I agree with Alanabit - things happen in and around plays when they are being rehearsed and performed, whatever the play, (just as they do within any group of people carrying out any kind of job or activity) but when they happen around "That Play" they are given a greater significance, and everybody goes "Ooooh errrrr.... what's going to happen NEXT ?" and start looking out for things or connections, then the recalling of the events become part of the general accumulated mythology and the tales are told for years to come.

However, just to spook you Laura, I was First Witch in a production of the play three years ago: on the way back from the audition, someone drove into the back of my car. A few weeks after rehearsals started, my cousin's ex-wife and son were stabbed to death. I never told anyone in the cast about this, for fear of scaring them out of their wits. For all I know, other things had happened around other people in the play, and they had kept quiet about them too.

On the OTHER hand, I do still believe what I said at the outset: With all the superstition around this play, it's easier to say that things happen *because* of it, rather than that they would have happened *anyway*. Last year, when I was in "The Merchant of Venice", my mother went into hospital for a heart operation and died - but because there is no mythology around the Merchant, nobody would even think of linking the two.

It's always possible to *start* a mythology, of course. I was in a production of a play called "Bums on Seats" last year. One member of the cast was thrown off her moped on the way home one night. (She was OK).

And how about creating some positive mythology, maybe ? At the moment I'm rehearsing a play called "Lucky Sods" about people who win the Lottery - and all the cast are buying tickets !

Break a leg, Laura !

- jeanie