“Keep Calm and Never Say Macbeth” (or “Keep Calm and Never Say M*cbeth”)

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth includes witches, and theater tradition has it that the play is cursed. Saying the play’s name or its lines (outside of an actual performance) is said to bring bad luck. Alternate names for the play include “The Scottish Play,” “The Scottish Business,” “The Scottish Tragedy,” ‘The Caledonian Tragedy,” “The Glamis Comedy” (or “Aimez-vous Glamis”), “The Bard’s Play,” “The Unmentionable Play,” “That Play,” “Mackers,” “MacB.,” “MacBee” and “MacDaddy.”
 
“KEEP CALM AND NEVER SAY MACBETH” (poster based on “Keep Calm and Carry On” used in World War II) was printed in 2012. “KEEP CALM AND NEVER SAY M*CBETH” (shown on an image) was posted on Twitter by Shakespeare300 on December 21, 2015. “Keep Calm And Never Say M*cbeth” by John Leonard was posted on Live Design on June 20, 2017.
 
“It’s actually bad luck to say MacBook inside an office. You have to call it ‘The Scottish Laptop’” is a related joke.
   
The Scottish Play
“Theatre people believe it brings bad luck to mention the name refer only to ‘the Scottish play’” was printed in the Evening Mail (Birmingham, UK) on July 15, 1976.  “It’s referred to obliquely as ‘the Scottish play’ or ‘the play about the Scottish king’” was printed in The Citizen (Ottawa, ON) on December 24, 1977. “It is talked about as That Play, or The Scottish PlayThe Unmentionable or The Caledonian Tragedy or The Comedy of Glamis or Harry Lauder, references which must surely bewilder any backstage visitor” was printed in the book The Curse of Macbeth, and Other Theatrical Superstitions: An Investigation (1981) by Richard Huggett.
 
The Unmentionable Play & That Play
“She (actress Angela Lansbury—ed.) thinks she has had it with Shakespeare, however, because there aren’t that many good role for women her age, except the queen she just played and that woman in ‘that unmentionable play’” was printed in the Atlanta (GA) Constitution on July 28, 1976. “For those of you who don’t know, ‘The Scottish Play,’ is also called ‘That Play,’ ‘The Unmentionable Play,’ and to us lay folk, Macbeth” was printed in the book Ramblings With Redde:Why Does My Life Seem Like a Bad “B” Flick? (2000) by Christa Micheals.
 
The Caledonian Tragedy, Aimez-vous Glamis & The Glamis Comedy
Shakespeare’s play has the king reside in Glamis Castle, but the historical King Macbeth (d. 1057) had no connection to this castle. French actress Simone Signoret played Lady Macbeth opposite Alec Guinness in 1966, and English playwright Noel Coward mocked this by having Signoret say the line, “Aimez-vous Glamis?” (“Do you like Glamis?)  “They can’t understand why we (Maggie Smith and other actors—ed.) call it Aimez-vous Glamis!” was printed in the Vancouver (BC) Sun on June 10, 1978. “Actors try not to mention it by name and use euphemisms like Aimez-vous Glamis?, The Caledonian Tragedy, Monarch of the Glen, and so on” was printed in The Daily Telegraph (London, UK) on August 23, 1980. “‘People call it the Scottish Play, the Caledonian Tragedy. Aimez-vous Glamis is my favorite,’ (Peter—ed.) O’Toole said” was printed in the Los Angeles (CA) Times on August 24, 1980. “The Comedy of Glamis” was printed in The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) on January 5, 2000. “The Glamis Comedy” was printed in the Ventura County Star (Ventura, CA) on June 26, 2009.
 
Mackers
“It is usually known as ‘The Scottish Play,’ ‘That Unmentionable Play,’ or by a pet name ( MacGregor often calls it ‘Mackers’ )” was printed in The Citizen (Ottawa, ON) on August 2, 1986. ” English actors frequently will not mention the title, referring to it as ‘the Scottish play’ and to the title role as ‘the thane’ or ‘Mackers’” was posted on the newsgroup rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft on October 10, 1995.
   
