Like all great lists of Shakespeare trivia, most of the regular Shakespeare Geek readers are already going to know all of these Macbeth Fun Facts. Like the fact that James I was a fan of witches. Or that Macbeth was a real person.
But …
3. In Shakespeare’s day, females were prohibited from acting in plays and were always portrayed by young men. During “Macbeth’s” initial run, a rumor was circulating that the boy playing Lady MacBeth had died and Shakespeare himself took his place.
Really? Been doing this for eight years or so at this point, and that one snuck by me until now. If Macbeth was written in 1606 that would have made Shakespeare … 42? Far, far too old to play one of the boy’s roles.
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