Fhe curse of Macbeth, one of the most ll-starred plays in theatrical history, played ts part in one of the bloodiest ever riots in the United States. On 10 May 1849, US militia killed 23 and wounded over 100 people at the Astor Place Opera House in New York. Was this just the unhappy climax of a long-standing feud between two actors? Tim Pigott-Smith traces the events, examining the tensions between nations and the antagonisms between classes in a city ripe for reform. Producer Merilyn Harris