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Blood Wedding

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow

Three stars 

 

Love, sex and death are at the rotting heart of Federico Garcia Lorca’s play, in which unfinished business between families spurs on the doomed conclusion of its scattershot passions. Lorca wrote his rural tragedy in 1932, turning what could have been presented as a domestic melodrama into something more fantastical. 

 

The play’s premise is simple enough. A young couple plan to marry. The Groom’s Mother gets wind of some gossip about the Bride, who might have once had a fling with a member of the family who killed her husband. The Bride still holds a torch for her ex, whereupon they do a runner during the wedding reception. The Groom chases after the pair, whereupon, what might have been a more regular wedding day fallout sees the bodies pile up. 

 

Tanya Ronder’s new version of the play sees director André Agius place his cast of final year BA acting students inside designer Chantal Jared’s virgin white boudoir on which the ensuing dance of death is played out. Here, Saffron Rae’s Bride prepares to make good with Jude Bain’s puppy dog Groom. The taboo busting allure of Rosie Mackay’s Leonarda rather than the original Leonardo renders them both unable to resist temptation. 

 

Throughout all this, Death herself slinks her way through proceedings in a funereal black dress and hat that sees Farrah Abbassy embody this uninvited guest looking like a Zorro from Hell. On the angelic flipside of this, Bilal Paşayev’s Moon vamps things up with a flamboyant flourish.

 

Played without an interval, Agius’s production sees his cast of twelve bring a sense of largesse to its 100-minute duration. This is soundtracked by bursts of contemporary pop music, from Shakira to a Spanish language Eurovision style reboot of the Human League’s hit, Don’t You Want Me. This brings home some of the show’s audacious pop video visual stylings in a slow burning affair that makes for a piece of everyday mythology that simmers its way to its deadly conclusion.


The Herald, November 6th 2025

 

ends

 

 

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