Superstitious theater

The theatrical world is full of different superstitions such as ghosts, whistling being bad luck, "Break a Leg" and sleeping with your script under your pillow to learn your lines. The most famous, however, is The Scottish Play.

Before I continue, I wish to explain to you a couple ghostly superstitions. A general superstition about ghosts is that a theater should be closed one night of every week. Interesting superstition, but why is it brought about? Well, generally if a ghost is attracted to a theater they would naturally be the theater type. Maybe they want to perform their own show? This is the exact reason a theater should be closed one night a week, to allow the ghosts to perform their own show. This is not, however, the only ghostly superstition of the theater. There is also Thespis and the idea of a ghost light.

A ghost light is a light that is always left on in the theater. Some say it is to ward off ghosts, others saying to give the theater's ghosts some light to see so they are not angry. Many say, however, that it is to keep non-spectral personnel from walking into the pit, which they could not see in the dark.

MACBETH! CLICK TO SEE A HISTORICAL VIDEO ON THE CURSE
If you read that out loud I urge you to please walk outside, spin around three times, spit, curse, and then knock and request permission to re-enter the building. That is, if you are in a theater of course. Why? You just cursed the theater. No, seriously, anytime that name is spoken in a theater, there is surely something to go wrong that night. I've almost died a few times after someone spoke it. Well, I'll admit I was looking for something to go wrong so I'm sure it would have happened either way.

This curse was first originated by the fact that anyone who played Macbeth would somehow get killed in the process of the show. Somehow, the fake swords that were supposed to be used in the show suddenly became real and many people have died. One explanation for why it is cursed is the idea that the incantations which the weird sisters have in the show, are actual curses.

Like I stated before, though, when someone speaks the name I tend to look for something to go wrong. This puts my guard down and there is more likely something to go wrong. It could very well all be in the mind and work kind of how a horoscope works. Someone gives you something vague and interpretive to look at, and you try to mold your life/day around it instead of allowing it to mold itself around your life/day.