Writer: Federico Garcia Lorca
Adaptor/Director: George Richmond-Scott
Reviewer: Joanna Trainor
Have you ever seen someone seductively mop a floor before? Because watch out for that, front row.
George Richmond-Scott’s adaptation of the Lorca classic, Blood Wedding, is very much a play of two halves. Not that’s necessarily a negative attribute, but the interval in-between means there isn’t enough to gel the two together. The first act is relatively naturalistic, then after a fifteen-minute pause, we’re suddenly confronted with an evil moon in leather trousers. It’s just a bit of a shock to the system. The moon is in the original Lorca, but the physicality of the character is so new to this production that the abstract needs to appear earlier on to make it feel like one cohesive piece.
Not to say that Yorgos Karamalegos doesn’t give a wholly enticing and disturbing performance as the vindictive lunar body. Ready to light the way to death for the bride and her lover. This was all shortly after being a doting Father to his emotionally torn daughter on her wedding day; they definitely have a multi-faceted cast.
Camilla Mathias also shows off her skills, as she serenades the wedding party on the guitar with stunning music that she has composed herself. Although certainly appropriate for the play, her song Rose, about someone bereft of a lover who has left them, is probably not a great fit for your average marriage. Perhaps she should have said something to the groom beforehand, rather than create a haunting and foreboding musical interlude to taunt him with after the nuptials. Seems a bit cruel in hindsight.
Moving the setting to modern-day London works perfectly. As these two families try to keep their traditions and culture they are feeling the animosity of Brexit, which is something that migrants know all too well at the moment. It creates an undercurrent of tension that makes watching the events unfolding all the more uncomfortable.
Ultimately, everyone is sucker for a story of love and betrayal and few tell it better than Lorca.
Runs until 23rd September | Image: Nick Arthur Daniel