Federico Garcia Lorca's
Blood Wedding, or
Bodas de Sangre in its original Spanish, was adapted into Lebanese-Arabic and attached to the “Latin America, Al-Andalus, and the Arab World" international conference of 2018. The play gestured towards the cultural linkages and commonalities that the conference formally engaged.
The plot deals with a Bride betrothed to a wealthy Bridegroom of her family's choosing. The Bride quietly desires her former
fiancée, Leonardo, who reciprocates her feelings but is trapped in a loveless marriage.The play violently concludes the struggle between societal expectations and individual desires.
Blood Wedding was performed in the village of Hammana, Mount Lebanon, in an effort to pronounce the rurality of Lorca's tragedy. This adaptation exchanged the conventional stage for a promenade experience that turned Hammana streets and homes into performance sites. Audience members convened at the Hammana Artist House before splitting into two groups, each led to the various sites by a purple-clad soothsayer/beggarwoman.
The play was translated and directed by Sahar Assaf, and produced by Robert Myers. It integrated music composed by Oussama El Khatib that recalled the play's Spanish roots. A rustic costume design by Claire Mechref further highlighted the country setting. Blood Wedding's show dates were April 15, 19, 20, 21, and 22, the first performance acting as the conference's opening event. For more information, read
pamphlet.
