Left to right: Director Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridges) confers with John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) and Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor) in “Voodoo Macbeth.”

Actor Jewell Wilson Bridges says he was lucky Voodoo Macbeth started shooting just weeks after he was cast, noting the intense pressure that comes from portraying real-life figures.

But pressure sets the tone for the film itself, in which Bridges plays a 20-year-old, pre-Citizen Kane Orson Welles. In the historically based drama, Welles is recruited by theater giants John Houseman and Rose McClendon to direct a 1936 Harlem production of Macbeth. Houseman and McClendon were co-directors of the Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theater Project, a New Deal program to create jobs for unemployed theater folks during the Depression.

Looking for a vehicle to make a name for himself, Welles initially declines the job, thinking another version of “the Scottish play” would go unnoticed. But when he tells his wife, Virginia (June Schreiner), she suggests he feature the African-American cast and turn the Shakespeare classic on its head by relocating it to 19th century Haiti.

As Welles struggles with the amateur cast, a fraying marriage and his own demons, the cast and crew must deal with Welles’ perfectionist tendencies, manic behavior and increasing alcohol and drug abuse.

Where racial tension would dictate a delicate approach, Welles at times proves shockingly tone deaf.

After making his wife producer, he must turn around and fire her after getting pushback from McClendon for hiring her and a mostly white stage crew. Later, perfectionism prompts him to apply blackface and take the stage himself to try and “save” a horrific preview show. It’s hard to watch. As his actors make clear, that is not okay, regardless of what whites might have thought at the time.

Adding to the drama, the actor playing Macbeth is suspiciously deported – he’s an American from Puerto Rico – and his replacement can’t stay sober long enough to perform.

And McClendon, who longs to cap her career by playing Lady Macbeth, must withdraw after coughing up blood on stage due to pleurisy, a chest-and-lung disease she had kept a secret. Thus, Welles must rely on understudies to carry his show.

Jeremy Tardy (Ballers, Dear White People) delivers a strong performance as Maurice, an elevator operator in Welles’ apartment building who lands a role in the production, then must step up to play the lead. Tardy also anchors a subplot involving a gay romance with a fellow cast member.

Ashli Haynes (You’re the Worst) offers a subtle take on Edna Thomas, a lounge singer and widowed mom who confronts stage fright, Welles’ romantic advances and a last-minute promotion to playing Lady Macbeth. Twins Kelsey and Skyler Yates bring some levity to the production as her daughter, Clarissa Thomas.

Ultimately, Houseman’s fortitude and McClendon’s wisdom help Welles get the production back on track.

A Marriage at Stake

Bridges is compelling in his portrayal of Welles’ descent from cocky boy genius to virtual lunatic. From the confidence and rakish charm to the myopia, misdirected anger and chemical dependency – he puts it all out there.

Schreiner’s portrayal of Virginia really pops, imbuing charisma and passion into a character that easily could have been sidelined by the filmmakers. Virginia’s love is Orson’s to lose, and he manages to do so. Early on, she balances his manic tendencies. After Orson fires her, she picks herself up and lands a movie role. But his myopic focus on the play and lack of interest in her acting career upset the balance in the marriage.

Though the real-life Welleses had a daughter named Christopher in 1938, they separated in 1939 and divorced a year later. Following a screening at the Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona, I asked Schreiner if it really was Virginia’s idea to change the play’s setting. She said nobody knows what happened when only Virginia and Orson were in the room, but that Virginia remained involved in the stage production more than the movie portrayed. The “firing” was part of the dramatization, she said. Schreiner also pointed out that Virginia recognized the potential of the movie industry before Orson.

Thanks to Bridges and Schreiner, the marriage subplot resonates almost as much as the main plot.

First Lady of Black Stage

During the post-screening Q&A in Sedona, several actors said they were amazed they hadn’t heard of McClendon prior to their involvement in Voodoo Macbeth.

Called the “first lady of black stage” by New York’s Amsterdam News, McClendon was an acclaimed stage actress of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and early ’30s before taking up directing. She founded the Negro Theatre Unit and brought on Houseman as her co-director.

Inger Tudor (Goliath) offers a layered interpretation of McClendon. Initially skeptical of Welles, she is concerned with the big picture – the future of the whole theater company, not just the individual production. Personally, she views the play as an opportunity to go out on her own terms, despite the stress from fighting and hiding her illness. After Welles figures out her secret, his loyalty in keeping it binds their relationship and motivates her to remain involved until the end.

The real McClendon’s pleurisy eventually developed into pneumonia, and she died just months after the events portrayed in the movie.

Daniel Kuhlman gives a solid performance as Houseman, who handles the politics around the production while Welles focuses on the stage. Decades later, the real-life Houseman won the 1974 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Paper Chase.

Voodoo Macbeth is a collaboration among eight writers and 10 directors at the University of Southern California, a program funded with a grant from Warner Bros.

The play within the film, also titled Voodoo Macbeth, overcame chaos and politics to run for 10 weeks at Harlem’s Lafayette Theater before embarking on a national tour. The movie was named Best Film at the 2021 Harlem International Film Festival.

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Stuart J. Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

Tags: Federal Theater Project, film, Harlem, John Houseman, Movies, Negro Theatre Unit, Orson Welles, Rose McClendon, Sedona International Film Festival, stage, Voodoo Macbeth