The palace entertains two distinguished and highly superstitious actors who abhor to hear the name of the Scottish play. Subscribe: www.youtube.com... This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios. Service & Feedback www.bbcstudios...
I love seeing how the actors get more into the chant and pat-a-cake as the scene goes on. This series is one of my big favorites. All the characters are so fun to watch. Stand like heroes, fair people.
My first was the dictionary episode and I was so sad to learn Robbie Coltrane was just a guest star 😂 But dictionary and this one were the best of series 3
This makes me so happy. I actually said "Macbeth" at the civic theater once just to get amusement. Indeed, I was very amused with the result. I grin like a possum every time I watch this. It's not far from the truth. XD
***** There was a gasp. People began to flail their hands around (that might have been the ritual or something), and there was awkward silence. Then some of the actors danced around in a circle. Also, one of them glared at me and asked, "You're a dancer, aren't you?" I just sat there and grinned. XD
You know full well he was going to mention it often in the 1st place, but when he saw how Keanrick and Mossop act whenever the name is mentioned, he seizes the opportunity to say it at every turn he can.
The reason for the Macbeth superstition is 'cause it used to be the most popular play there was, so for small theaters, staging Macbeth was the perfect way to draw in punters. Unfortunately, during a theater production, a lot can - and did - go wrong, especially when the theaters don't have enough money to make sure sets don't fall down and the like, putting actors at risk. Every up-and-coming actor found himself playing in a production of Macbeth and was aware of the danger surrounding it, so I imagine the acting profession associated a certain level of fear to the name.
SethBlizzard well, that and supposedly one of the most famous scenes involving the three witches used what was thought to be a real spell. "Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble..."
This was the first episode I saw. I remember the experience well. Perhaps the only time I have truly been helplessly rolling around on the floor laughing
stuff like the completely stony almost irritated look after the delivery of "did he have a large part?" is why rowan atkinson is and always will be a master of comedy
I watched this episode on Netflix with the subtitles on and according to Netflix the chant is 'Hot potato, off his drawers, pluck to make amends' At the end of the day though, it doesn't really matter. The line is there to give us a laugh and it succeeds.
@J J No they are not right. I'm British. I understand the accent, and the theatre references in the words. Off whose drawers? (That's not even grammatically correct. We don't use 'off' as a verb in Britain). Pluck what? Orchestra Stalls are part of the theatre. Puck is a theatrical character from Shakespeare who makes amends at the end of Midsummer Night's Dream.
Blackadder III is with some scenes seriously on par with Blackadder IV. I just love Rowan in this part as the butler. His snark against Baldrick in series III is by far the funniest. This scene is comedic gold.
I once kept saying Macbeth the whole train up to sixth form in front of the theatre studies students on day of their exam! Was so funny! They kept doing hot potato lol
kreehomel Historically its an insecure profession. Plays can run only a few days, weeks, or they could run for months, with actors not knowing whether they'll be out of work or not. I guess these superstitions were born out of that uncertainty.
I’ll be honest, this happened to me a few weeks ago. It was during a rehearsal and some cast members and I were talking about some of Shakespeare’s work we learned in high school. I said: “in Grade 11, we read Julius Caesar. Grade 9, we read Macbeth” Immediately after I said that, two of my fellow cast members heard me say that and did the exact thing here. Got a kick out of it, but they explained what it was, and why I should NEVER say it. Granted, they weren’t that superstitious, but definitely a nice way to learn of this bit of comedy gold.
I was in a musical when a very young actor said, Macbeth, and it was beyond me how upset everyone got. Not only did they berate him they were legitimately angry at him for almost the entire run of the show. Not me of course for I think it's all silly superstitious poppycock.
Lol, I can't believe that's still a thing. I mean, stage acting has always been a high-stress and risk profession, hence why superstitions were ripe, but it's the 21st century, we know superstition is bullshit now.
I think that 'Puck will make amends' is a reference to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream where Puck is a "shrewd and knavish sprite". He also has a famous piece where he says "And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long;"
I grew up doing theater, specifically Shakespeare, until I was about 15. I've even done MacFizzle (my favorite censor). But the curse is very much real. When I did the Witch in Into The Woods, we had one actor who didn't believe it and kept saying it backstage. Then, as I exited from Stay With Me, Rapunzel's tower toppled towards the audience. Ive also broken my foot during a curtain call where people were saying it backstage. I didn't believe in the curse at first, but now I do.
True genius in comedy isn’t in making people laugh, per se. In fact any idiot can do that by simply falling over. No. The true genius comedy writer is he or she that can have you roaring with laughter one minute, then crying like a baby the next. Few can pull this off….. Victoria Wood di it with dinner ladies. Joyce Grendfell could do it. Norman Wisdom. Charlie Chaplin. Gene Wilder. Alan Bennett And I defy anyone who can watch the last episode of the fourth and final Blackadder without weeping buckets. By the time he says, “Good luck, everyone” I’m a quivering wreck. And I love it…..
There was a bit of friction in the 70s and 80s between 'legit' actors - the paid-up members of Equity - some of whom had been through stage school, and those who came into the business through stand-up and fringe comedy. This whole episode is a well-aimed pie in the face from the latter to the former.
@@HordrissTheConfuser Facts though. The same as always tbh lol IT was like that during Shakespeare's time as well as throughout the centuries since. Plus the overall superstition revolving around the stuff thats happened on the sets of the "Scottish Play" over the centuries as well. ^
Strange that people write it as “Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends” when all I hear is “Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends!”
I was in theater class literally yesterday and my professor accidentally mentioned the Scottish Lady by name and he just. Walked out of the classroom. To spit in the hallway. In the middle of a pandemic.
once a group of actors in one of my schools productions began to chant Macbeth to prove that the superstition was a myth and the chant was lead by the actor who played the lead anyways, halfway through the second act the lead characters pants split right open. It was a huge gash. They tried to fix it with tape once the big dance routine was done but they couldn't. Honestly it spooked me a little because I didn't TRULY believe in the superstition but now
This is what we call confirmation bias, many people have said Macbeth in theatre and not met with misfortune. Which was probably how the whole thing got started. Same with Good Luck being bad luck in theatre and why they say break a leg instead.
