\nThe three witches. Ah, Shakespeare, you really screwed that one, you\npatriarchal old bard. Three Weird Sisters. Complete red herring,\nallowing men to get away with murder most foul for the next 400 years\ncounting. The malevolent forces that lever man\u2019s greed and ambition\nare not supernatural, and they\u2019re not women either. Mostly, they\u2019re\nthe lawyer and the accountant and the economist. Politicians are\nmerely their puppets, from whence the violence flows: warlords,\nmunitions, rare minerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our modern gods: The corporations, the landlords, the banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AK-47s, the machetes, the camo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe Congo, Democratic Republic of, is not just a setting, a\ngeographical place where the politics is conveniently dark and\nviolent for a Brett Bailey production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nBloodshed and fire have raged up, down, and across the North Kivu\nprovince for 26 years. Roving gangs, warlords, hacking out their\nterritory with pangas slashed into the bodies of its people;\nchildren, women, grandmothers. Farmers, merchants, families,\nthinkers, artists. People who made theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nBailey\u2019s dramatic conceit is a trunk full of costumes, props and\nsheet music for a colonial staging of Verdi\u2019s Macbeth<\/em> opera,\n\u201csometime between 1935 and 1945\u201d. It is found in the town hall in\nGoma, having somehow survived pillaging. Battered, but intact, it is\nhanded to a traveling troupe seeking refuge. And so we experience\nthis \u2018re-staging\u2019. A visual feast of Shakespeare\u2019s finest\nvictuals, stripped down to their bloody essence. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n With his centered, totemic aesthetic, Bailey punches straight to the gut, the red fist crowning Macbeth a signature symbol that borders on genius. But in this pared-down, dolled up piece, Macbeth is little more than a pawn. Lady Macbeth takes her rightful place on top of the stage upon a stage, the light equally cast on Shakespeare\u2019s Three Weird Sisters. It is here Bailey turns the screw in this dark and threatening work sweeping us along its path of violence with its epic, fated score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The three are men, whiteface, their cauldron the foreign exchange, which they stir with laptop, calculator, and balance sheet. They are our familiars, so much so we could almost name them. Look up and choose their names from a high rise building, a law firm will do, or an investment company specialising in high risk mineral portfolios. Lit up and dancing while the chorus huddles in the cold, conducted at the sharp end of a panga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe surtitles are direct: \u201cFuck\u201d becomes an extended note on an\noperatic score, concentrating all the frills that have been excised\nfrom the Italian dramatisation into an epic expression of impending\ndoom. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\u201cA fucking horrible beautiful day,\u201d says Macbeth to Banquo after\nbeing uncovered by our three suits. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n \u201cI\u2019d call you women but look at your beards,\u201d Banquo to the\nwitches, a line straight out of Shakespeare. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nMacbeth to Banquo: \u201cYour kids will rule one day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nBanquo: \u201cBut first you\u2019ll be commander.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nTogether: \u201cWeird shit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThis while they\u2019re singing Verdi\u2019s opera. Weird shit indeed. And\nthis is only the opening scenes. We could go, scene by scene, awing\nover the vision, the attention to detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the sumptuous simplicity of the design. It takes a life of its own. Lady Macbeth on a crate with a bowl of suds and \u2018Bio Attack\u2019 washing powder when receiving the message of the Commander\u2019s death from Macbeth on her mobile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nLater in the lap of luxury, design camo laid upon design camo. It\nbecomes its own language of opulence and excess, paid for in fear and\nparanoia. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nBut not for the witches. They are protected by their balance sheets,\nlaws and court judgements. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bailey makes no bones about this. These \u2018witches\u2019 feature prominently. Possibly more prominently than any other staging of either Macbeth or the opera. Academic papers have been written on it.<\/a> The light is shone on them. Even so, they remain in the dark, behind the white visages; the sages peering into the ethereal world of figures and columns to sway the balance in their favour, one way or the other. Lady Macbeth a tool, a lever with which to prise open the male ego to unleash its toxicity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bailey, for all his signature stylization, comes into his own in this staggering work. The hexagon, to the hilt a corporate logo, breaking up into three birds that flit their messages across time and space makes it clear: behind the death, destruction and blood minerals of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are the machinations of multi-national corporations. And we are all in league: their profits come from the devices that sit in our pockets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This filmed version<\/em><\/a> of Verdi’s<\/em> Macbeth made its debut on the virtual National Arts Festival on Wednesday 30 June and was recorded at the Teatro Politeama during the Napoli Teatro Festival in June 2016. It remains available for viewing until 16 July. Tickets cost R35.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Film edited by<\/strong>: Catherine Henegan, Free State Productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Production Video Illustration & animation<\/strong>: Roger Williams THE PERFORMERS<\/strong> CHORUS<\/strong>: NO BORDERS ORCHESTRA<\/strong> Produced by<\/strong> Barbara Mathers The three witches. Ah, Shakespeare, you really screwed that one, you patriarchal old bard. Three Weird Sisters. Complete red herring, allowing men to get away with murder most foul for … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[137,1100,1098,1099],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4229"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4273,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions\/4273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nConceptualised, designed and directed by<\/strong> Brett Bailey
\nMusic by<\/strong> Fabrizio Cassol, adapted from Verdi\u2019s Macbeth
\nConducted by<\/strong> Premil Petrovic
\nLighting by<\/strong> Felice Ross
\nChoreographed by<\/strong> Natalie Fisher<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nPhotographs in performance<\/strong>: Marcus Bleasdale\/VII and Cedric Gerbehaye<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMacbeth \u2013 Owen Metsileng
\nLady Macbeth \u2013 Nobulumko Mngxekeza
\nBanquo \u2013 Otto Maidi<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSandile Kamle, Jacqueline Manciya, Monde Masimini, Lunga Hallam, Bulelani Madondile, Philisa Sibekoi, Thomakazi Holland<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nStanko Madic (1st violin), Jelena Dimitrijevic (2nd violin), Sasa \nMirkovic (viola), Dejan Bozic (cello), Ilin-Dime Dimovski (double bass),\n Jasna Nadles (flute), Aleksandar Tasic (clarinet), Nenad Markovic \n(trumpet), Ivan Jotic (bassoon), Viktor Ilieski (trombone), Cherilee \nAdams (percussion), Dylan Tabisher (marimba & vibraphone)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nTechnical Manager<\/strong> Miguel Munoz
\nCompany Manager<\/strong> Catherine Henegan
\nStage Assistan<\/strong>t Pule Sethlako
\nAV engineer & technical assistant<\/strong> Carlo Thompson
\nRe-lighter<\/strong> Tal Bitton
\nSound Engineer<\/strong> Pierre-Olivier Boulant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"