Pic by Val Adamson. Pieter de Beer as Leonardo, and Philisiwe Sithole as the Bride)Lorca’s sublime drama classic Blood Wedding about revenge, desire and tragedy will be staged at the Courtyard Theatre at DUT from March 9, directed jointly by UKZN’s Tamar Meskin and DUT’s Tanya van der Walt.
Blood Wedding is the second collaboration between Meskin and van der Walt using the resources from both campus drama departments. Blood Wedding will feature second and third year DUT drama students and the companion piece, Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba will take place at UKZN later this year.
In its original SpanishBodas de Sangre, Blood Wedding is by acclaimed Spanish dramatist Frederico Garcia Lorca and is considered a classic of 20th-century theatre. The story on which the drama is based is inspired by a newspaper cutting of the time which reports of a family vendetta and a bride who ran away with the son of the enemy family: a woman's son falls in love with a woman who used to date a member of the family that murdered his father and brother.
Blood Wedding is a vehicle to investigate the subjects which fascinated Lorca: desire, repression, ritual, revenge, love, and family and the constraints and commitments of the rural Spanish community in which the play is rooted.
“It is a personal, mature and intense play,” explains co-director Tamar Meskin. “Our interpretation is very imagistic, surreal and Dali-esque with filmatic underscoring and a Flamenco motif.”
The intention is to locate the play firmly within the context of 1930’s Spain, while keeping it non-realistic and anti-naturalistic so that the audience can witness the drama as a live event, and recognize the parallels with today’s own time and context.
The play incorporates song, poetry, music, rhythm and strong visual imagery, and its action and sets are highly stylised and symbolic. A vocal accompaniment by Madlen Tzankova, DUT singing lecturer and well known vocal coach, adds to the imagistic feel of the piece. Lighting design is by Luke O’Gorman and set and costume co-ordination is by the directors, Tamar Meskin and Tanya van der Walt.
To encourage better understanding and appreciation of this astonishing work, the Performing Arts Network of South Africa, PANSA, is facilitating pre-performance lectures prior to select performances. UKZN’s Tamar Meskin and DUT’s Tanya van der Walt will be presenting a pre-performance lecture an hour prior to select shows.
Blood Wedding runs at the Courtyard Theatre, DUT from March 9 to 13 at 19h30. Tickets at door R20. For bookings or more information contact Lebohang Sibisi on 031 373 2194.
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