The Scottish Play

The Scottish Play and The Bard's Play are euphemisms for William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The first is a reference to the play's Scottish setting, the second a reference to Shakespeare's popular nickname. According to a theatrical superstition, called the Scottish curse, speaking the name Macbeth inside a theatre will cause disaster. A variation of the superstition also forbids quoting it within a theatre except as part of an actual rehearsal or performance of the play.

Because of this superstition, the lead character is most often referred to as the Scottish King or Scottish Lord. Lady Macbeth is often referred to as the Scottish Lady. Sometimes Mackers or MacB is used to avoid saying the name.

Those who believe in the curse claim that real spells are cast in the three witches scene. Some of those who believe in the reality of the spells also believe real witches should be chosen to act the roles and that it is the failure to do so that creates the environment within which the curse supposedly has effect. Some believers claim that including the character Hecate, frequently cut from productions of the play due to questions about her part's authorship, intensifies the curse. It is said that the curse effects were initially introduced unwittingly by Shakespeare, and in a deficient form, in an early version of the play; however, under threat of curse himself by a local coven of witches, which were increasingly common in Britain in the late-16th century, he was induced to re-write the relevant portions to avoid the supposed dire consequences of incomplete incantations being uttered. It has been argued, however, that this was a fiction circulated by the Church in the context both of the run-up to the infamous trials of the Pendle witches, and of the spilling over of a rapid increase in concern over witchcraft in nearby Wales. No such first version has ever been found.

Actors who do not believe the superstition will sometimes abstain from saying the name of the play out of politeness to those that do. Productions of Macbeth are said to have been plagued with accidents. According to legend, this dates back to the premiere of the play: an actor died because a real dagger was mistakenly used instead of the prop. The play does include more fight scenes and other such opportunities for accidents than does the average play, and the atmosphere in the backstage area of old-fashioned theatres was a prime setting for disasters, especially when dealing with potentially dangerous equipment. This would explain the accidents without invoking magic.

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