A ground-breaking co-production of Lorca’s tragedy, Blood Wedding, opens at Dundee Rep tonight .
Featuring a cast of both disabled and non-disabled actors, it’s a collaboration between Dundee Rep, Derby Theatre and the trail-blazing Graeae Theatre company which champions accessibility in theatre and provides a platform for deaf and disabled performers.
It is an updated version of the classic Spanish story of love and death created by actor-turned-writer David Ireland.
Director Jenny Sealey has been at the helm of Graeae since 1997 and also co-directed the London 2012 Paralymic Opening Ceremony. She was recently named one of the most influential people in the creative industries and has been awarded an honorary doctorate in drama by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
A spell of working alongside the actors’ ensemble at Dundee Rep and its artistic director Jemima Levick led to a decision to collaborate on a project although it took some time to pin down the perfect vehicle. And, says Jenny, once the dramatic and poetic Blood Wedding was in the frame, she knew she wanted to set it “slap bang in the middle of a city, with all the proximity and pressure-cooker living that entails and also to bring it into 2015.”
Working with David Ireland was also inspiring. “He has a real twinkle, he’s a generous, glorious maverick!
“Graeae did a production 12 or 15 years ago and I felt that Lorca’s words would translate well into the notion of a modern soap opera, with the visceral elements of love, lust, betrayal and death. It’s of its time but it’s also relevant to the present day. I did one in Japan with deaf and disabled actors and I felt it could work if we let the actors ask lots of questions and let them bring their own experience to it.
“In development, the actress who played the character of the mother was deaf and that added another dimension in terms of her relationship with her son in the play, compounding her isolation. That was an important element and with Amy Conachan, who plays the central role of the bride, as a wheelchair user, it was interesting and powerful to put her very much centre stage, the protagonist who was moving the plot and the drama, instead of just someone being influenced by the two men she loves and loses. She plays the men, they don’t play her.
“Strong, central roles for disabled women, where they are not victims but are at the heart of the action, are still rare. I only work collaboratively and it’s like marinating food or making a cake. You have to get the ingredients right and make them work together. I like actors to make life difficult for themselves rather than go for easy answers!”
Leading actress Amy Conachan is still in her final year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and is relishing the challenge of this beautiful yet dark and dangerous play. “I was up for it straight away and I loved the Graeae philosophy of access and getting a range of performers on stage, I also liked the fact that this version was more relateable to the modern day, that the men weren’t necessarily the dominant figures. The bride rules the men, she makes the decisions; it’s gritty and strong.”
She’s also looking forward to the lengthy tour that will take the show all over the country. “That’s cool for me because it will allow us to develop as the tour goes on and feel how different audiences react. it’s a radical vision of a great piece it can change every night!”
More info at www.dundeerep.co.uk.