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Curses! A centuries-old hex on USU play?
By Brad Plothow
December 1,2005 | For superstitious thespians, hearing
"good luck" before a performance is a kiss of death.
But those two words aren't the only ones tabooed by
performing artists.
"Never say 'Macbeth'" while in the theater, said Lynda
Linford, director of Utah State University's production
of Macbeth, which opens Thursday night at Utah
State University's Morgan Theatre.
And why not? Because the word may bring you very bad
luck.
The lore behind the unmentionable word dates to 1606,
when William Shakespeare first produced the play. Many
consider calling Macbeth by its title invokes
a hex the Bard left on it. As such, it is often referred
to as "the Scottish play" to avoid
the blights believed to accompany Shakespeare's
adaptation of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles.
So, what do you do in case of a slip of the tongue?
"Go outside, turn around three times and spit over
your left shoulder," Linford said.
The original production of Shakespeare's infamous
work, which centers on witchery and enchantments, was
rife with mishaps, and the same can be said of USU's
adaptation. Sam Larson, who plays Mcduff, suffered a
minor head wound while rehearsing a sword fight, and
Linford and Sam McGinnis both rolled their ankles.
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Is it the curse,
or just coincidence?
Perhaps a bit of both, said Brandon Pearson,
who plays Macbeth.
"I don't take (the curse) seriously at all.
Repeating a name is not going to do anything,"
Pearson said. "Everybody gets bumps and bruises
when you do this kind of play."
Still, Pearson said some of the scenes, such
as the one where witches use a Ouija board, make
him wonder if spirits other than the mock ones
in the production may be at work. |
Production dedicated to
grad student
USU's production of Macbeth
is being presented in honor of Gentry Thompson,
a graduate student who died on the second night
of rehearsals.
Thompson was cast to play the doctor.
His colleagues were aware that he had multiple
health problems. But it was still a shock when
his wife found him dead in the bathroom after
play practice.
"We're dedicating the play to him,"
Linford said.
Linford said Thompson died of complications
from several illnesses, but she didn't know the
exact case of his passing. |
"When you do something about darkness, you're bound
to conjure up darkness," Pearson said of the play's
mimicked hocus-pocus. "You're knocking on a door you
may not be able to shut."
While a graduate student in Minnesota, Linford said
she knew a man who died during a performance while playing
the part of Macbeth. But for her part, Linford thinks
the superstitious stigma attached to the play is more
about whimsies-gone-wild than 15th-century curses.
"The play is so involved with the supernatural . .
. [that] the subject matter makes it an exciting flight
of fancy," Linford said. "Theater people are superstitious.
Every theater person I know who's any good has quite
an imagination." Pearson said he and his colleagues
call the play by its official title "all the time,"
and Linford admitted the cast and crew sometimes even
bandy the word about "when we are trying to be humorous."
The play chronicles Macbeth's rise from Scottish obscurity
to nobility, fulfilling a forecast by three witches.
During his ascent, Macbeth becomes consumed with the
power that eventually corrupts him to the core.
"It's about an apocalyptic duel between the forces
of good and evil," Linford said. "It's a kind of gothic
tale, with a visit to the dark side."
USU's adaptation of the play includes some traditional
theatrical elements and a few contemporary ones. Holding
to Shakespeare's original concept, the characters fight
with broadswords and wear gothic capes, but they also
don earrings and leather jackets.
Pearson hopes playgoers will glean a moral lesson
from the production: that authority can corrupt even
the purest person. Macbeth, Pearson believes, is not
a dyed-in-the-wool villain; rather, his digression to
cruelty occurs in increments.
"That's where the horror is," Pearson said. "(Play
patrons) are going to see a good man gone bad."
The crown jewel of the production is the set, which
Linford said is the largest ever built for Morgan Theatre.
Linford and set designer Dennis Hassan spent part of
last summer in Scotland doing research for the set,
which Linford said "is going to be pretty visually spectacular."
Morgan Theatre will host Macbeth Thursday
through Saturday, and and Dec. 7-10. For information,
call the theatre arts public relations office, 797-1500.
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