As the first half of the University Theatre season meets its demise, so will a good amount of the characters in its last production of the semester: “Blood Wedding.” Premiering this Friday at the Hemsley Theater — with a preview Thursday at 7:30 p.m. — the Spanish tragedy written by Federico Garc?a Lorca promises to take drama to the next level. The gory title may insinuate an unwillingness to leave behind the spooky festivities of last month, yet the production is sure to be an artful display of romance, honor and betrayal pertinent to any season.
Kristin Hammargren, one of 10 Master of Fine Arts graduate students chosen to study with the UW acting faculty, was in another production of “Blood Wedding” as an undergrad and will be playing the part of the Bride in this production. This will be the first UT performance for the class of MFA students, who will stay on to lead the series of plays for the next three years. Hammargren said although the original play was written in 1930s Spain, the subject matter of the play will pull at the heartstrings of audiences today.
“It’s kind of daunting at first because it’s very intense. There’s a lot of tension and some angst,” she said. “It is a very recent translation, geared towards contemporary and American audiences. Ours is a fairly bare-bones setting. Our scene design and props are very minimal. It’s a lot about just the actors on stage, telling a story.”
The visual style may be minimalistic, but the performances will not be free from color, music and movement typical of Hispanic arts. The show will be choreographed by professor of dance Chris Walker, and actor/fight director David Daniels will choreograph the combat sequences. Guest artist, composer and sound designer Joe Cerqua composed all original music for the play’s score.
“It’s an ensemble-driven show — everybody has their part to do,” Hammargren said. “It moves very fast, and it’s up to us to keep it moving. Especially, we start with this dance. It’s not traditional Flamenco necessarily, but it has a lot of Flamenco elements in it. Flamenco has a definite attitude to it, a very intense passionate attitude that we’ve all had to get our heads around — get it into our bodies. You can’t be detached from Flamenco.”
Hammargren found the lack of similarities between her real-life identity and her character to be her one obstacle, which she overcame primarily by watching films of characters in similar situations.
“For me, this idea that [the Bride] is very confined by the society that she lives in is difficult. That’s sort of her main conflict: going against what her heart says and what she should do based on society and her family,” Hammargren said. “There’s this real emphasis on people needing to band together, and there’s also this great element of women coming together that you see, especially in the end.”
Director Norma Saldivar is also the acting and directing teacher for the MFA students. She chose this production based on its Spanish elements. The history of where “Blood Wedding” comes from is reminiscent of the blood that runs through her own veins, she said. This has no doubt allowed her to capture the haunting beauty in this story of Spanish tradition. One point particularly highlights how the play has been a fusion of Garc?a Lorca and Saldivar’s inspirations.
“The first part of it is poetry between the wife and mother-in-law characters, and they’re basically singing a lullaby to the baby. The script just has the poetry, so it is up to the director what they want to do with that,” Hammargren said. “So, Joe (Cerqua) composed this really beautiful lullaby. It’s sung by myself and the other three women characters. It’s actually kind of a scary lullaby. There’s a lot of poetic imagery that repeats itself in the show, a lot of stuff about rivers, reeds and, of course, a lot of stuff about blood.”
University Theatre’s production of “Blood Wedding” runs through Dec. 5. For tickets, call (608) 262-1500 or go online to www.utmadison.com.