In his short film MacBeth in Compton Page Kennedy delivers exactly what you think a film thusly titled should be. It is a condensed rap version of Shakespeare’s tragedy MacBeth set in Compton, CA. in the 1990s.
A rapper called Mac (Kennedy) has his Lady M (Candice Renée) whispering in his ear, driving him toward murderous ambition and moral corruption. When Mac is signed by Skid Row records CEO King Dunc (Russell Hornsby) Mac and Lady M plot murder, planning for Mac to take over the label when Dunc is dead. 90s Compton is the perfect updated setting, infamous for gang violence and as the birthplace of gangsta rap.
The film is presented entirely in rap, with the actors speaking in Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, accompanied by street lingo subtitles. If the opposite was true and the lyrics of the film had been spoken in street slang, I (old white guy) would need non-rap subtitles in order to understand what was being said. The brilliant production feels like a rap video, but plays like theater.
“… a rap version of MacBeth set in Compton, CA. in the 1990s. “
Kennedy writes about how he came to Shakespeare and his goal for this project: “When I first picked up Shakespeare, I couldn’t stand it. The language was so foreign to me, and I just didn’t get it at all. But then I saw Baz Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet, and suddenly it all made sense. By putting the play in a modern context that I understood, Baz Luhrman gave me a gift. That’s when I realized I wanted to give that same gift to a black audience.” He is hoping to create a series based on the play, and then expand it to other Shakespeare plays.
Shakespeare did theater art and business in what was for that time a punk, streetwise sensibility. He spoke to people highborn and low in a style they could relate to. One imagines he would immediately understand the appeal of MacBeth in Compton, and would love this take on MacBeth.
Learn more at the official Macbeth in Compton website.
"…Shakespeare would love this "
