The curse of ‘Macbeth’ still haunts the British stage

Press, 13 November 1982, Page 15

The curse of ‘Macbeth’ still haunts the British stage

Actors have the reputation of being the most superstitious of people; they have many taboos and consider it unlucky, for instance, to wear green on stage or to whistle in the wings. But most legends of disaster centre around Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth.” Many actors and actresses have refused to appear in the play for fear that evil and bad luck will result.

The English-speaking theatre on both sides of the Atlantic is not only, perhaps, the most inventive and excit : ing in the world; it is also possibly the most superstitious of cultural institutions, tangled up in a net of elaborate irrationalities and taboos which every young theatre player has to learn as part of his and her apprenticeship. For example, it is considered unlucky to wear green on the stage, to carry real

flowers, to whistle in the wings, for a player to leave his hat on the bed in his hotel (many an actor has made a last-minute return to his ho'el to make sure he has not done so), or to have a real Biole on the stage. Some of these have a practical explanation. In the nineteenth century, the scenery was often shifted by former sailors, experts with ropes, who conveyed their orders by whistling. An actor

whistling in the wings might have led to general confusion. This bizarre aspect of the theatre is discussed at fascinating length ny the actor and playwright, Richard Huggett, in his recently reissued book, "The Curse of Macbeth.” . In it he claims: "We actors are undoubtedly the most superstitious of all professionals. Underneath whatever facade of smiling con-

fidence we choose to show to the world there is frequently a bottomless pit of hopes and fears, of insecurity and tensions.”

He links the superstitions to the uncertain life of actors, even famous ones, who need more than their share of good luck not to succumb to the nightmares of forgotten lines, unsympathetic audiences, and other nightly ordeals.

Most actors have a personal talisman which they keep in their dressingrooms and take from theatre to threatre: china ornaments, rabbits’ feet, teddy bears, a favourite dressing gown — all of which are religiously kissed or touched before a performance. Actors, too, often consult astrologers to make decisions for them about whether or not to accept a part. Some never walk on pavement cracks, and some, beautiful or handsome and successful, are themselves regarded as lucky mascots by other players: Mrs Patrick Campbell, Gladys Cooper, and Vivien Leigh were so regarded.

Some famous actors — Sir Henry Irving was among them — feel insecure, tormented by feelings of inadequacy. Some avoid looking at pictures of themselves outside theatres. Some arrive at the theatre hours before they are due to appear; others arrive at the last possible moment.

Mr Huggett concentrates in his book on the astonishing legend (or is it history?), of bad luck and evil attendant upon Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Macbeth.” It carries such a burden of superstitions and misfortunes that actors will not refer to it by its proper name but call it “the Scottish play,” “the Caledonian play,” “the unmentionable,” or just “that play.” • It is considered extremely bad luck to quote from it in the dressing-room or even outside it. And any luckless junior who names it, or

quotes from it is sent out of the room. He has to turn around three times, spit, and beg humbly for re-admit-tance.

Some actors and actresses have resolutely refused to appear in the play for fear of the evil that will result, although it is such a popular piece that it is always being performed somewhere. The part of Macbeth is regarded as a supremely testing experience for any actor seeking greatness. The legend, often laughed at as well as feared, reached a climax of nightmarish reality in an English provincial theatre in 1947, when the actor playing Macbeth was accidentally stabbed to death by the actor playing Macduff in the final duel of the play. A shudder of ill-omen went through the British theatre as if its most powerful superstition had been proved true. Mr Huggett explains away certain aspects of the Macbeth superstition in rational terms. It is a play with a good deal of sword-play in which accidents are more likely than in most other plays. The part of Macbeth is a lonely, brooding one-man show in which a sensitive actor may become obsessed with the evil he is playing and, therefore, accidentprone. But Mr Huggett and a number of other theatre people believe that the play really is cursed, Carrying in its wake “a truly terrifying trail of disaster and bad luck.”

He believes that the witches’ curse, as they put the repulsive ingredients in the cauldron so that Macbeth can see his grisly future, “is taken from an actual black magic incantation which Shakespeare would certainly have known about during those years in which he lived in Stratford.” And it is this real curse, Huggett believes, that hangs over the play. — London Press Service.

KEITH BRACE,

literary editor,

Birmingham “Post”