Macbeth ritual
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The Macbeth ritual is a superstitious routine from the Blackadder episode "Sense and Senility" (3.4) that the actors Keanrick and Mossop perform whenever the real name of "The Scottish Play" (Macbeth) is mentioned, as a parody of the superstition around saying "Macbeth" in theatre. It involves a game of pat-a-cake while chanting a rhyme, ending with the actors tweaking each other's noses. It may be intended as a comedic representation of a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
There is some debate to the actual words to the rhyme. According to the BBC Ceefax subtitles the words are:
- "Hot potato,
- orchestra stalls,
- but we'll make amends!"
The last line is sometimes considered to be "Puck will make amends!" or "Pluck to make amends!" instead. However an alternative version given by the DVD subtitles is:
- "Hot potato,
- off his drawers,
- pluck to make amends!"
According to the official Blackadder-website, the text is as follows:
- "Hot potato,
- orchestra stalls,
- Puck will make amends!"
