Taking Names

‘Macbeth’ goes ape

Author Alexander McCall Smith has given Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” an African twist blending wildlife and intrigue in Botswana’s first ever opera, staged in a restored garage in the capital, Gaborone.

“Okavango Macbeth” examines the humanlike behavior of baboons under the watchful eye of three primatologists who cannot intervene in a bloody struggle for power that has all the key facets of Shakespeare’s play.

An all-local cast performed with simple costumes in the 70-seat No. 1 Ladies Opera House, named after the highly successful detective agency series written by Mr. McCall Smith, whose stories brought Botswana to readers around the world.

“As in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ the ‘Okavango Macbeth’ is about power, ambition and being in control,” Mr. McCall Smith, who flew in from Scotland to attend the premiere last month, told Agence France-Presse.

The dominant female baboon, Lady Macbeth, plots with aspiring troop leader Macbeth to kill her husband-to-be and incumbent dominant male Duncan in the tale of political lust and ultimate destruction.

Orchestra bankrupt

The Honolulu Symphony is another arts victim of declining donations and has canceled concerts for the rest of the year and is filing for bankruptcy, Associated Press reports.

“We made payroll, even in this economy, through October. But when we reached toward the end of October, cash ran out and dried up,” said Peter Shaindlin, the orchestra board’s chairman.

The oldest symphony orchestra in the nation west of the Rocky Mountains, the Honolulu group is $1 million in debt and doesn’t have enough money to support operations into November and beyond.

Hopper at races

Prostate cancer couldn’t keep actor Dennis Hopper away from the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday in Arcadia, Calif.

Mr. Hopper, 73, attended races in support of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the official charity of the year-ending thoroughbred championships at Santa Anita Park, Associated Press reports.

He has started a new, experimental treatment at the University of Southern California that he says he hopes will help. He said, “Everything’s good right now.”

Mr. Hopper has been to five Breeders’ Cups, including last year when he said he cashed a $17,000 trifecta ticket in the Classic, the signature race on thoroughbred racing’s championship day.

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