Currently the most talked about production in industry circles- Sydney Theatre Company’s production Of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca translated by Iain Sinclair.

I note this production because though I saw it on opening night, I was not in attendance as a reviewer but as a handbag to Mr Waites.

So I am going to limit my response to 350 words –

This is the second production of Blood Wedding I’ve seen in 12 months, and I am now completely satisfied that I never need to see another production of it ever again. Not because of this production’s brilliance – because I don’t like the play.

I don’t see how a play that is so amazingly mono-tonal in it’s lusty hysteria is preferenced for programming over a deeply nuanced and relevant new Australian play.

If this play was written by an Australian writer (especially now) it would be discounted immediately for it’s obvious love triangle, lack of subtext or nuance and for the bizarre stylistic shift in the second act.

Additionally a really forced production. And I firmly believe perhaps I would have been more interested if Zindzi Okenyo was cast as the Bride, not the cousin.

Design by Rufus Didwiszus is nearly ridiculous (some may identify as European – And by this I mean I found the design to be visually excessive and therefore distracting. The design was as epic and as cluttered an Opera. And perhaps I am particularly referring to the inclusion of a bloodied child on a swing… ) – a clash and collide of styles – which felt clumsy and excessive.

Clearly not my thing. I was bored.