Welles Turned Macbeth Into Voodoo

In 1936, director Orson Welles adapted and directed Shakespeare's Macbeth with an entirely Black cast, moving the story from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island inspired by 19th-century Haiti. It opened on April 14 at Harlem's Lafayette Theatre, with Haitian vodou replacing Scottish witchcraft and earning the production its common nickname, "Voodoo Macbeth." The production became a box-office sensation and ran for ten sold-out weeks at the Lafayette, helping establish the reputation of the 20-year-old Welles.

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