MacBee & MacDaddy
“And have you ever wondered why ‘Macbeth’ is often referred to as ‘The Scottish Play,’ ‘MacBee’ or ‘MacDaddy’?” was printed in The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT) on August 18, 1996. “Macbeth=macdaddy” was posted on Twitter by Patsy Vaughn on January 13, 2011. “Tradition requires indirect references to the play and the character, for example as ‘The Scottish Play’ or “MacBee”, or ‘Mr. and Mrs. M’, or ‘The Scottish King’” was posted on Twitter by Richard Crouse on August 15, 2018.
 
The Scottish Business
“‘The Comedy of Glamis’ and ‘The Unmentionable’ are just two of the euphemisms actors used to avoid mentioning the title of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth because of the curse associated with ‘The Scottish Business’” was printed in The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) on January 5, 2000. “Actors avoid naming it, referring to ‘that play’ or ‘the Scottish business’” was posted on the newsgroup humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare on May 23, 2006.
 
The Bard’s Play
“It is either referred to as the ‘unmentionable play’, the ‘bard’s play’ or the ‘Scottish play’” was printed in The Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India) on December 18, 2007. “The Scottish Play, the Bard’s Play, the Scottish Business or even Mackers, anything but #Macbeth or… #Macbadluck” was posted on Twitter by Shakespeare300 on March 12, 2015.
   
The Scottish Tragedy
“I have heard, as part of show business lore and legend, that one does not refer directly to Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ directly as ‘MacBeth’ - rather as ‘The Scottish Play’ or ‘The Scottish Tragedy’” was posted on the newsgroup rec.arts.movies.past-films on April 26, 2008.
 
MacB
“‘Several fond nicknames have evolved as a result,’ (director Michael J.—ed.) Arndt said, such as ‘That Play,’ ‘The Bard’s Play,’ ‘MacB,’ ‘Mackers,’ ‘The Glamis Comedy,’ ‘The Scottish Business,’ and, most popular, ‘The Scottish Play’” was printed in Ventura County Star (Ventura, CA) on June 26, 2009. “I unthinkingly quoted a bit of MacB—the Scottish Play—in drama class tonight and the teacher made me exit the room, spin 3 times, and spit” was posted on Twitter by Nolan Woods on October 6, 2009. “‘The Scottish Play.’  MacB. Mackers. MacDaddy. Know what we’re avoiding? Do you avoid it, too? Why?” was posted on Twitter by Stage Directions on January 2, 2013.
 
   
Wikipedia: Macbeth
Macbeth (/məkˈbɛθ/, full title The Tragedie of Macbeth) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, Macbeth most clearly reflects his relationship with King James, patron of Shakespeare’s acting company. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy.
 
Wikipedia: The Scottish play
The Scottish play and the Bard’s play are euphemisms for William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The first is a reference to the play’s Scottish setting, the second a reference to Shakespeare’s popular nickname. According to a theatrical superstition, called the Scottish curse, speaking the name Macbeth inside a theatre, other than as called for in the script while rehearsing or performing, will cause disaster. On top of the aforementioned alternate titles, some people also refer to the classical tragedy as Mackers for this reason. Variations of the superstition may also forbid quoting lines from the play within a theatre except as part of an actual rehearsal or performance of the play.
 
Because of this superstition, the lead character is often referred to as the Scottish King or Scottish Lord. Lady Macbeth is often referred to as the Scottish Lady or Lady M. However, one of the most popular traditions among Shakespeare-specific actors allows “Macbeth” in reference to the character. Nonetheless, many call the pair “Macb” and “Lady Macb”.
(...)
Historical mishaps
Further instances include: The Astor Place Riot in 1849, injuries sustained by actors at a 1937 performance at The Old Vic that starred Laurence Olivier, Diana Wynyard’s 1948 accidental fall, and burns suffered by Charlton Heston in 1954.
   
Newspapers.com
15 July 1976, Evening Mail (Birmingham, UK), “Actor Ian braves theatre curse,” pg. 35, col. 3:
ACTOR Ian McKellen will be casting superstition to the wind when he takes on a leading role at Stratford-upon-Avon next month.
(...)
Theatre people believe it brings bad luck to mention the name refer only to “the Scottish play.”
 
