The Macbeth Curse:
Throughout the long history of Macbeth productions, anyone involved in a play of Macbeth who says "Macbeth" will experience bad luck or serious injury. In a sense, the play is cursed! Ask any experienced actor. In fact, the curse was so feared by people, that actors and producers often refer to the play by one of its many nicknames, like "The Scottish Play." It's rumored that in order to reverse the bad luck, the person who uttered the word must exit the theater, spin around three times saying a profanity, and then ask for permission to return inside.

Here are a few examples of what happened to those who did not heed the curse:

• In Amsterdam in 1672, the actor playing Macbeth substituted the blunt stage dagger with a real one, and with killed his co-actor playing Duncan right in front of the live audience.
• During its 1849 performance at New York's Astor Place, 31 people were trampled to death in a riot that had broken out.
• In 1934, British actor Malcolm Keen turned mute on stage, and his replacement developed a high fever and had to be hospitalized.
• In 1937, a 25 pound stage weight crashed within an inch of him Laurence Olivier (who was playing Macbeth). Not only that, but his sword broke on stage flew into the audience, hitting a man who later suffered a heart attack. And if you think that was enough bad luck for one production, think again. Both the director and the actress playing Lady Macduff were involved in a car accident on the way to the theater, and the proprietor of the theater died of a heart attack during the dress rehearsal.
• Oddly enough, it was Macbeth that Abraham Lincoln chose to take with him on board the River Queen on the Potomac River one afternoon. The president was reading to a group of friends passages of the play that happened to follow the scene in which Duncan was assassinated. Within a week, President Lincoln himself was assassinated.

Over the weekend, everyone needs to read the Introduction to the play, pages 1-16 in the school copy of the text.  Be prepared to participate in class discussions about the introduction as well as the opening assignment for the play.  There will be a reading/homework assignment for Tuesday due Wednesday.  You will need to be in class on Monday in order to receive the assignment.