More than 80 years after it was staged at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, Orson Welles’ legendary 1936 production of “Voodoo” Macbeth is being recalled on separate coasts.
A noted scholar and the son of a cast member will speak in California, while a theater troupe will recreate the play in Florida.
Welles, then just 20 years old, adapted and directed the Federal Theatre Project’s historic production. He moved the Shakespearean drama’s setting from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island and employed an entirely African-American cast of actors. He also hired a team of African drummers, some familiar with voodoo rituals, to accompany the witch’s speeches.
Noted Welles scholar and author Catherine Benamou (It’s All True: Orson Welles’s Pan-American Odyssey) will present the April 12 program The Legacy of Orson Welles’ Voodoo Macbeth at the University of California at Irvine looking back at the landmark Works Progress Administration production. The event is co-sponsored by Illuminations, the UCI Shakespeare Center, and Film and Media Studies.
The documentary short We Work Again, which contains footage from the Federal Theatre Project stage show, will be screened at the McCormick Screening Room at 6 p.m. and a talk given by author, illustrator and musician Norris Burroughs. The son of “Voodoo” Macbeth actor Eric Burroughs (Hecate), will discuss his father’s collaboration with Welles and sign copies of his graphic novel “Voodoo” Macbeth.
“My father spoke a good deal throughout his life about the play’s production. I think it was certainly a defining moment in his life and career and left an indelible mark on his character,” Norris Burroughs told Wellesnet in September 2015. “He often spoke of Welles with awe and respect for the sheer audacity of his accomplishment.”
Welles’ production was an overwhelming success, winning rave reviews from both the New York Times and New York Daily News when it opened on April 14, 1936. Macbeth played for 10 sold-out weeks at the Lafayette Theatre before moving to the Adelphi Theatre and then embarking on a national tour.
The Studio@620 in St. Petersburg, Florida will attempt to recreate Welles’ production on April 7-23.
Directed by Bob Devin Jones, the production will include an original art installation by muralist Ya La Ford and music from Dundu Dole Urban African Ballet. The cast includes Calvin M. Thompson in the title role, Erica Sutherlin as Lady Macbeth, and Sharon Scott as Hecate.
Admission for the opening night on April 8 is $50. Proceeds will benefit the educational outreach initiatives at Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School.
Admission on preview night, April 7, for all seats is $20. Admission April 9-23, is $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors.
For information and reservations, call (727) 895-6620 or visit the theater’s online box office at thestudioat620.org/events/the-macbeth-project-2017.
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