Will McClure
Logan Guler
Casey Knox
Sydney Knudsen
 It is said that it is bad luck to say “MacBeth” inside of
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theaters
It is said anyone that says it will receive the worst luck
in their life following
If accidently said there are two ways to cancel out what
has been said:
The first is leave the room, close the door, turn around
three times, say a dirty word, knock on the door, and
asked to be let back in
An alternative way is to say a quote from Hamlet, Act 1,
Scene 4: “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!”
 In another hypothesis MacBeth is said to be the
luckiest play of all time for theaters
 MacBeth was a play put on by struggling theaters often
 MacBeth, no matter where or when it was put on, was
considered a “guaranteed full-house”
 Sir Donald Sinden said "contrary to popular myth,
Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is not the unluckiest
play as superstition likes to portray it. Exactly the
opposite!”
 The reason for the curse is said to be because
Shakespeare used “authentic” witch chants in the play
 The real witches that heard of this casted a spell, as
punishment, on the play forever
 Because of this King James the First banned the play
from England for five years because of the curse and
because the witch chants seemed too real
 In the first ever production of MacBeth, August 7 1606,
Hal Berridge, the boy playing Lady MacBeth, became
feverish and died backstage
 Shakespeare finished the play as Lady MacBeth
 In 1672 production in Amsterdam, the actor playing
MacBeth accidently substituted a real dagger for the
blunted stage dagger and killed the actor playing
Duncan, in full view of the audience
 London 1703, opening production, England hit with one of
the worst storms in the nations history
 In 1845, audience threw fruit and chairs at rival characters
on stage; started a riot; militia fired on crowd, and more
then 20 died and 30-plus more were wounded
 In 1942, the first modern dressed production, a large set
collapsed and seriously injured about five casting members
 Also 1942, three actors died during practice (separate
times), two witches and Duncan, and the set designer
committed suicide
 While many people would say this is the most unlucky
play ever made, others would argue differently
 It saved many theaters over the years that were failing
and soon to become bankrupt
 However, there have been more deaths in this then any
other play ever
 Is this play cursed? Or is it a coincidence? You can
decide that one for yourself
 Straight Dope, The
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2267/wh
ats-the-story-on-the-curse-of-em-macbeth-em
 The Scottish Play-Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_Play