Blood Wedding

Company: Sydney Theatre Company
Venue: Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay, Sydney
Dates: To 11 September 2011

Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding is an epic drama that will chill many audience members right down to the bone. A tragic love story reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, Blood Wedding is filled with love, hate, misfortune and even a touch of humour.

The new translation by Iain Sinclair is a vivid portrayal of a rural Spanish town in the midst of family rivalry. Unlike many similar theatrical family feuds, Blood Wedding does more than merely deal with the love between two people, but delves into the ramifications on the families as well. A somewhat loved up couple (played by Sophie Ross and Kenneth Spiteri) are set to wed much to the dismay of the groom’s mother played by the powerful Leah Purcell. When word arrives that the bride was once involved with Leonardo (Yalin Ozucelik) the man whose family is responsible for the death of her husband, Purcell’s character accurately pre-empts tragedy, terror and heartache. Nevertheless the wedding goes ahead with all locals attending, even Leonardo which seems a little bit hard to believe, and ends in a painstaking climax that is anything but marital bliss.

Although none of the actors conjured a fake Spanish accent (too hard?), they did well to portray similar characteristics and boisterous stage movements; though much of the audience assumed that the family personalities were Italian. Leah Purcell as the female head of the house is a stage presence and a half; combating most if not all of the attention every second she is on stage. Although the attention she gives to her characters is somewhat Spanish-like her anger at times was just too much.

Sophie Ross as the bride was brilliant. As well as providing several humorous moments, Ross’s temperaments were right on cue as she encouraged the audience to feel empathy as well as hatred towards her character. Sinclair incorporated young newcomer Holly Fraser as a sort of bloody devil/whimsical angel that went by the character title of The Moon. Although this character seemed a little out of place for a Lorca piece, she handled the role meticulously. With blood stained clothes and an ashen face she pranced around the stage in a trance-like state that was extremely moving and let’s just say it, downright scary.

Set and costume designers Rufus Didwiszus and Luke Ede kept a minimalistic approach for the first half of the performance but then threw audience members into a gory nightmare for the second half with barbaric face masks and a rumbling chainsaw centre stage. The visceral nature of Ede’s masks is impressive, although you’re not quite sure what they mean they artfully lure you into a dark macabre trance. Projecting a large swing for the character of The Moon to one side of the stage is a clever move by Didwiszus. This allowed Fraser to sway in and out of the main frame of the stage whilst eliciting creepy, wispy mumbles that sent shivers down everyones spine.

This creative portrayal of Blood Wedding is a worthy venture for theatre-goers looking to be provoked and maybe even plagued. But be warned some of the forceful content and ghoulish undertones are not suitable for the young ones.

Haylie Pretorius