Newspapers.com
28 July 1976, Atlanta (GA) Constitution, “Mame: Angela Lansbury Is Not Like The Zany Character She Plays” by Helen C. Smith, pg. 3-B, col. 3:
She thinks she has had it with Shakespeare, however, because there aren’t that many good role for women her age, except the queen she just played and that woman in “that unmentionable play.”
 
It seems it is British stage tradition that if an actor or actress so much as utters the word “Macbeth” something horrible is going to happen to him. They will perform in the play, but never call it by name. Miss Lansbury was obviously uncomfortable in even referring to the subject obliquely.
 
Newspapers.com
24 December 1977, The Citizen (Ottawa, ON), “Taboos, curses and ghouls—the theatre’s full of them” by Audrey M. Ashley, pg. 29, col. 1:
However, not only is it forbidden to quote from the play—its name must not even be mentioned backstage. It’s referred to obliquely as “the Scottish play” or “the play about the Scottish king.”
             
Newspapers.com
10 June 1978, Vancouver (BC) Sun, “The Magnificence of Maggie Smith” by Ronald Bryden, Weekend Magazine, pg. 18, col. 1:
“SCARCELY ANYONE HERE KNOWS the superstition about the play!” says Maggie Smith. “They can’t understand why we call it Aimez-vous Glamis!” She laughed.
 
Newspapers.com
23 August 1980, The Daily Telegraph (London, UK), “The Perfect Irish Englishman” by Paul Vallely and Anna Kythreotis, Telegraph Sunday Magazine, pg. 30, col. 4:
Actors try not to mention it by name and use euphemisms like Aimez-vous Glamis?, The Caledonian Tragedy, Monarch of the Glen, and so on. (Peter—ed.) O’Toole has invented his own: The Harry Lauder Show.
 
Newspapers.com
24 August 1980, Los Angeles (CA) Times, Calendar sec., pg. 3, col. 1:
O’TOOLE GOES
FOR ‘THE BIRD’
IN ‘MACBETH’
BY MARY BLUME
(...)
Traditionally, “Macbeth”—which has been described as “impissated gloom”—is a bad-luck play, to the point where actors do not mention it by name.
 
“People call it the Scottish Play, the Caledonian Tragedy. Aimez-vous Glamis is my favorite,” (Peter—ed.) O’Toole said. he prefers to call the play Harry Lauder. Within hours of uttering its real title during preliminary talks at the Old Vic, he learned that his wife had left him for a younger man. “The whole play is a jinx,” he says.
 
Google Books
The Curse of Macbeth, and Other Theatrical Superstitions:
An Investigation
By Richard Huggett
London, UK: Picton Pub.; Distributed by Humanities Press
1981
Pg. 133:
It is talked about as That Play, or The Scottish Play

The Unmentionable or The Caledonian Tragedy or The Comedy of Glamis or Harry Lauder, references which must surely bewilder any backstage visitor.
 
Newspapers.com
8 November 1981, The Sunday Register (Shrewsbury, NJ), Pg. C11, col. 1:
Old-timers credit ‘Macbeth Curse’ for theater fire
By JACK O’BRIAN
(A fire at the Brooks Atkinson Theater during the show The Dresser.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
2 August 1986, The Citizen (Ottawa, ON), “How performer attempt to avoid bad luck” by Barbara Crook, pg. C12, col. 4:
To help guard against the evil of Macbeth, actors never refer to it by name or quote passages from the play, except in rehearsal. It is usually known as “The Scottish Play,” “That Unmentionable Play,” or by a pet name (MacGregor often calls it “Mackers”).
(Barry MacGregor.—ed.)
         
Gogole Groups: rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft
The Scottish Play
Lawrence Bullock
Oct 10, 1995, 3:00:00 AM
The evidence for such a curse began quite
> early in the play’s history. After the opening performance in 1606,
> Hal Berridge, the boy who played Lady M, died backstage. From there
> the legend has grown.
 
