Well...

Unfortunately I didn't get a call back. Thank you everyone who wished me luck! Now then...*ahem* Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth....lol, j/k! I'm not in the play, nor am I in the theatre, so that won't have any effect.

A good deal of you probably knew, but in case you didn't here's a bit of theatre lore for you. It is considered incredibly bad luck (read: "curse") to say the name Macbeth while in a theatre or while part of a production that isn't Macbeth (Macbeth being the name of Shakespeare's Scottish play with the three witches and a guest appearance by Hekate).

It is thought that the reason this play is cursed (which is why you don't mention it while in a theatre/play) is because the spell contained within the play--double, double, toil and trouble and all that--was a real spell that Shakespeare stole from witches at the time. The witches got pissed and as a result cursed the play. Now, I highly doubt the validity of this claim--I truly doubt that any witch would include in any potion the corpse of a baby that was birthed in a ditch and then strangled by its own prostitute mother ("strangled babe ditch-delivered by a drab").

The more likely explanation as to why its considered bad luck to say the name of this play: if the current production is doing poorly, saying the name might give the director the idea to switch to the more popular Macbeth simply to bring in profit.

In any case, the play got the reputation among theatre folk of being 'cursed'--and we all know what the power of belief can do. Things do go wrong if someone accidentally says the name Macbeth--lights stop working, mics cut out, props/scenery break/go missing, actors get sick, etc. And I'm talking far more than the usual first night hi-jinks...everything goes wrong on the first night, but a play plagued by the Macbeth curse has stuff going wrong constantly.

As a witch its a rather simple matter to disperse the energy that gathers when the name is spoken--other folks don't have it as easy. There are a variety of 'counter-curses', but the one I was subjected to while still in the broom-closet fair traumatized me.

Step 1) take off your left shoe and stand on your right foot only
Step 2) hop counter-clockwise three full rotations
Step 3) go outside. You may only replace your shoe once you have left the building.

Some are more elaborate, some less. With no actual intent or energy however its understandable that this counter-curse only works on occasion. I was a junior in highschool at the time, clueless of the curse and talking about my english assignment at play practice when my director suddenly freaked out at me (and I mean FREAKED OUT--he got purple in the face and spit was flying from his mouth as he screamed at me to shut up). He then stopped absolutely everything and had everyone watch as he made me perform the counter-curse, then escorted me outside the building to make sure I didn't put my shoe on prematurely. Like I said, fairly traumatized. Actors take this stuff seriously.

Anywho, there's a bit of theatre lore for you. Hope you enjoyed it!