4.5 STARS: September 4-23. Death, revenge and passion galore. Don Brown was thrilled by this exceptional production of Lorca’s Blood Wedding at Clapham’s Omnibus
Nick Arthur Daniel
Maria de Lima (Homeless woman: Death)
Lorca’s 1932 tragedy has been reimagined in an exceptional new production at the Omnibus Theatre in Clapham. The original’s themes of fated love, vendetta and passion have been overlaid with the concerns of contemporary London – the experience of immigrant communities, of maintaining one’s cultural identity in a foreign city, and the ways in which wealth and poverty exist side by side in the 21st century capital.
This staging also brings in elements of physical theatre and music, particularly at the start of the second half, when the conventional characters are replaced by sundry ‘Greek choruses’ of streetsweepers, a bag lady and the moon – the ever-present but unnoticed of the city, who see all.
The tragedy is prefigured from the opening dialogue between the Mother (Maria de Lima – an incredible performance throughout) and Son (Federico Trujillo). The mother saw her husband murdered and, decades later, is still consumed with grief, keeping herself apart and forever cleaning her house, as if she could wash away the memory of the murder.
The son is anglicised, born in London to Spanish immigrant parents, running a successful restaurant and engaged to the daughter of a shopkeeper. Her former lover is Leo (who is from the same family as the murderer of the Son’s father), who married on the rebound and now feels trapped by his marriage and his shortness of money.
The unresolved passion between the fiancée (Rachael Ofori) and Leo (Ash Rizi), is what destroys the wedding day and brings the play to its tragic conclusion. But although the story is one of death and pain, the play is shot through with humour and there are great performances from a universally excellent cast.
Nick Arthur Daniel
Rachael Ofori and Ash Rizi (Bride and Leo)
This is another strong production by the Omnibus and one that is very much worth catching before it ends on 23 September.
Tickets: omnibus-clapham.org
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