From _An Actor Behaves_ by Tom Markus

”...the greateast danger in fight sequences is that they are underrehearsed. Once again, time is the enemy of theatre. That’s what’s behind the English superstitions surrounding *MacBeth*. English actors frequently will not mention the title, referring to it as “the Scottish play” and to the title role as “the thane” or “Mackers”. They hold that quoting lines from it in the dressing room is bad luck. It is also believed that some terrible accident will occur during any production of the play. Frequently this is explained by alleging that the invocations spoken by the witches are real, but the more sensible reason is this: the play is frequently produced without sufficient rehearsal time. It’s a short script and can be learned fast. And it is usually popular at the box office. But producing Macbeth in three weeks is asking for trouble. All those fight scenes! Small wonder there are so many accidents!...”
           
Newspapers.com 
18 August 1996, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), “There’s More Than `Macbeth’ at Shakespeare Fest Between Plays, Go Backstage Or Take a Falcon Field Trip” by Steve Law, pg. E3, col. 3:
And have you ever wondered why “Macbeth” is often referred to as “The Scottish Play,” “MacBee” or “MacDaddy”? The reason is simple, says Denning: “f you’re in theater and say the word `Macbeth’ or quote part of the play, it will bring you bad luck. If you accidentally say it, don’t worry, the curse can be reversed. To rid yourself of the curse, run outside, spin three circles and spit on the ground.”
 
Google Books
Ramblings With Redde:
Why Does My Life Seem Like a Bad “B” Flick?
By Christa Micheals
iUniverse
2000
Pg. 130:
For those of you who don’t know, “The Scottish Play,” is also called “That Play,” “The Unmentionable Play,” and to us lay folk, Macbeth.
     
Newspapers.com
5 January 2000, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), Glendale/Peoria sec., pg. 10, col. 1:
A cursed classic
“The Comedy of Glamis” and ‘The Unmentionable” are just two of the euphemisms actors used to avoid mentioning the title of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth because of the curse associated with “The Scottish Business.”
 
Google Groups: humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare
The Scottish business
Art Neuendorffer
May 23, 2006, 8:24:44 PM
—————————————————————
William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is associated with many superstitions. Actors avoid naming it, referring to ‘that play’ or ‘the Scottish business’. Laurence Olivier was nearly killed while playing in Macbeth, when a scenery weight fell near him. It is unlucky to quote from the play; it is thought that the witches’ song (Act IV, Scene I) is the reason for the superstitions.
 
13 June 2006, Washington (DC) Post, “Macshush!; Theater Superstition Warns of Double Trouble if the Name Is Spoken” by David Segal, pg. C1:
“Most people call it ‘The Scottish Play.’ Or ‘Mackers,’ ” says MacIntosh. “I know people who wouldn’t be caught dead saying anything but Mackers.”
(...)
In 1849, two productions of “Macbeth” were staged simultaneously in New York, and the leads—one an American, the other British - - were feuding. A crowd of thousands showed up at the Astor Place Opera House to pelt and protest the appearance of the latter, a famous Shakespearean actor named William Charles Macready. (This is back when people took theater very seriously.) When the protest became a riot, the authorities fired into the crowd, killing more than 20 people.
   
5 January 2007, Washington (DC) Post, “In the beginning was the Bard…,” pg. WW26:
Sometimes Shakespeare could be a curse. “Macbeth” was considered so unlucky for actors—early productions, legendarily including the very first, were said to be plagued by fatal illness, accidents and even deaths from swordplay and perhaps real witches’ displeasure—that many didn’t like to mention it by name, referring to it as “the Scottish play” or the “Scottish business.” If the real name is used in a theater, superstition requires the speaker to leave the room, spin around three times, spit over the shoulder and knock to reenter.
 
18 December 2007, The Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India), “Believe it or not,” pg.?:
NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 18—The theatre fraternity is superstitious. For instance, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a taboo worldwide. It is either referred to as the ‘unmentionable play’, the ‘bard’s play’ or the ‘Scottish play’.
 
Theatreperson Amir Raza Hussain says, “People don’t even quote from the play. If somebody ever quotes, there is an antidote. One must say these lines - ‘Enter Lavinia ravish’d, her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out.’”
   
Google Groups: rec.arts.movies.past-films
The Scottish Tragedy
Marv Soloff
Apr 26, 2008, 9:00:00 AM
I have heard, as part of show business lore and legend, that one does not refer directly to Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” directly as “MacBeth” - rather as “The Scottish Play” or “The Scottish Tragedy”. Does anyone know how this convention got started? Where? Who?
 
