Photos: Botswana’s first opera
An actor performs in “The Okavango Macbeth,” the story of a troop of baboons and its alpha female, Lady Macbeth. (Monirul Bhuiyan / AFP / Getty Images)
Lady Macbeth, played by Tshenolo Segokgo, sings to her favorite male, “Kill him now! Kill him now,” pushing for the death of the troop’s alpha male. Segokgo learned to sing in a church choir and later studied at the Bourg-la-Reine conservatory, outside Paris. Of her latest role, she says, “The real challenge is that I’m a baboon that loves power. The thing is walking like a baboon and trying to pose as a baboon.” (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times)
A tale of evil, betrayal and lust unfolds in “The Okavango Macbeth,” performed by an all-local cast just outside Botswana’s capital, Gabarone. (Monirul Bhuiyan / AFP / Getty Images)
“The Okavango Macbeth” is staged with a solo piano as the singers’ only accompaniment. There isn’t room in the opera house, or money in the budget, for an orchestra. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times)
The sets, built on a shoestring budget, are made from tree trunks, branches and bits of wire to resemble a jungle setting. (Monirul Bhuiyan / AFP / Getty Images)
