In theatre tradition, Shakespeare’s MacBeth is considered an unlucky play. Some will not refer to it by name, calling it simply “the Scottish play”.
Last week, the members of the adult theatre group in our town could have been forgiven for feeling they had their own “Scottish play” on their hands.
Or perhaps it was just that it was a little risky to begin with presenting a play about a ghost on Friday the 13th, by tradition one of the unluckiest days of the year. But no one was thinking about that last September when rehearsals started on Tim Kelly’s The Phantom of the Op’ry and the performance dates were picked.
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Bad luck comes in threes and the troupe had its full measure on Day 1 of its “season.” In the wee hours of the morning, the actor playing “the second phantom” opened the back of his Explorer to take out his costume. Sometime in the previous two hours, while his vehicle sat in the parking lot at the local watering hole, someone had rifled the contents and made off with his wife’s briefcase of school materials and his costume.
Later in the day, the wardrobe mistress was able to arrange for a new tuxedo to be brought out from Saskatoon, her assistant spent the day sewing a new cape and he borrowed a pair of dress shoes. Only the mask couldn’t be replaced; the company had already bought the only two in Saskatoon, so the two “phantoms” had to share a mask.
The second glitch happened in the afternoon when the ladies in charge of the hall decorations were beginning to set up the dinner tables.
The linen service had supplied oblong instead of square table cloths and some fancy folding was necessary to cover the tables.
The third glitch came soon after when I received a phone call informing me that the three genuine Phantom of the Opera mugs, ordered for centerpieces on the ticket table, were still in Toronto.
Plain black mugs from the local hardware store were substituted and the centerpieces were made. Moral: it does pay to shop at home.
Actually, while not receiving the mugs was a disappointment, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We knew there was going to be a number three and were all dreading what it might be. It was only the mugs. The curse had run itself out.
In true theatre tradition, the show went on to three sold-out houses despite the Olympics, Valentine’s day and local hockey playoffs.