Newspapers.com
26 June 2009, Ventura County Star (Ventura, CA), timesOut, pg. 20, col. 1:
Toil and trouble
Shakespeare ‘curse’ plague’s the start of Kingsmen’s 13th annual festival
BY ALICIA DOYLE
(...)
“Several fond nicknames have evolved as a result,” (director Michael J.—ed.) Arndt said, such as ‘That Play,’ ‘The Bard’s Play,’ ‘MacB,’ ‘Mackers,’ ‘The Glamis Comedy,’ ‘The Scottish Business,’ and, most popular, ‘The Scottish Play.’
     
Twitter     
Nolan Woods
@kwirq
I unthinkingly quoted a bit of MacB—the Scottish Play—in drama class tonight and the teacher made me exit the room, spin 3 times, and spit.
11:40 PM · Oct 6, 2009·Twitter Web Client
     
Twitter 
Patsy Vaughn
@patbread
Macbeth=macdaddy
12:54 PM · Jan 13, 2011·Twitter SMS
 
Twitter
Stage Directions
@stagedirections
“The Scottish Play.”  MacB. Mackers. MacDaddy. Know what we’re avoiding? Do you avoid it, too? Why? http://ow.ly/guo9N
2:45 PM · Jan 2, 2013·Hootsuite
 
Twitter         
Patrick Varon
@patrickvaron
Replying to @anoisewithin
@anoisewithinUseful alternatives to saying #Macbeth: The Scottish King, The Scottish Lord, The Play w/Lady M, heck, Macaroni & Cheese!
7:17 PM · Dec 28, 2013·Twitter for iPhone
     
Google Groups: nycplaywrights_group
NYCPlaywrights May 10, 2014
NYCPlaywrights
May 10, 2014, 5:13:42 PM
(...)
Two such superstitions float around Macbeth. The first is that it’s bad luck to even say “Macbeth” except during rehearsal or performance. When referring to the work one instead uses circumlocutions, such as “the Scottish play” or “Mackers” or “the Scottish business” or “the Glamis comedy” or just “that play.” Some say this rule applies only when inside a theater; it’s OK, therefore, to use the dread name in other settings – like classrooms, for instance.
 
The remedy, if someone does happen to utter the unutterable, is to leave the room, close the door, turn around three times, say a dirty word (or spit, some say), then knock on the door and ask to be let back in. If you can’t do all that, you simply quote from Hamlet, act 1, scene 4: “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!”
   
Twitter
Matthew “Smiffy” Smith @GrumpySmiffy@aus.social
@smiffy
Replying to @sumenrai79
@sumenrai79 Are you referring to the Caledonian Tragedy? (Or the Scottish Play, as some call it.)
7:20 AM · Jul 10, 2014
 
Twitter
Shakespeare300
@Shakespeare_300
The Scottish Play, the Bard’s Play, the Scottish Business or even Mackers, anything but #Macbeth or… #Macbadluck
8:13 PM · Mar 12, 2015·TweetDeck
   
Twitter
zan
@giannazanfardin
my english teacher just called macbeth “macdaddy”
8:32 AM · Apr 28, 2015·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
bond, ames bond ✨
@thisisames
Replying to @MrsFridayNext
@MrsFridayNext you may call it the Scottish play or Mackers. You can call him Mackers as well or call her Lady M. But everyone is different-
11:04 AM · Oct 19, 2015·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Shakespeare300
@Shakespeare_300
The Scottish Play, the Bard’s Play, the Scottish Business or even Mackers, anything but #Macbeth or… #Macbadluck
(The following text is shown on an image.—ed.)
KEEP
CALM
AND
NEVER SAY
M*CBETH
9:13 AM · Dec 21, 2015·TweetDeck
 
Twitter
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
@chesapeakeshake
THE SCOTTISH PLAY, Mackers, MacB, or M. Call it what you wish, dear superstitious friends. Opens tonight!
4:01 PM · Apr 15, 2016·Twitter Web Client
     
Live Design
Keep Calm And Never Say M*cbeth
By John Leonard Jun 20, 2017 04:34pm
(...)
Yes, it’s Macbeth, or The Scottish Play or, as Peter O’Toole insisted on calling it, Harry Lauder. (Lauder was a hugely popular Scottish vaudeville entertainer in the UK and the USA back in the early 20th century, by the way.) Saying the name, or quoting from the play when you’re not actively involved in a production, is still considered massively bad form by some, otherwise quite sensible, people. One has to be very careful around other theatricals when working on a production of Macbeth, as one never knows who the superstitious ones might be, and being sent out of the room, told to turn round three times, spit, and knock to regain admission, or whatever other bizarre rituals need to be enacted to appease the spirits, can get really tedious.
 
