Blood Wedding at The Estates Theatre

A work by the Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca (1898–1936) is returning to the National Theatre in Prague some half a century after his play The House of Bernarda Alba, directed by Alfred Radok, was performed on its stage. Blood Wedding was staged at our theatre shortly after WWII by Jindrich Honzl. Lorca’s unsettled life itself could provide sufficient material for a play – yet our attention has focused on his text, blending folk art with avant-garde, the traditional world of weddings and inviolable rites with the passion of the present moment and overwhelming love. The Bride knows who to marry and the Groom is preparing for the nuptials with the utmost seriousness. Their path, however, is crossed by Leonardo, with the result being the concepts of all the relatives collapsing like a house of cards. Yet we are compelled to raise the question: what about the other characters, now parents and grandparents? Do they too know what mad desire is like? Is love merely the domain of youth, or is every one of us somewhat similar to the abandoning Bride and the betrayed Groom?

Authors

• Federico Garcia Lorca