Macbeth – Third World Bunfight

Opera like you have never experienced it. Verdi’s MACBETH – based on Shakespeare’s drama of ambition, treachery and terror – performed by an all-South African cast and a Balkan orchestra, and set amongst the wars and ruthless exploitation that have ravaged the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa for decades. Within a milieu of multinational double-dealings, ethnic conflict, brutal militia, ‘blood minerals’ and glittering Chinese imports, a Congolese warlord and his ambitious wife murder their leader and unleash atrocities on the crumbling African province that they seize. This visually explosive work, with zappy street-wise surtitles, toured 31 cities on 6 continents between 2014 and 2017.  It was produced by Third World Bunfight, directed and designed by Brett Bailey, and the music adapted by Belgium’s Fabrizio Cassol. Serbian Premil Petrovic conducts his No Borders Orchestra along with two South African percussionists. Lady Macbeth is sung by soprano Nobulumko Mngxekeza, Macbeth by Owen Metsileng, and Banquo by Otto Maidi.
“There can be no denying the power and originality of this astonishing appropriation of Verdi’s Macbeth” 5 stars – THE TELEGRAPH, LONDON