Simultaneously Seeing and Not Seeing Race

The cast of the Umabatha Company rehearse The Zulu Macbeth on the stage of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London on 18 April 2001. The cast of the Umabatha Company, made up from Zulus from South Africa. Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Fifty years ago this year, I attended a performance in London of a Zulu version of “Macbeth.” It impressed upon me that Shakespeare was, if not quite universal (I doubt that his plays would mean much to the uncontacted tribes of the Amazon jungle, for example), of very wide appeal across cultures.