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WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

Blood Wedding Stumbles Through Opening Weekend

Aditi Patil

Staff Writer

A man is soon to be married, and he is happy with his wife to be and convinced they are in love.  What this man doesn’t foresee is the calamity that is destined to occur on his wedding day. This is the premise of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding.

Blood Wedding, starring Teresa Langford as La Novia, Will Clark as Leonardo, Chris Kandra as Le Novio lived up to the high standards of WATA performances.

WATA Blood Weddinig Poster

Blood Wedding is described as having a plot line similar to Romeo and Juliet, where there is a pair of lovers who shouldn’t be together. But it also has more of a mature mood with betrayal, violence, anger, and as the title suggests, bloodshed.

The costumes were all black on the bottom and white on the top. This black and white was the general theme of everything. During the second half, there was a slight adjustment in the wardrobe, with the addition of the color red. This combination had a great effect since it reinforced the mood. The red added more emphasis on the intensifying of the plot.

The play begins with dim lighting and a fast-beat Spanish guitar tune. The silhouettes of dancers appear and they start a dramatic dance.  Their first number was one of the prettiest. Although, it is hard to say, since all of them were wonderful.

By far, the best element was the way the dance was incorporated in to the play. At times it was subtly and elegantly done, mirroring a scene that was simultaneously occurring. At others times it was edgy, prominent and suspenseful. It was worth watching solely for that.

The set was another interesting element. There were two slightly elevated checkerboard platforms on the front of the left and right sides of the stage. Each scene only took up half the stage, alternating between each panel. In the background, there was an elevated stone path with a wooden ramp down the center. The path was often used for events occurring or people standing in the background of the main scene. The ramp was where some of the most climactic scenes took place.

The performance had its kinks. During the first half there was a thumping noise that made it impossible to hear the dialogue. Multiple crew and cast members later revealed it to be a speaker malfunction from referred to as “Phantom Beats” since it began during last year’s production Phantom of the Opera.

According to a cast member, the actress playing La Vecina, or the neighbor, Jennifer Rigby, broke her toe during the Saturday night performance. She apparently injured herself walking off the ramp. But being the dedicated actress she was, she kept on going as if nothing happened. In fact, I didn’t even notice that anything was wrong.

Besides being hard to hear, some of the scenes were also hard to follow. That’s not entirely WATA’s fault, as the play is packed with complicated dialogue and symbolism, but perhaps some metaphors could have been portrayed better.

Also, at points the similarities in the structures of the scenes got monotonous and boring, relinquishing its hold on the audience’s attention.

When I went Saturday, the theater was almost empty. Its hard for the people involved in the play to be motivated when nobody shows up.

“We haven’t got the best showing. Hopefully we can publicize more and people will come next week,” said freshman Rachael Madhur who played one of Les Muchachas, or girls.

The upcoming shows are Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7 at 7:30. Tickets are $8 for students and $12 for adults.

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    Tanvi VermaMay 6, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    The phantom beats aren’t a sound effect, they’re a malfunction from the speakers.

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