Blood Wedding

Federico Garcia Lorca was an early 20th century playwright and poet. Blood Wedding is of his most famous works, the first in a trilogy of rural tragedies.

Lorca rebelled against the traditional Realistic style of his time. Elements of symbolism can be seen in Blood Wedding; for example, he the character La Luna, the moon, referred to as if she were a person.

Run of the Mill’s presentation at Theatre Project was pretty true to text. I feel as though numerous absurdist techniques were enhanced by the actors. There was a definite repetition of actions, words and phrases throughout the play that made me think Lorca was a decade before his time. (The best known absurdist playwright is Samuel Beckett, who brought Waiting for Godot to life in 1952, 14 years after Lorca died.) Perhaps it was the playwrights intense rebellion.

Although the set was very minimal, the company used the space well, coming from all corner and exit ways, wings and doorways possible. I especially thought the lighting was effective. When La Muerte entered, the lights turned a bright, earthy, totally changing the feel of the entire room. I could feel death coming.

There was a bit of overacting on the part of La Madre. She must have been throwing stones at my head because her daughter-in-law was disloyal.

The three plays focus on breaking social constructions. There are specific actions that were to be followed and upheld, tradition, family loyal, innocence, and trust. La Novia breaks these bonds to her mother-in-law by running away with Leonardo, whom she truly loves, on her wedding night. Her husband, El Novio, fights Leonardo to the death. Only the bride lives to show her face to her heartbroken, lonely mother-in-law.

Very Romeo and Juliet.