Frederico Garcia Lorca

Theatre Royal, Stratford East

The above was claimed to be about homosexuality, especially homosexuality in a sexually and socially repressed society. This may be what led the director of the piece to urge on his cast what was basically a great deal of camping about by many players. At one point an Emperor-figure one part Caligula, one part pantomime demon-king strips one of the players. A very pleasing sight it was too, but we were probably meant to be at least slightly shocked by it.

The shock was defused by the player’s partner who was tiresomely camp. He probably should have been sweetly effeminate: it was not hit-off by either the director or player. This over-the-top characterisation did not fit in with the idea of deep repression. (All of the action is really going on inside someone’s sub-conscious).

The Programme claims Lorca was inspired by Surrealist experiments in Paris. He was probably also inspired by the Russian Ballet, especially Nijinsky, and also Nijinska (Vaslav’s sister, Bronislava they were ethnic Poles), and further off, old Klingsor, Richard Wagner. It is by no means inconceivable that he had Hollywood cartoons in mind. Thus, we are presented with lots of people in odd get-ups: headless bodies, surreal two-legged horses cavorting beautifully about ” it is a great pity the horse-heads had all the magic of the average traffic bollard.

The Theatre Royal Stratford East (or ate Bow, to distinguish it from Shakespeare’s birthplace) is a Victorian pile, all curlicues, gold leaf and plush, like Belfast‘s Grand Opera House (and Cirque). It is small, about the size of the Group theatre (an annex to the Ulster Hall), the stage got seriously overpopulated from time to time.

Near the end of the performance someone spoke with a fake-Belfast accent, or a real Belfast accent, with True Brit overtones. Maybe it was meant to be an alienating device.

This is only an impression of the thing: play is too feeble a word to describe it. The Theatre Royal is to be congratulated for staging the work. It is doubtful if it is about anything other than the human condition. But there is no real harm in Gay women and men taking pride in the fact that it was one of us’ who created it.

Se n McGouran

Gay Star (Vol. 2, No. 2) Spring 1989