Macbeth is popularly also known as The Scottish Play, for obvious reasons (the play is set in eleventh-century Scotland). However, this nickname is more than just a descriptor for the play's setting. The Scottish Play has been used in place of Macbeth by actors and theater-goers alike for centuries, due to a popular superstition that saying the name Macbeth in a theater (unless called for in the script itself) brings bad luck.
This superstition is due, in part, to the play's own interest in the supernatural. The play became well-known for its engagement with magic (through the three witches), the afterlife (Banquo's ghost), and hallucinations (the dagger). As such, audiences of Macbeth were and continue to be well aware of the eerie and spooky nature of the play itself, and this superstition about the play's title could have simply evolved from that element of the performance. However, the play's "cursed" nature is also rooted in historical precedent: King James I, who succeeded Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, was Scottish, and was also particularly obsessed with the notion of witches, witch hunts, and magic in general. When Macbeth was first performed in 1606, it was undoubtedly an acknowledgment of the new king's nationality, as well as his niche supernatural interests.
Allegedly, the play was doomed from its inception, with a coven of "witches" having cursed it after learning that Shakespeare used real incantations in the script. The play's first performance is also said to have been a tragedy itself, with the actor playing Lady Macbeth dying unexpectedly and actors accidentally using real daggers on stage (resulting in real deaths). Since then, fans of the play have tracked a series of other performances of Macbeth that resulted in deaths, injuries, or other catastrophes. While likely just another way to entertain audiences, the longevity of this superstition speaks to the enduring nature of Macbeth as a particularly haunting early modern text.
