The Stage

Lorca: Amor en el Jardin

Published Thursday 13 October 2011 at 04:04 by Laura Fraine

At the heart of this play, there is the kernel of an epic romance. Amor de Don Perlimpin con Belisa en su Jardin, which has been adapted by cast and crew for this production, is not the playwright’s greatest work. While the elements of sex, death and, finally, love, are played out, there lacks a fullness to the plot. Lorca himself called it ‘the skeleton of a great drama’. It was deemed highly controversial on its first production and only staged once in his lifetime.

The real success here lies in the way the production uses various prisms through which to view the drama - gossamer layers between audience and action that cast the imagination in beautiful and unexpected ways. Firstly, there is the music, a seductive, lilting, magical score, much of which is performed on stage by actor Alicia Martel. Secondly, the visuals - a quirky two-dimensional set by Neil Murray and bright, stylised two-dimensional costumes by Alison Stringer both remove us from the tragedy and draw us in to the performance. Thirdly, a lengthy prologue told by spirits in the garden, which was added to the original script to celebrate Lorca’s life and introduce the story of wealthy old Don Perlimpin (Angel Alguacil) and sexy young Belisa (Nuria Garcia). Performed with energy and wit, this is the production’s strongest part. Finally - the ultimate distancing between audience and performance - the entire production is performed in Spanish. The lack of comprehension I felt at points had the pleasing effect of making my senses work harder - I travelled with the poetic rhythms of the dialogue and experienced the performance as a sensual pleasure. I very much enjoyed this production. Still, Lorca is renowned as a master of expression and it was disappointing that, for me, much of this was probably lost in translation.