Twitter
Richard Crouse
@RichardCrouse
Actors often consider it bad luck to mention Macbeth. Tradition requires indirect references to the play and the character, for example as “The Scottish Play” or “MacBee”, or “Mr. and Mrs. M”, or “The Scottish King”. #macbeth #shakespeare #poplifeCTV
@poplifeCTV
7:31 AM · Aug 15, 2018·Twitter for iPhone
   
Twitter
Manga Classics
@mangaclassics
Did you know that it’s widely believed that Macbeth is a cursed play? Calling the play by its real name would bring bad luck. People referred the play as “The Scottish Play,” “MacBee” or “Mr. and Mrs. M.” in rehearsal so as to not ‘jinx’ the production!
#triviathursday
12:15 PM · Jan 3, 2019·TweetDeck
 
Twitter
javi
@dudeduction
ik im the one man on this earth who still says the scottish play bc everyone else in theatre is just like “the m word” “mackers” “big mac” “big boy and the witch gang”
1:12 AM · Mar 12, 2019·Twitter Web App
   
Twitter
Nathan Blair
@FaceTheNathan
Broke: The Scottish Play
Woke: MacB*th
1:22 PM · Oct 7, 2019·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Ms Flint
@MsFlintEnglish
Replying to @The_Globe
Depends on where I am! In the classroom? Macbeth. In a theatre? The Scottish Play, or shortened to Mackers or MacB. Never the full name!!!
12:58 PM · Mar 7, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Kris K
@XoxoGossipTurg
Replying to @OnstageBlog
Tired: The Scottish Play
Wired: Mackers
6:28 PM · Oct 5, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
     
Twitter
Christopher Goulding
@GouldingChris
Good to see a Times theatre critic using the age-old actors’ nickname “the Scottish play” in a review of Shakespeare’s bloody Caledonian tragedy.
@secondmentions
1:59 AM · Oct 15, 2021
 
Twitter
theo - rope 1948 fan club copresident
@galvan1st1c
realizing just now that my theatre is kind of insane. everyone else has been calling macbeth ‘mackers’ and ‘macb’??? where in the hell did we get ‘macdaddy’ from !! literally everyone including the director uses that here… who r we
2:49 PM · Feb 5, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
   
Twitter
lia 🌸
@ucanstaystay
Replying to @maeum_your and @simpingforyn
MACDADDY MACMOMMY😭😭😭😭😭 U JUST RUINED MACBETH FOR ME I WONT BE ABLE TO READ AGAIN WITHOUT THINKING THIS
2:44 PM · Feb 20, 2022·Twitter for Android
 
Twitter
Rhonda (Words By Parker)
@wordsbyparker
Replying to @wordsbyparker @NomadsTales and @Oracle_VO
Needless to say, I learned my lesson and the superstition stuck with me. 😊 I still call it Mackers or the Scottish Play.
8:16 AM · Sep 15, 2022·Twitter for Android
   
Twitter
HITCHCOCKY
@sandrashevey
`MacBeth` (the unmentionable play)...Jon Finch in Polanski`s version and Orson in the Mercury Theatre version. The film was criticized for too much blood and violence.Ironic cause the director, a Jew converted to Catholicism, spent his childhood in a concentration camp.
2:30 AM · Oct 17, 2022·Twitter Web App
 
Twitter
P J Richards
@P_J_Richards
📜🗡️📜The theatre superstition that forbids actors from saying ‘Macbeth’ ( instead of ‘The Scottish Play’ ) is said to have arisen from the fear that the lines spoken by the three Witches while stirring their cauldron are a real curse, and will summon misfortune.
#FolkloreThursday
7:02 AM · Nov 24, 2022·Twitter Web App