The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2025 - Issue 38

bitetheatre Lisa Ogun’ attended Tower Theatre to watch Ted Hughes’ bold adaptation of Blood Wedding, an entertaining evening of drama, costume, imagery, song, and dance that transported us into the European old country of yesteryear. THEATRE REVIEW BLOOD WEDDING T ower Theatre, based in North-East London, is an old favourite of mine, having watched a few of their offer- ings over the last decade. Intrigued by the play’s title, I soon discovered it was an old story from the early 1930s, written by the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, and I felt eager to see what this trag- edy would unfold. Set in 1920s rural Spain, Blood Wedding tells the story of a bride torn between two paths. Whilst she is betrothed to be wed, she realises she has left her heart with a previous love, who belongs to a family that her soon-to-be mother-in-law despises to her core. The stage setting is sparse, with an old wood- en table and three vintage wooden kitchen chairs taking up most of the scene. However, the randomly placed pale concrete column blocks set in the upstage area, where the as- tounding overhead projected images of the Spanish old country bounced off, were what brought this play to heart. Set and Video De- signer Max Maxwell did an incredible job, placing the action’s location at the forefront of our imaginations. Each scene change was denoted by a pro- jection, taking us on a journey through the village or countryside, then landing on an image of where the action was unfolding. Also excellent was the audio projection by Sound Designer Rob Ellis, which added to the drama and location of each scene. Before the start, as I settled into my seat, I was en- grossed in the sound of knives being sharp- ened, which heightened my awareness that, as it’s called Blood Wedding, perhaps there would be bloodshed. Gruesome! The image projection for Act 1, Scene One, depicts a typical Spanish rural house with an olive tree in its front courtyard. An elderly Spanish Mother clad in black (Katherine Holt) enters, brandishing a knife to attend to a culinary task. Her son, the Bridegroom (Michael Neckam), arrives soon after, to in- form her he is going to his newly acquired vineyard and gives her a passionate rant about how weapons are an abomination. “Damn the knife, damn all knives, damn the devil who created knives. And guns and pis- tols, even the tiniest little knife, even pitch- forks and mattocks.” Through her tirade, we learn she had a hus- band and a son killed by weapons and is not satisfied that their murderers, the Felix fam- ily, are alive in prison. Adding to her grief is that her only living son will soon marry and leave her alone in the house. However, they arranged for Mother to meet the betrothed parents and to take gifts. A friendly Neighbour (Nadine Ghazeddine) visits with village gossip. She tells the mother more about the girl the bridegroom is set to marry, and about her previous engagement to a man who is now married to her cous- in. Mother probes her for more information about this juicy piece of gossip. Reluctantly, Neighbour informs her that it was to Leonar- do Felix. This information reignites Mother’s lament about losing her husband and son to this dreaded family, but her friend calms her down and has her swear to keep it a secret from her son. Scene two projects the Felix family’s house, where the Mother-in-law (Alice Croucher) cradles a baby, while the child’s pregnant mother, the Wife (Ingrid Werner), sits rock- ing in a chair and knitting; together they sing softly to the swaddled infant. The scene is endearing and warm, but the lullaby is only soothing in voice, as the disturbing words unnerve me as I think of death. “Down by the river, Down by the river, Blood is pour- ing, Stronger than the water. Sleep, my blos- som, the horse will not drink.” Leonardo (RomainMereau) enters and brief- ly discusses his horse’s shoes with his Wife, which he keeps having to replace, protesting that he hardly rides it. The Wife, however, in- forms him that he was seen riding it roughly in a place he would not usually visit, which he denies. Yet, Mother-in-Law comments on the horse’s current condition: “stretched out,