Word: umabatha
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...extraordinarily powerful in translation: wearing a huge, white wooden mask and long twists of rope representing his "gory locks," he is a terrifying apparition as he stomps ominously across the stage, pointing at the murderous King and intoning "Mabatha! Mabatha! Mabatha!" This is one of the joys of watching Umabatha: it succeeds in creating an alchemical marriage between the old story and the new setting...
There are, however, significant differences between Shakespeare's original and Msomi's adaptation. Umabatha is a much speeded-up version of Macbeth, cut to fit within the space of two hours. This is in large part because Msomi has compressed a great deal of the speech of the play, presenting the story largely in terms of action, movement and intervals of dance and song. Although Msomi does retain many of the original play's most tragically powerful scenes, the swift pace of the telling reduces our ability to identify with the characters. The story unfolds less like a tragedy...
...area in which Umabatha encounters serious problems is language. Since the play is in Zulu, an odd set of unspoken assumptions seems to be established even before the play begins. The idea seems to be that the viewer will already be familiar with Macbeth and can thus follow Umabatha as it weaves variations on the original text. Unfortunately, a viewer who neither knows Shakespeare's play well nor understands Zulu is likely to find much of the action confusing. The play's program does provide scene summaries in English, and large LED boards flanking the stage periodically show abbreviated English...
...celebration of Zulu culture, Umabatha is an unqualified success. This is partly a product of the historical story, obliquely narrated through the filter of fiction, and partly a result of the other level on which the production triumphs: the level of spectacle. Song and dance are woven into the story as integral elements that move the narrative at pivotal moments: cheering the return of the soldiers home from war, mourning the sudden death of King Dangane, celebrating the coronation of Mabatha in the banquet scene at the center of the play...
...Umabatha is a fascinating piece of history, a strikingly beautiful work of theater and an intriguing example of the universality and cultural adaptability of Shakespeare. Its presentation of South African cultural history possesses added resonance, considering the conditions that sparked its revival. When Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa, it was in part at his urging that the play was revived. Just as it did 27 years ago, the parallels which allow for such a story to blend Shaka with Macbeth remind us, as Mandela put it, that "the world is philosophically a very small place...