|
|
Blood wedding
Rogue Play
Midland Arts Centre
** Birmingham-based RoguePlay bring their
brand of physical theatre to Lorca’s classic tale of family feud,
betrayal and revenge. Lorca’s themes and his language are intensely
visceral, bound up in imagery of the earth, of nature and of the body.
And so replacing this language with a more physical language brings a
new
element to this much performed work. And yet the physical theatre also detracts from
the drama, taking out its core and leaving it just a little dull. The
long dark stage pauses between scenes may be necessary for installing
equipment or they may have been added for atmosphere but they slow the
pace and separate each scene so that the drama becomes a series of
vignettes rather than a tense narrative. With everything leading up to a bloody
confrontation between betrayer and betrayed, the audience should be
sitting on the edge of their seats rather than wondering if the story is
really going anywhere. There is also a lack of clarity – not least when
the character of Mother becomes the character of Death as a Beggar
simply by putting on a cloak. For anyone who has never read or seen the
play before this must have been mystifying. That’s not to say that the circus skills are not
impressive and they effectively express the disdain between
betrayer-to-be Leonardo and his Wife as well as the passion between
Leonardo and the Bride. RoguePlay artistic director Kim Charnock takes
the role of the Bride and plays that hollowed out woman well. She is
particularly strong in the closing scenes as she begs the Mother to kill
her. Lorna Meehan has a tricky role to play with the
Mother as here is a Spanish matriarch damaged by the loss of her son and
husband who now faces the loss of her remaining son. Meehan manages the
anger but she does not quite reach into her heart to reveal the dry
bitterness of a woman dedicated to grief. Anna Simpson is a beguiling Wife, while Aaron
Twitchen is the gullible Bride Groom and Israel Costa the brooding
Leonardo. There is lots to like in this production. It is
original and brave as it attempts to shed new light on a classic. But
there is also a sense that this production could have achieved so much
more with better integration of the narrative and the physical theatre
and a bit more attention to some of the details of character. Diane Parkes
O8-10-14 Blood Wedding is also an A2 set text with the AQA
examining board. On tour
including
Theatre Severn, Shroshire,
Wed 22nd Oct 2014
|
|
|