I'm continuing my epic journey to reclaim enlightenment from the jaws of death tonight while I'm waiting for a cottage pie to cook. Since you ask, it's looking a bit watery. Anyway it's a quick jaunt tonight (ain't it always? no time for learnin' in this 9-to-5 game), relaying some information passed on to me by my good friend and fellow raconteur, Simon Callow, um, through the TV screen. It regards Macbeth, or as nobby thesps call it, 'The Scottish Play', due to it being unlucky to say it's name, because y'know, it's cursed and that. Anyway, Callow, still just about fighting a two-horse race with John Sessions for the biggest luvvie twat in the universe, nonchalantly dismissed any notion of Macfear, claiming instead that it got it's unlucky tag not from ghosts, untimely deaths or anything of that ilk, but this:
Macbeth is the shortest Shakespeare play, and was often used as a back-up if another production was unsuccessful or had to be replaced at short notice. As a result it was often under-rehearsed or performed by theatres under pressure, leading to a higher chance of mistakes being made with the lines, set etc.
The longest fact yet! Toot toot. Anyway a quick browse on the Bible of useless information (need I name names) informs me that Callow has struck open a rich vein of curse-doubting; other suggestions for Macbeth's bad rep include it being put on due to it's popularity at unsuccessful theatres, and inevitably being the last play ever shown there; and finally as it requires fewer actors than other Shakespeare plays, it is often kept as a reserve in case actors go walkabout. Kind of the same as what Simon said, but just thought I'd better expand on his original quote and add a bit of depth and detail, before bloody Sessions gets wind of it and brings out an audio book. Anyway, time to see if my dinner's dried itself out. Same time tomorrow.
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