On the opening night of Company at Holy Cross, the show didn’t really go as planned, and while I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s my friends and I’s fault, I definitely believe in the Macbeth curse now. We took our seats two rows from the front, and thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we said the M word.” So one of my friends (we’ll call her Ava) said it, and half of our group got extremely freaked out. Now to make it worse, another one of my friends (we’ll call her Sam) and I held hands and said Macbeth again just to mess with the others more.
Now at this point, they were more freaked out and getting upset with us, but we found it funny. I mean how could saying Macbeth in a theater actually cause anything bad to happen during the show? To make it worse it was opening night and our friends were in Company.
The first hour or so went by smoothly but all of a sudden the alarms went off, and most people thought it was part of the show, but I had a feeling it was not. The actors looked surprised and some stopped singing, and that’s when the audience knew something was wrong. A voice came over the speaker stating there had been an emergency in the building and everyone must evacuate. Once outside, Sam, Ava, and I were laughing and in shock because there was no possible way the fire alarm went off on opening night. We felt horrible though because we messed with the Macbeth curse, and the rest of the group was furious at us. We went through the procedure to counteract the curse, (spin around 3 times, spit over your shoulder, and curse). Then eventually after 15 minutes, everyone was let back inside.
The rest of the show that night went on perfectly, and the other shows went off without a hitch. We talked to our friends in the show afterwards, and they actually found it hilarious and were not mad at all. I never believed in curses or that saying something in a certain place would cause a negative outcome, but now I’m starting to believe. I don’t think Sam, Ava, or I will be saying Macbeth in a theater anytime soon.