‘Blood Wedding’ at the Kappa
A testimony to human adventure is how director Sotiris Hadzakis sums up a new production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s «Blood Wedding.» More than 70 years since its first staging in Spain, the great poet/author’s masterpiece goes on stage at the National Theater’s Kappa stage. The premiere is scheduled to take place tonight. Greek take Hadzakis directed the play, based on a translation by Nikos Gatsos, while keeping the music and songs composed by Manos Hadjidakis in 1948. At the National, the musical direction was undertaken by Savina Yiannatou and is interpreted on stage by two musicians (on cello and piano). The cast is headed by Despina Bembedel in the role of the mother. She is joined by Christos Parlas, Tania Trypi and Tzini Papadopoulou, among others. The production’s sets were designed by Giorgos Patsas, the costumes by Ersi Drini and the choreography is by Maria Manioti. In the play, the wedding of a young couple turns into a bloodbath when the bride runs away from the feast along with her first, true love. One the play’s most tragic characters is the mother, a woman who has already mourned the loss of a husband and a son. In his directing, Hadzakis says he has maintained Gatsos’s poetic euphoria while trying to avoid social commentary. On the visual level, the production doesn’t feature any Spanish elements, though it does offer hints of the play’s origin. »Blood Wedding» performances will run until the end of the winter theater season. National Theater – Kappa Stage, 2 Kypselis, tel 210.883.1068.
