2 days ago
A Minneapolis theater that laughed at the curse of 'Macbeth' postpones production
A Minneapolis theater that laughed at the curse of 'Macbeth' postpones production originally appeared on Bring Me The News.
"Break a leg," but never "good luck." The theater is full of superstitions, and, outside of that familiar phrase, the most well-known may be the curse of Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
The Rough Magic Performance Company laughed in the face of the curse. Now, it's paying the price. Or maybe a simple coincidence has collided with a centuries-old superstition.
Either way, the company's all-female "The Macbeths" was scheduled to open on Friday the 13th — another joke about the supposed curse — but the production has been postponed after an actor had to step away for personal reasons.
"We were fearless, and we should have respected theater superstitions," Rough Magic Co-Artistic Director Catherine Justice says.
"We've been working on this production for a long time, through different iterations, and we had setbacks along the way," she says. "We joked, 'It's not cursed. It's not cursed. We're fine.'"
The company continued to joke about the curse even after the director for a workshop got COVID the day rehearsals were supposed to start. They joked when the first rehearsal, sans director, was canceled because the stage manager got food poisoning.
Now, having to postpone the production to the fall, their tone has changed.
"It really felt like maybe if we had respected those theater superstitions a little bit more, perhaps things might've been different. I don't know," Justice says with a laugh.
"Macbeth" productions have trafficked in mishaps from day one. In its first production, in 1606, the actor playing Lady Macbeth died suddenly, and Shakespeare reputedly had to play the part himself, according to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The RSC also tells stories of a real dagger being used instead of a prop, resulting in the death of an actor; a falling stage weight narrowly missing Laurence Olivier in 1937; and the Astor Place Riot of 1849, when a rivalry between two actors playing Macbeth in separate productions escalated into chaos, resulting in at least 20 deaths.
Now, the play comes with a script and a litany of superstitions, including that the name of the play must never be said inside the theater outside of a performance. It is instead referred to as "The Scottish Play."
Should an actor say "Macbeth," a ritual is performed to remove the curse. That includes leaving the building, spinning in circles, spitting, cursing, and knocking on the theater door to be let back in.
"I am definitely referring to it as 'The Scottish Play' from now on," Justice says.
While the play will happen at a later date, the postponement is a "devastating" blow to the small company, which will lose the fees it paid to rent the theater.
"We always raise all of the money for our production ahead of time so that any ticket sales seed our next show," Justice says, noting that the company's model has helped ease the blow in this situation. "We're never in a position where we might not be able to pay someone for the work that they've done."
While "The Macbeths" is on hold, the space has been rented, and Rough Magic is making the best of the situation.
On Friday, it will hold "A Cursed Conversation and Celebration" at the Center for Performing Arts in Minneapolis, an event that will have food, a panel discussion about the play, a DJ, dancing, and some group attempts to break the curse.
No dates have been announced for when "The Macbeths" will finally arrive, but the company is hopeful it will hit the stage in November.
Though rehearsals will look a little different this time.
"We're definitely going to call it 'The Scottish Play,' and I think there will be a lot of spinning and spitting and cursing moving forward," Justice says. "At this point, any superstition that anyone brings into the space, we are going to respect it."This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
