The Classical Entertainment Society will revive Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding this week in a modern adaptation of the timeless Spanish play.
Blood Weddin’ moves Lorca’s script from rural Spain to the Eastern Kentucky countryside where strong family ties, moonshine and whiskey rule. But Lorca’s exploration of love, jealousy and passion still ring true, re-creating a modern rural American version of the classic Spanish drama.
Why Lorca? Why Kentucky? Both questions go back to CES’ goal to revitalize old plays considered “classic” in various aspects, whether in plot, theme or language. Blood Weddin’ was born out of Artistic Director Eric Shoemaker’s intent to re-introduce Lorca and his famed poetic language to the student body. Writers like Jerome Rothenberg and Jack Spicer have “Americanized” Lorca through their works, motivating Shoemaker to bring in another rendition on Lorca that speaks to the poet’s huge influence on literature.
“Federico Garcia Lorca has become an international classic, especially because of his affiliations with the Spanish surrealist movers and shakers, Bunuel and Dali,” explained Shoemaker. “He is somewhat underrepresented in America as a playwright, but he has become a true classic because of the proliferation of his writing in the poetic tradition of America.”
Despite Lorca’s widespread fame, the original Blood Wedding remains somewhat inaccessible to American audiences in part because of its rural Spanish setting. This unfamiliarity with the Spanish countryside’s culture led Shoemaker, originally from Kentucky himself, to relocate the play to the more recognizable rural Kentucky. The two communities may be a whole ocean apart, but both possess similarities that make the adjustment smoother than predicted.
“I find the rurality of both locales similar in many ways. I’m from Kentucky and I live near some of the abject poverty and ‘rural sentiment’ that we used for inspiration for this production,” said Shoemaker. “The goal is not to mock Kentucky, but to find the truth and poeticism of such an earthy place, to connect with the ‘duende’ of a rural region, to dig deep into its aura and pull out elements that we can relate to. I think Americans know what Kentucky is far more than rural Spain or Andalusia, so I think Blood Weddin’ connects with audiences more than Bodas de Sangre in translation would.”
But the story itself, a tragic tale involving two feuding families and a love triangle, transcends the cultural differences that mark Lorca’s original and Shoemaker’s modern adaptation. The story remains true to the first Blood Wedding despite the change in characters’ names and look, revealing the timelessness of Lorca’s storytelling. Blood Weddin’ aims to both commemorate and introduce an American audience to Lorca’s work. Over the course of three days, the CES Blood Weddin’ cast and crew hope to accomplish both through a star-crossed rural American love story.
Buy your tickets for Blood Weddin’ before they all run out! For more information, visit the CES homepage or the Blood Weddin’ Facebook event.