Macbeth Did It

by John Patrick

Gathering experience before tackling the "big time" in New York, director Larry Rencher has decided to undertake MACBETH, drawing on his faithful (and generally hammy) cadre of local theatre buffs. The role of Lady Macbeth is assigned to Dolly Dibble (whose husband owns the theatre) with the other parts being parceled out with similar logic. As rehearsals begin, so do the hilarious complications and misunderstandings until, harried and out of patience, the director storms off in a huff-leaving matters in the hands of the meddlesome newcomer whose "suggestions" have been a thorn in his side. As they will, things then go from bad to worse, until the director is wooed into returning and (despite the fact that Dolly's tipsy husband gets his head stuck in the witches' cauldron) somehow everything gets pulled together in time for the fateful moment of opening night.

Paperback

First published October 1, 1972

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Patrick Goggin was an American playwright and screenwriter.
Abandoned by his parents, he had a delinquent youth that he spend in foster homes and boarding schools. He married at 19 and got a job as an announcer at KPO Radio in San Francisco, California. After being a scriptwriter for the radio program Cecil and Sally he began writing screenplays, and later he turned to writing screenplays.
On November 7, 1995 he committed suicide.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a very bad play by the playwright who did The Curious Savage. To be fair, he wrote Macbeth Did It 22 years later so maybe he got lucky or lost touch but they don't seem to be in the same solar system of one another.

Macbeth Did It is one of those classic giant comedies that has 15-20 characters but only like 4 matter. In this one, John Patrick didn't really know what he was doing and it feels like he threw this together and didn't bother to get it edited or write a second draft. It is a shockingly incompetent 'comedy' about a bunch of theatre people trying to put on Macbeth. I actually finished this one because of how shocked I was by the shoddy writing and plotting.

It also features Hispanic characters who talk liek dees and say hokay. Yeah I know it was 1972 but goddamn, good luck with that now.

Worth reading about how to not write a play.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Racist. Sexist. Bitter. Casting includes Mexican stereotypes, teenage boy stereotypes, cute young things stereotypes. No fun and not for us.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting idea for a play, but I'm certain there are much better behind-the-scenes comedies out there than this one. Doesn't even come remotely close to Moon Over Buffalo or Noises Off.