Libretto by Alexander McCall Smith, music by Tom Cunningham.
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The opera was given its premiere on 3rd October 2009 in Gaborone, Botswana. Set in the Botswana Okavango Delta, it tells a story of the struggle for power among competing baboons in their matriarchal society - thus drawing parallels with the Macbeth story. There are six principal characters and chorus and the opera lasts 75 minutes.
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Pauline McLean, BBC Arts Correspondent writes:
Lady Macbeth - played by Tshenolo Segokgo - is wonderfully entertaining, flirting and plotting among the baboons and her aria
Do Not Fear To Close Your Eyes is one of the most memorable and moving of the show.
Tshenolo is one of the few singers in the show who is actually pursuing a career in opera, having just finished a two year course at a French conservatoire.
Lizibo Glenn Simon rises to the occasion with a Macbeth which captures beautifully the shallow arrogance of his character, goaded into action by his lady.
The chorus too provide some wonderfully moving moments, not least in the aria they sing on the death of Duncan, a soaring heart-felt song which shakes the tin roof with its final anthem - "oh great Kalahari,
oh wide Okavango, oh Africa".
Other media links:
Operatic trills rise from Botswana bush, Los Angeles Times, 18th November 2009.
Shakespeare's MacBeth meets Africa in Botswana's opera, AFP (Agence France Presse), 8th November 2009.
Is this a baboon I see before me?, AFPTV, 20th October 2009 (video).
Out of Africa, coming here – Macbeth as you've never seen it before, The Scotsman, 20th October 2009.
McCall Smith makes monkey out of Macbeth, The Independent, 19th October 2009.
'Okavango Macbeth' is Botswana's first opera, Variety, 18th October 2009.
The Number 1 Ladies' Opera House, BBC Radio 4, 13th October 2009.
Premiere for writer's opera, BBC News 9th October 2009 (video).
Spellbinding, The Midweek Sun (Botswana), 7th October 2009.
Detective Agency creator's first opera, BBC News, 5th October 2009 (video).
'Scots' opera gets Botswana treatment, BBC News, 4th October 2009.
McCall-Smith returns to Botswana with surreal version of Macbeth, The Observer, 4th October 2009.
African opening for 'Scots' opera, BBC News, 3rd October 2009.
Ready to rock 'n' roll, Mmegi (Botswana), 2nd October 2009.
Alexander McCall Smith: The opera, The Scotsman, 2nd September 2009.
