Superstitions in the theatre.

Certain professions have more than their fair share of superstitions. The theatre is a veritable Pandora’s Box of irrational beliefs. “Acting is an anxious profession where things can go wrong, and it’s going to be a very public event if it goes wrong. Actors are traditionally superstitious.” Since it was first performed 400 years ago, no play has given birth to more superstitions than Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. “Definitely, you should never say the name of the play in a theatre, call it the Scottish play instead of naming it. You don’t say ay lines from the play while you’re in a theatre, and you don’t say the names of the two lead characters, because this will bring just horrible bad luck on the production, and on the person who says it.” As with some other superstitions, it’s possible to reverse the bad luck. If you do mention the play, or the title, or quote a line from the play even outside of the rehearsal process, the standard cure is to send that actor outside, have them spin around three times, spit over their shoulder and ask permission to come back into the theatre.” The first known problems with the play apparently date back to the opening night, when the boy who was supposed to play Lady Macbeth died backstage before the performance, so Shakespeare had to play Lady Macbeth on it opening night. We don’t know whether or not that’s true, but things keep happening around the play that are very creepy. The three witches introduce the play’s main character with an evil spell, and they are actually doing an incantation trying to figure out the next time they are going to meet. “James I was the King of England at the time the play was written in 1606, and he was fascinated by witches, he fully believed in them, and even wrote a book on them called Demonology.” Revealing Macbeth’s cursed fate, filling him with anxiety and fear, the witches conjure upa spell-binding image of the Scottish king being controlled by evil.

4. Sports and superstitions.

Although everyone has a superstition or two, athletes are champions in the realm of irrational fear. With the anxiety of intense pressure to perform and win, they often resort to lucky charms, or what they call ‘mojo’ to ensure success. Many athletes, in order to alleviate the pressure will focus on something to “throw up to the mojo gods” in hopes of luck that will cover that, so they can concentrate on their own performance. In the 1980 Olympics, the American hockey team beat the Russians for the gold medal in a game called the Miracle on Ice. Mike Eruzione, their captain, believed in some unusual mojos, the strangest of which was that he had to take the wrapper from a piece of gum, and peel the foil off in one piece before he’d allow himself to leave the locker room and go out on the ice.

3 Write down the extract starting “Quite a few people……. (19:18) up to …… and walk underneath.”

4 Who made these remarks on superstitions?

Write A if it was Professot Vyse

Write B if it was Steven King

Write C if it was the narrator

Write D if it was Alan Dundes

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1058