*snerk*

[ghost_light]

So yesterday I was walking in the hall after the show and I hear one of my young actors loudly explaining to his grandparents; "You see, there is this word that you can't say because it's a really bad word, but everyone backstage has been saying this really bad word all the time and - "
So I pause and I call over "Don't worry about it, we'll deal with it tomorrow."

His grandmother's face nearly splits open with relief. "Oh good," she sighs. "You know about this?"

That is when it dawned on me and I found myself standing in the middle of the hallway in the Performing Arts Center explaining loudly for grandmother and all the other parents to hear:

"The really bad word that you can't say is not, repeat NOT the F-Bomb! It's only MacBeth! Not the F-Bomb!"

Comments

[bethjovi.livejournal.com]

LOL. Why can't they say MacBeth? Is that bad luck or something?

[name-omitted.livejournal.com]

Bad luck. Some crap about witches or something.

Here's the deal. When a theater is going to die, it brings out some old war horse that will fill the seats. "The Scottish Play" is one such warhorse. It's an amazing play, but there is a lot of room for something to go badly, if it is not done carefully. If the theater is going to die for financial reasons, they don’t nesecaraly have the time to put into stage combat rehearsals, and when that happens, someone is going to get hurt.

Even if no one gets hurt, if the play does not save the theater, it becomes the last play performed, and has been the last play performed by enough troops to get the reputation of being a "swan song."

[name-omitted.livejournal.com]

Actually, at this point it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. When I hear the Scottish Play mentioned by name in the theater, I look for things to go wrong. When you are looking for something to go wrong in the theater, you WILL find something, so there will ALWAYS be something you can attribute to superstition if you are looking. Also, frankly, when I am looking for things to go wrong, my head is in the wrong game, and I am not as safe to work around which, of course, promotes something going wrong.

Even if I give you a clinical, detached answer as to why it’s bad, I will say that I have seen enough things around the Scottish Play that I do not tend to mess with it. Silly, perhaps.
Great story, however.