Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
The year is 1606, and William Shakespeare wishes to create one of his greatest stories yet. A story that would go down in history as one of the most recognizable, but not for the right reasons. To enhance his play, the young writer decided to steal tools that were needed to make the play seem more real back then. Those tools had belonged to a couple of witches who participated in real witchcraft. Since then, the name of “Macbeth” has been cursed, and when its name is said in any theatre related space, it will doom the show that lies ahead. However, do the people who participate in the theatre department of the school actually believe this tale to be true?
The theatre department on the campus is actually performing the show “Macbeth” later this year for the public to see, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the district has tip-toed around the idea of this cursed show.
“Supposedly William Shakespeare stole real witches’ incantation,” theatre arts director Cassandra Matlock said. “When the witches found out they got mad that they weren’t getting from this many stealing their work. They then put a curse on his show Macbeth for bad things to happen when someone uses the word without their permission. We did ‘Macbeth’ a few years ago, and the kid who was playing Macbeth had his car breakdown on his way to the show. He had to run to the theatre to get there on time. The flu was also going around as we were doing this in January, so there were a bunch of kids throwing up everywhere.”
The current wave of theatre students at the school have actually been affected by the curse one way or another. The curse doesn’t only just try to attack the show itself, but the people who are in the theatre.
“I believe in the ‘Macbeth’ curse,” junior Emma Johnston said. “I always wear necklaces and they’re always my great grandma’s, she was very involved in theatre. A student in the blackbox said the name, and I kid you not it broke into a million pieces, the beads went everywhere. It felt like my grandma was protecting our space. It’s rude to say it intentionally and it’s just annoying. Being someone who has watched and seen these things happen, it means a lot to try and not say something like that. It feels really different when you’re actually doing the show Macbeth. It feels like everyone is walking on eggshells.”
Superstition or not, it’s almost like a manner of respect to not say the name in any theatre space at all. It’s a form of obliviousness and disgust in theatre.
“If you say the ‘Macbeth’ name in a theatre space, the show that you’re currently doing will be cursed,” senior Avalon Barretto said. “Usually on the day of the show actors will get sick, and there’s even been cases of actors dying around the time period the curse started. I really think Ms. Matlock pounded fear into me. When you kind of just start theatre, you just understand all of the superstitions behind it. Like you don’t tell people good luck for a show you say break a leg, because when you say good luck for theatre it turns into bad luck.”
Even with how many students believe in the curse, there are still some outliers amongst their peers who believe it all just to be fake traditions that are only set in stone for fun.
“I believe that it’s not real,” sophomore Ella Kouba said. “Although I do like some superstitions stuff and think it’s fun to participate in it, I feel like we are what the outcome of the show is, not the word itself. What we have to do when we say it is just a little silly, like spinning around and spitting in a trash can. I would still have people play along though because it’s funny. It’s still a little scary though because Matlock put that fear in my brain, I know it’s not real but still at the same time I don’t wanna say it.”
Even with the argument of the curse not being real, so many people around the world believe in it enough for the actors and actresses to make mistakes without thinking because of the stress the word brings.
“I believe it’s real,” sophomore Autumn Lewis said. “When someone says the word we all think we’re gonna do bad, because we know the curse is coming, which then makes us all do something bad. It’s like a mindset, it’s real yes but it’s also a mindset. When someone says it it’s just like why, like even if you don’t care about it it’s something everyone else cares about so why would you say it. Even if it’s not real, it’s still like a part of our theatre culture. It’s just made all of us kinda superstitious, even if you weren’t before.”
The school’s UIL competitions aren’t even safe from the witches’ curse. The name of Macbeth has no limit whatsoever of how far it can reach when said in a theatre.
“This has happened before,” Barretto said. “Someone had said the name Macbeth when we were doing a one act play inside of another school we were at. When we got there, the plumbing was overflowing, there was water everywhere in the building, and even when we started rehearsing the fire alarm had gone off. I think even the electrical system burst, which caused us to not have lights for a bit. When I told Matlock that someone said the name, we had to undo the curse, and immediately then everything went fine.”
Before some of the students came to the school, they had already known about the dangers the word brought from previous experiences that they had.
“In my middle school someone said it right before one of our shows and someone got a concussion,” sophomore Annemarie Carman said. “A flat literally fell on top of them during our tech week. I had to step in and learn their part two days before the whole show. If it’s not during practice or during a show I don’t really mind it, but if it’s like right before a show then it makes me worried. I think it has brought me and some of my friends closer though, because we all have the same experience with it.”
There’s always the possibility however of the curse itself just being an insole of fear that every theatre teacher is obligated to bring to keep their kids in line.
“It will curse any production you’re working on,” tech theatre director Meg Standley said. “I really believe in the curse because all theatre people are superstitious, I just feel like because of that I have to believe it. There’s just also been so much evidence. There have been so many stories from people and even some that I know. Weird crazy things happen like flats will fall down and actors get sick when this happens. If I’ve ever said it I always do the little ritual we have so that the curse doesn’t happen, but I have had friends who haven’t done that. I’m scared when someone says it.”
With a tale as old as time, it’s something that has the chance to bring those in the theatre together however. Even with the fear it brings, it’s something that ties the department together as a life-long tradition it follows.
“I feel like it’s real since it’s such an old script,” junior Luciano Bautista-Gomez said. “Around that time there was so much dark magic and witchcraft, and the play centered around that. I think that makes some truth to the curse. I flinch when someone says it. Even if it’s such a small show for our class play in our small area with the blackbox, I still think it’s worth not saying anything just because it’s a conspiracy. It’s made us have our own energy with the play though, like Macbeth’s play just has its own feeling.”
No matter how many times the word is said to someone from the theatre, there will always be cases when the department will try their hardest to put on a show for the school. Whether or not the curse comes for us all.
“It’s like psychological warfare,” Matlock said. “I think when you associate bad things to the name, you’re going to notice when bad things happen. I believe that you notice a pattern when it starts to happen. It irritates me when someone says it, because it’s a sign of theatre respect. Whenever you go out of your way to say it, it’s disrespectful to our environment. When you say it by accident though, you just wanna be mindful and considerate to traditions as much as you can. It makes you mindful in the words you choose to say, and there are procedures that are in place to ward off the wickedness. It’s a way to bond with your fellow cast members, and it’s just weird things we do that induct you into the weird theatre cult.”
