This was a Holy Rosary Major Production performed by girls from Holy Rosary School, boys from Edenvale High School and boys from Jeppe High School for Boys. The performances started on September 25 and ran for four days.
The play’s production manager and Holy Rosary School’s head of cultural events, Ms Joanna Parmenter, said the play was taken from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
“When I first came up with the vision of Macbeth Africa, many cried, ‘Not Shakespeare again!’ But there has never been a playwright to touch him. His plays have the unique quality that they can be reinvented to suit any time and any place,” said Ms Parmenter.
She said the play speaks about the rise and fall of a warrior, Macbeth from Africa.
“His title is Thena of Glamis, but he has the seed of evil in his heart. He is told by a group of evil Earth witches that he will be a king. They told him there can be no threat against him. They also told him that a man born of a woman will not be a threat to him. The third prophecy from the witches stated that Macbeth should not worry until the forest, Birnam Wood, moved to Dunsinane,” Ms Parmenter said.
The play’s director, Mrs Chinelli-Smith, said the play was about the meeting of two worlds.
“The tragedy of Macbeth allows for the examination of morality and portrays the clash between good and evil. Macbeth, a tragic hero, faces a dilemmas and crises that is self-imposed, leading to his downfall and destruction,” said Mrs Chinelli-Smith.
