The Curse of the Scottish Play!

Macbeth is my favorite of all of Shakespeare's plays. All that darkness, blood & revenge; I discovered it in high school and it was right up my alley, a little bit of  Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese all mixed up together. 

In retrospect, now that I think of it, I do believe that I am a victim of the "curse of the Scottish play." I actually did speak the name "Macbeth" backstage during the run of our show "Free Henry Goodbar, Telepath," in 2006. I just blundered into the curse. And I didn't remedy the curse, ("he or she is required to leave the theatre building, spin around three times, spit, curse, and then knock to be allowed back in"). Instead, I just laughed it off.

And then, all hell broke out in my life. I lost a dear member of my family (almost exactly one year after I blindly uttered the forbidden name), I lost friends, I lost a job, I lost money, status, self-respect. I spiraled down into a black hole. Yep. It's true.

I hit bottom. I had to re-make my life. Get back to basics. 10 years later, I'm still in the process of rebuilding my life. Funny. I didn't put all of this together until yesterday morning, when I heard on the radio that August 15, 1057 was the anniversary of Macbeth's murder. 

And this morning I have resolved to go back to that old theater building and "reverse the curse." Yes, it's about time, 10 years living under this curse, a long time.  I am well over-due for a full reckoning! I dare say, better late, than never!