry all over, a really tight plot, and it’s not too long. It is pretty well guaranteed to fill a theatre. Also, every actor knows the script so you can find a cast in no time.
So if your current play is not selling a lot of tickets and is about to be cancelled, the theatre is going to put on Macbeth right after you to try to make its money back quickly. That’s why thespians hate to hear the name ‘Macbeth’ — because if there’s talk of that play going about, you could be out of a job next week.
Reciting lines from The Two Gentlemen of Verona and A Midsummer Night's Dream is also rumored to be helpful (from the last section).
"For the more athletically inclined, one should exit the theatre, spin around in a circle three times, and spit."
https://broadwaydirect.com/13-theater-superstitions-hallowee...
What’s important and complex in Shakespeare plays, is not what it’s written, but what’s left to the interpretation of the director, or even of the public — the ambiguities, the imperfections, that let us imagine the motivations of the characters (as the article points - the motives are clear but not the motivations), and let us perceive their emotions, feel their reactions, mixed with ours.
Exactly what generative AI doesn't let you do.
But basically I don't think those problems are all meant to be solved
Yes, the supernatural events described on stage are very difficult to pull off even with modern effects. But they were impossible with Jacobean setups. And that's kind of the point
There is always a tension between what is seen and spoken in that play. We're meant to get the sense that Macbeth is partly talking himself into his frenzy
Supernatural events happen but they kind of have a bathetic, eye-rolling quality to them, like the prophecy that "Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him"
Which YEAH, it does, in that Macbeth's enemies construct a bunch of battering rams from the forest timber. You are supposed to groan at that. Magic is way weaker than any of the human beings and their ordinary vices
Speaking generally, as a former theatre professional, using onstage "effects" is less effective than firing the audience's imagination, and inviting them to do the work - which, of course, Jacobean artists were well able to do, and their audiences arguably more prepared to accept. The best plays - and I do think Maccers is among them, although the three productions of it I've been in were mediocre to dire - give huge scope for that.
This was a wonderful article, that nails what's wonderful - and frustrating - about the show.
My memory might be failing but I thought it was that the soldiers were disguising their movements using branches cut from the trees so it gave the impression that the trees themselves were moving towards Macbeth's castle.
I’ll see myself out.
While Avatar actor Stephen Lang was still in college, he played MacBeth. I brought him news that Birnam Wood had moved, and he drew inspiration from every fiber of my being to deliver his "tale told by an idiot" spiel.
I can still feel the spit hitting my face!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z5PxC9i_nmE
It’s a role that, under a conscientious actor, demands attention and introspection years (decades) after the curtain drops.