Transcript cd_Cursed Play - 09-10-HHS

Cursed Play
Connor Dunn
What are the reasons behind this accusation and what real things have
occurred to support this statement?
• One if the reasons that it is called a cursed play is because the
actresses that were in the play really studied dark magic and they
used words that were dark spells.
• The superstition follows that any company performing the play will
be beset with horrible luck, ranging anywhere from uncanny
accidents on the set to actual deaths within the company!
• in fact, in many parts, it is not only the production of the play that will strike
fear, but quoting from the play or even the mere mention of the name Macbeth
inside a theatre, be it the stage, the house, the lobby, or especially the dressing
rooms will lose a person acquainted with the stage nearly all his or her theatrical
friends.
• The feathers or fans or even peacock designs on the stage are
thought to be extremely unlucky. They are blamed for causing
numerous theatrical failures.
• Cats on the other hand, are thought to be lucky in the
theater, that is as long as they are content to watch plays
from the wings. A black cat is supposed to be an even
more infallible source of good luck. It is said that all
around the theatre world, dark felines are treated with
the greatest care and consideration. Burnham If a cat
crosses the stage though, it is thought to be a terrible
omen.
Should Lady Macbeth be the same age as Lord Macbeth?
• No lady Macbeth should not be the same age as Lord Macbeth.
• It would be better if she was younger since she is a villain.
What do the predictions made by the three witches mean and what is
the significance that there are three weird sisters and why the term
sisters?
• The predictions made by the three witches mean that he will one
day become king.
• They also predict that Banquo will beget a line of kings, although will
not ascend the throne himself. King Duncan arranges to visit him at
his castle.
• The three weird sisters are the three witches and I think why they
are called wird sisters is because they helped Macbeth because
without them he would of not of known anything.
Who is the historical figure of Macbeth?
• The historical figure of Macbeth is obviously the Scottish king.
• This is probably one of the reasons it is called the Scottish play.
Is Macbeth a good man who grows into a villain?
• Yes, my opinion
Ghosts and Ghost lights
• Tales of haunted theaters abound, not only in America, but also in Europe.
Almost every theater in fact has an unexplainable occurrences that some attribute
to ghosts. Jim Whitherell, who was head of the COS Theater Department
for over 30 years, has one as well. It happened when the COS theatre was
fairly new. One of the acting students had been killed shortly before this incident in
a car accident. The stage lights flickered on and off throughout one dress
rehearsal, when the lighting booth was inaccessible. Many theaters even attribute
much luck to any one who sites one of their theater's apparitions. Anyone who
sees the Drury Lane Ghost in London, England is supposed to have
extraordinary success in acting.
•
Ghost lights are another interesting superstition. The generally accepted definition of a ghost Light
is “… a single bare-bulb lamp left burning in the middle of the stage all night.” (Knapp) There are
many ideas about how the practice of ghost lights came to be. There is everything from an urban
legend about a burglar in a theater who sued when he fell off the stage in the dark, to that simply it
is an equity mandate.
• The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts gives this background on their ghost
lights; “There is a special light on a pole that can usually be pointed out easily in
this theater. This is known as the ghost light. There is one in each of the four
theaters. They are there for two reasons- one more practical and the second more
fun. The first reason for the ghost light is so when someone walks into backstage of
the dark theater they don't trip over set pieces and hurt themselves or accidentally
walk off of the edge of the stage. The second reason is that back in Shakespeare's
time candles were burned in theaters to scare away ghosts from old performances.
Many theaters burned down from the simple fact that fire and wood don't mix but
since we now have electricity, that is really not a problem.”
Info on play
•
the play is one of Shakespeare’s shortest, as it is believed that James
disliked long plays.
•
James was someone who studied witchcraft.
•
Most importantly, the inclusion of the witches, a subject that, made the
King’s approval of the play inevitable.
•
The story is taken from Holinshed, who copied it from the History of Scotland, by Hector Boece or
Boyce, in seventeen volumes (1527). The history, written in Latin, was translated by John Bellenden
(1531-1535).
• Evidence suggests that Macbeth was written by command
as one of the plays to be given before King James I and the
King of Denmark during the latter's notable visit to England
in the summer of 1606.
• Shakespeare's company were the King's Players, and it would be natural for them
to be commanded to produce a story of Scottish history touching on the ancestry
of their patron. The title role was created by the great Richard Burbage and his
infamous queen by the boy-actress Edmans. The play was first printed in the Folio
of 1623, where the text shows some signs of cutting and alteration. The lyrical
episodes of Hecate and the witches (III, 5 and IV, 1) are thought to have been
added by another playwright.
• The real Macbeth took the throne of Scotland in 1040, after killing his cousin King
Duncan I in a battle near Elgin in the Moray district of Scotland. Duncan's eldest
son, Malcolm, ended Macbeth's reign in 1057 by killing him in battle and later
assuming the throne as Malcolm III. The real Lady Macbeth's first name was
Gruoch, although this is not mentioned in the play, and he was her second
husband.
• The most intelligent writer in all of English literature, William
Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glovemaker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended
grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In
1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three
children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled
to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical
acclaim quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the
most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe
Theater.
Shakespeare
• His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603) and
James I (ruled 1603–1625), and he was a favorite of both monarchs.
Indeed, James granted Shakespeare’s company the greatest
possible compliment by bestowing upon its members the title of
King’s Men. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to
Stratford and died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two. At the time of
Shakespeare’s death, literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed
his works as timeless.
• Macbeth is not Shakespeare’s most complex play, but it is certainly one of his most
powerful and emotionally intense. Whereas Shakespeare’s other major tragedies, such
as Hamlet and Othello, fastidiously explore the intellectual predicaments faced by
their subjects and the fine nuances of their subjects’ characters, Macbeth tumbles
madly from its opening to its conclusion. It is a sharp, jagged sketch of theme and
character; as such, it has shocked and fascinated audiences for nearly four hundred
years.
Works cited
• http://home.flash.net/~manniac/macb.htm
• http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/Defymcbeth/S
uper2.html
• http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=1
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