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MacBird! is a 1966satire byBarbara Garson. It was self-published ('Grassy Knoll Press') as apamphlet, and the full text appeared in the December 1966 issue ofRamparts magazine. It was staged in February 1967.
The play superimposes theJohn F. Kennedy assassination onto the plot ofShakespeare'sMacbeth.
The play burlesques Shakespeare'sMacbeth, with lines drawn from other plays such asHamlet, andRichard III, withTexas andBoston accents. The plot follows MacBird from the1960 Democratic National Convention, when he becomes John Ken O'Dunc'sVice President ("Hail, Vice-President thou art!"), to Ken O'Dunc's assassination, at the urging of Lady MacBird. Robert Ken O'Dunc then defeats MacBird at the1968 convention.
In the play,Kennedy becomes "John Ken O'Dunc",Lyndon Johnson becomes "MacBird",Lady Bird Johnson becomes "Lady MacBird", etc. As Macbeth assassinates Duncan, so MacBird assassinates Ken O'Dunc. As Macbeth is defeated byMacduff, so MacBird is defeated by Robert Ken O'Dunc (Robert F. Kennedy).
The play also features theThree Witches, in the form of astudent radical, aNation of Islam member, and a working-class union member. The recently deceasedAdlai Stevenson II was depicted as 'The Egg of Head' (the term 'egghead' having been coined in the 1950s to describe intellectual supporters of Stevenson).
In a 2006Washington Post interview, Garson said she was not seriously accusing Johnson of being complicit in the Kennedy assassination:
"People used to ask me then, 'Do you really think Johnson killed Kennedy?'" Garson, when she was 65, recalls. "I never took that seriously. I used to say to people, 'If he did, it's the least of his crimes.' It was not what the play was about. The plot was a given."[1]
Macbird! began as a short satirical sketch by Garson, a recent graduate of theanti-Vietnam war movement atUniversity of California, Berkeley. She developed the piece into a full-length play with help from writer/director Roy Levine.
The play, which opened just three years after Kennedy's assassination, was controversial. Some believe that authorities pressured theaters inNew York City against producing the play.The Village Gate was the only theater willing to defy this pressure.Macbird! opened there on February 22, 1967, and closed on January 21, 1968, after 386 performances.
Levine, who worked with Garson to develop the sketch to a full-length play, was the original director ofMacbird! His bold theatrical vision marked the production throughout the run; near the end of the previews, however, he was replaced byGerald Freedman. Set design was by Clarke Dunham, costumes were by Jeanne Button, and lights were by Robert Brand.Joel Zwick was thestage manager.
The original cast included:
The original cast recorded a two-disc album of the script on February 6, 1967. The album was released in abox set, along with a copy of the script, on the Evergreen label (Evergreen - EVR 004).
John Clark left the production early to marryLynn Redgrave.Cleavon Little made his professional acting debut in the play. The play had a long engagement, with a different cast inLos Angeles, where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968 while running for the Democratic presidential nomination.MacBird! was also produced at the Committee Theater inSan Francisco around 1968.