Mary Cuffy

“A drum, a drum! Mac­beth doth come!”

Shake­speare’s time­less tragedy Mac­beth pulsed with Caribbean flair at Na­pari­ma Bowl on March 6, cour­tesy of the Or­a­to­ry Foun­da­tion. Hun­dreds of wide-eyed stu­dents from schools across Trinidad and To­ba­go filled the open-air am­phithe­atre, gasp­ing, cheer­ing, and gig­gling as the Bard’s dark tale of am­bi­tion, witch­craft, and fate came alive in a whirl­wind of is­land mag­ic.

For­get dusty text­books or broom­stick stereo­types, these weren’t your grand­ma’s witch­es. Led by the dy­nam­ic Deb­o­rah Jean-Bap­tiste-Samuel, the pro­duc­tion un­leashed fierce Tri­ni obeah queens: swirling in vi­brant wraps adorned with rat­tling cowrie-shell neck­laces, they stirred mys­tery herbs in cal­abash pots. Danc­ing through the shad­ows like sea breezes, they chant­ed “Dou­ble, dou­ble, toil and trou­ble!” in Shake­speare’s po­et­ic tongue, fused with ca­lyp­so rhythms that had feet tap­ping and spines tin­gling.

This wasn’t just a play; it was a live ad­ven­ture. Caribbean witch­es cast spells that whooshed through the au­di­ence, whis­per­ing rid­dles and cack­ling se­crets. Greed, pow­er plays, and haunt­ing prophe­cies un­fold­ed with chills and thrills, no movie screen re­quired. “Vault­ing am­bi­tion that over­leaps it­self,” as Mac­beth laments, hit home amid the drum­beats, re­veal­ing the “deed with­out a name” and the in­escapable truth: “What’s done can­not be un­done.”

The re­al stars? The kids them­selves! Brave stu­dents leaped on­stage as mighty sol­diers, cun­ning kings, and those wicked sor­cer­ess­es, de­liv­er­ing lines with fire and flair. Their en­er­gy proved that young is­land tal­ent can con­quer any stage, trans­form­ing com­plex Shake­speare in­to an un­for­get­table brain boost­er.

The Or­a­to­ry Foun­da­tion, a teach­ing in­sti­tu­tion ded­i­cat­ed to hon­ing or­a­to­ry, po­et­ry, and per­for­mance, brings these epic tales to life na­tion­wide. Sto­ries leap from pages to hearts, spark­ing imag­i­na­tion and in­sight. One buzzing stu­dent summed it up post-show: “I get Mac­beth now! Those witch­es are to­tal boss­es; I’m ac­ing my test!”

Missed the spell? Stay tuned for the Foun­da­tion’s next quest. Who knows, you might stir the next storm as a cal­abash-cack­ling witch!

What’s YOUR favourite Shake­speare play? Romeo and Juli­et’s sweet ro­mance? A Mid­sum­mer Night’s Dream’s fairy chaos? Some­thing else? Draw your dream witch and share with Guardian Kids!

Mary Cuffy is an ed­u­ca­tor and lo­cal chil­dren’s au­thor. Ms Cuffy is the au­thor of the La­dy­bug book se­ries. Ms Cuffy be­lieves the best in­vest­ment we can make in chil­dren is in the ear­ly years. Email: mary.cuffy@ya­hoo.com• IG: marycuffy • FB: mary cuffy/Lo­la and the Danc­ing La­dy­bug