Recently, I went to see a performance of a Spanish play entitled Blood Wedding.
My dad instilled in me a great appreciation for the performing arts, especially musical theater. He's a big Frank Loessor fan. However, that was all I really knew. I had seen all the big musicals; I was even in Sweet Charity my freshman year of high school. (Turnin' heads the minute I walked in the joint). Because I was most familiar with popular musical theater, I was anxious to see something different.
I had heard a lot about Blood Wedding from classmates who had seen it before me, some of whom were teching the show. A lot of the comments about it stemmed from the metaphysical aspects of the show and how they were strange and difficult to understand. I had also heard that it was reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet.
With all this in mind, I went to the play prepared to dislike it. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it was the analytic skills Thea Kreis hammered into me, but I found the play easy to follow and incredibly engaging.
The character that stood out most to me was death. She was present throughout the entire play, represented by a flamenco dancer. The actress was phenomenal and moved around the stage with haunting beauty. The most interesting part to me occurred in the opening scenes. Death was given certain props to pass between other actors. All of the props she touched seemed to become cursed after that.
In the scene where the bride was receiving her gifts, Death was the one to place them on the table. When the maid attempts to open them, the bride reacts strongly saying that she does not deserve them nor does she want them. When they are opened though, the wedding seems to rapidly become a series of tragedies.
In addition, Death passes a knife to the bridegroom. Later, he uses it to stab his wife's former lover while the lover stabs him as well and they both die.
That symbolism was extremely powerful to me and I thought it created a nice thread from the beginning to the end of the play.
While it was not the typical Broadway hit that I am accustomed to seeing, it was an exciting and engaging play that I highly enjoyed. I am glad I allowed myself to expand my theatrical interest.
