The Curse of MacBeth

The curse comes from the play's depiction of witchcraft, still a vital (though contested) belief in 1606, when the play was first performed. The people believe that the witchcraft that they did in the show had accidentally cast a spell on it. The most shocking effects of the curse was the 1672 Amsterdam production, as well as the 1998 Off-Broadway production. In the 1672 production the person playing MacBeth substituted a real dagger for the fake one and stabbed and killed the actor playing Duncan, onstage in front of everyone. In the 1998 production, Alec Baldwin accidentally sliced open the hand of his costar during a performance. What makes this event so shocking is that it is fairly recent, and I was alive for it. You can't mention the name MacBeth in a theater because it could "activate" the curse. If I had to avoid the curse I would use the method of reciting the Hamlet verse because it is the most dramatic and I'm too lazy to leave the room. In the method one must recite the verse: "Angels and Ministers of Grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, Being with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable, Thou comest in such a questionable shape that I will speak to thee.". I am skeptic about this curse, and although I am an actress, I believe that if you give your performance your all, then you can overcome any curse. This is one of the many theater curses and superstitions I and other actors have heard.