This fanciful idea inspired the writer Alexander McCall Smith (of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency fame) and the composer Tom Cunningham to come up with their first opera, “The Okavango Macbeth.”
Set in the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, the opera deals with the efforts of an ambitious female baboon, Lady Macbeth, to encourage her husband, Macbeth, to murder the dominant baboon, Duncan.
The opera recieved rave reviews abroad.
THE OKAVANGO MACBETH QUEEN’S HALL, EDINBURGH *****
Baboons and Shakespeare are a potent combination in this fabulous chamber opera by Alexander McCall Smith, in which the Scottish Play is relocated to the matrilineal baboon society of the Okavango Delta.
In this version of the story, Beth Mackay’s honey-voiced Lady Macbeth seduces the trusting Duncan (a strong performance from baritone Andrew McTaggart) whom she is expected to marry, encourages her weak lover, Ronan Busfield as Macbeth, to kill him and is then devoured by a leopard. As the trio of primatologists observing the action, Jessica Leary, Nicholas Morris and Jamie Rock also excelled.
McCall Smith’s succinct libretto was spun by composer Tom Cunningham into gorgeous, tuneful melodies that lingered long after the show ended. [New Scotsman]
Composer Tom Cunningham
Librettist Alexander McCall Smith
Director, choreography and set Nicholas Ellenbogen
Costumes Nicholas Ellenbogen & Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
Lighting Faheem Bardien
Presented by Theatre for Africa in association with Artscape
REHEARSAL ROOM 551
