'JINXED'
Scene
– in a theatre for the auditions, rehearsals & performance
of ‘Macbeth’
Attila: For many, 'Macbeth' has sort of an overwhelming
menace, an atmosphere of dread and inevitable retribution. Personally,
I think it was just Shakespeare keying into our own pangs of conscience
and the fear of our own mortality. But for many performers, it's a very
real threat and manifests in a sense of the play being jinxed. A great
many superstitions have grown up around the play.
Jane: Not that I'm one for superstitions but, the play's
last line can't be spoken aloud until opening night or else some unavoidable
evil will befall the cast.
Eloise: You can't actually say the name Macbe…
(Stopping herself before saying it) You nearly caught me out
then!
Val: It's a well known fact that if you sneeze during
a rehearsal of Macbeth, then something will fall on somebody.
Imogen: It may not be right away…
Val: Or even in the same country that you are in at
the time…
Imogen: But somewhere, somehow, something will fall
on someone.
Jane: And on no account can you whistle in the theatre
– ever!
Unger: The whole thing is poppycock. Superstitious
claptrap.
George: Well, first you have to spit – or at
least act like you're spitting.
Eloise: In my opinion, it's less about acting Mac…
I mean 'the Scottish play'… it's less about actually acting it
than learning how to survive it.
Unger: A load of cods-wallop.
Wally: I think that it's got to do with tartan –
it's just too busy.
Clint: Macbeth. Macbeth. Macbeth. Macbeth.
Wally: Don't get me started on kilts.
George: Then you have to mime a crown, spin around
and flick away the bad juju.
Unger: Just a large wheelbarrow of walloped cod brimming
with trapped-clapping cocked-poppies.
Clint: Macbeth. Macbeth. Macbeth.
Imogen: And science just can't explain it.
Val: It makes you think hey?
Miles: (Conspiratorially) I always have some
salt in my pocket – to throw over my left shoulder. That way,
any time someone says Macbeth… (Throwing some salt) …I
can appease the theatre gods. Why salt? Don't know. Maybe they get cramps.
Clint: And then clap your hands once. And that's it.
Attila: But being modern men and women, I don't think
that we should have any problems with superstitions. Touch wood.
