The first recorded performance of Macbeth took place on this date in 1610. This was the only eyewitness account of a performance of Macbeth in Shakespeare's lifetime and was recorded by Simon Forman, who saw a performance at the Globe. 10 things you might not know about the play:
- What’s it about? At the start of the play, Macbeth is the Thane of Cawdor, who, thanks to the prophecy imparted by the three witches and his ambitious wife who fancies being queen, kills King Duncan in his sleep while he is staying at Macbeth’s castle. Macbeth takes the crown for himself, and rules Scotland as a tyrant until Macduff kills him, enabling Duncan’s son Malcolm to be crowned King.
- The character is loosely based on a real Scottish king. He was called Mac Bethad mac Findláich, a King of Scotland in the 11th century. Unlike the character, though, was generally perceived to be quite a successful and fair ruler, whose reign lasted 17 years.
- It’s one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays at 17,121 words. Hamlet is about twice as long. Two Gentlemen Of Verona, however, is just eight words longer.
- It’s the only one of Shakespeare’s plays to include the word “Rhinoceros”.
- The expression, “steal my thunder” originates with Macbeth, but not because the phrase was used in the play. It dates back to 1704, when John Dennis invented a sound-effect for his play, Liberty Asserted, which was being performed at the Drury Lane Theatre; basically a sheet of metal to simulate thunder. Liberty Asserted wasn’t a huge success and was, as it would be termed today, cancelled. The next production at the theatre was Macbeth, which used the same sheet of metal as a sound effect. Dennis was in the audience and accused the theatre of stealing his thunder.
- There could be a connection between playing the role of Macbeth and appearing in an X-Men movie. There have been four actors, so far, who have played Macbeth and also been in an X-Men film: Michael Fassbender, Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy.
- The first film of Macbeth was made in 1905, and was essentially just the death scene. Several more versions followed, including in 1916 one starring famous stage actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree. He apparently didn’t adapt well to the new medium and the fact that for a silent film, most of the lines were cut. The issues were solved by allowing him to play the entire part to a dummy camera before the actual take.
- In 1849, Macbeth caused a riot in New York. American actor Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready from England both happened to be starring in the play at different theatres on the same night. The two were long standing rivals and started an argument over which had given the best performance. The ensuing brawl was dubbed The Astor Place Riot.
- Orson Welles once directed a stage adaptation where the action was set in Haiti rather than Scotland, and replaced the witches with practitioners of voodoo. Reactions were mixed. Some said it made fun of black culture, others said it made important cultural statements.
- Of course, we must mention the curse. It is considered bad luck to say the word “Macbeth” in a theatre – you’re supposed to refer to it as “The Scottish Play” or "MacBee", because saying the actual name might result in failure of the production or even death to members of the cast or crew. If anyone should accidentally slip up and say it, it’s not the end of the world so long as they take action to mitigate the curse. They are supposed to leave the theatre and walk around the building three times, spit, swear, and then ask to be let back in. But why? You might ask. Some say it’s because the script uses real witch spells, which peed off the Witches of the time, so they cursed the play. Others say it came from coincidentally disastrous productions. That said, is it really so unlucky? Often, as in fact 5, a less popular production would be cancelled, but putting on Macbeth would guarantee full houses because it was so popular with audiences. It has also been said that an actor who has played the title role is immune from the curse and can say the word whenever and wherever he likes, with no repercussions.
Character birthday
A Tale of Two Sisters
During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.
Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.
As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.
Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?
Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?
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