BLOOD WEDDING By Federico Garcia Lorca Premieres In Wellington 5/9

Your wedding is supposed to be the biggest day of your life - but when your wedding includes a duel to the death you know the stakes are high.
Blood Wedding, written by celebrated Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, is one of the most anticipated productions of the 2009 Wellington theatrical calendar. Blood Wedding premieres for the first time ever on the professional stage in New Zealand, May 9 at Circa Theatre, Wellington.

Blood Wedding is no ordinary love story; it is a fiery challenge to our senses of duty, honour and desire. In the searing heat of the Spanish summer and set against the turbulent background of the era of the Spanish Civil War, a Bride prepares for her wedding. A wedding to unite a village destroyed by bitter infighting and man's desire to settle arguments with the knife. The return of her first love Leonardo forces the Bride to choose between her duty and the will of her heart. Their decision to escape on her wedding day sends shockwaves through the community and precipitates an inevitable and bloody act of vengeance.

Award-winning director Willem Wassenaar (Angels in America, The Little Dog Laughed) helms a star-studded cast in his eagerly-awaited return to Circa Theatre, having directed The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire. With one of the best ensemble line-ups to share a stage in Wellington this year, the cast features fresh out of Dancing with the Stars Geraldine Brophy (Second Hand Wedding, Outrageous Fortune and Shortland Street's beloved Moira), Rachel Forman (Apollo 13: Mission Control, Turbine, Blackbird) and Dean O'Gorman (Toy Love, Shortland Street, Hercules). Rounding out the cast are Sophie Roberts, Peter Hambleton, Jade Daniels, Michele Amas and Carmel McGlone.

Be invited to witness the wedding as Circa One is transformed by AnDrew Foster into the dusty shimmer of a Spanish village square. It assures the audience of a unique and festive experience in which they become part of the electrifying climax. The high-calibre production line-up also includes one of New Zealand's greatest contemporary composers Gareth Farr promising a score of lavish Spanish song and dance, with choreography from Dancing with the Stars' Stefano Olivieri.

Blood Wedding: It could be the start of a great new life - or the end of one.

Blood Wedding

By Federico Garcia Lorca, in a translation by Ted Hughes

May 9 - June 6

Tickets: Adults $38, under-25 $20, over-65 $30, groups of six or more $32ea

To book: Phone Circa 04 801 7992 or book online at www.circa.co.nz