Over the last twenty years, more people have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo than lost their lives in World War Two. The South African Third World Bunfight theatre company and the director Brett Bailey set Verdi’s opera in the Congo’s eastern provinces in the midst of civil war. The core themes running through the work (both Shakespeare's and Verdi’s)—greed, tyranny and guilt—acquire a new profundity in this dramatic context.
When General Macbeth and his ambitious wife murder the legitimate king, a host of misfortunes befall the nation: a national divide, betrayals on both sides, a ruthless regime, extreme violence and atrocities, ‘blood’ diamonds. The Belgian composer Fabrizio Cassol rewrote Verdi’s score, adapting it for twelve musicians and ten opera singers. Alongside them on stage, the Balkan No Borders Orchestra under the baton of the Serbian conductor, Premil Petrovic.
Conceived, designed & directed by Brett Bailey
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, adapted from Verdi’s Macbeth
Conductor: Premil Petrovic
Lighting Designer: Felice Ross
Choreographer: Natalie Fisher
Macbeth: Owen Metsileng
Lady Macbeth: Nobulumko Mngxekeza
Banquo: Otto Maidi
Chorus: Sandile Kamle, Jacqueline Manciya,
Monde Masimini, Lunga Halam, Bulelani Madondile, Philisa Sibeko, Thomakazi
Holland
No Borders Orchestra
Stanko Madic (1st violin), Jelena Dimitrijevic (2nd violin), Sasa Mirkovic (viola), Dejan Bozic (cello), Ilin-Dime Dimovski (double bass), Jasna Nadles (flute), Aleksandar Tasic (clarinet), Ivan Jotic (bassoon), Nenad Markovic (trumpet), Viktor Ilieski (trombone)
Percussionists: Cherilee Adams, Dylan Tabisher
Video illustration & animation: Roger Williams
Photographs projected during the opera: Marcus Bleasdale/VII & Cedric Gerbehaye
Cédric Gerbehaye’s photo essay–‘Congo in Limbo’–documents the daily life of a wounded country. Gerbehaye immersed
himself in the Congo between 2007 and 2010, and his work is regularly published and exhibited abroad.
Première: Artscape, Capetown
Surtitles translated from the English: Elli Petranti
Producer and managing director: Barbara Mathers
Technical manager: Miguel Munoz
Company manager: Catherine Henegan
Stage manager: Pule Sethlako
AV Engineer & technical assistant: Carlo Thompson
Re-lighter: Tal Bitton
Sound engineer: Pierre-Olivier Boulant
International producer: Sarah Ford - Quartermaire & Ian Scobie -
Arts Project Australia
EU Cultural Fund
Co-Producers: KFDA/KVS, Wiener Festwochen, Theaterformen Festival, The Barbican
and La Ferme du Buisson / Festival d’Automne à Paris
With the support of European Union Culture Programme and the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, South Africa
VIP Zone: €35
Zone A: €25, €20
Zone B: €20, €15 (Students)
Zone C: €15, € 10 (Students)
Disabled: €5
