Blood Wedding 2012 Research
Blood Wedding
Social, cultural, historical context
Federico Garcia Lorca wrote “Blood Wedding” in 1933 during the social turmoil that was taking place in Spain. His plays were viewed as controversial and opposed to traditional Spanish values and traditions. As a result of this, he was executed by a firing squad on 16th August 1936, following the outbreak of Spanish civil war. At the time that Lorca was writing “Blood Wedding” Spain had a non-pluralist society. All aspects of political and domestic life were controlled by a single religion: the Catholic Church, which is a constant presence throughout the play in the form of religious ceremonies. Franco, the leader of the Nationalists, who established himself as a dictator following the revolution, wanted to increase the influence of the church and control social change. This tension is also apparent throughout the play. Organised religion no longer has such a hold on political and domestic life as it did in 1933, and its influence has diminished not only in Spain, but also in Europe and much of the rest of the world. However, many of the themes present in “Blood Wedding” are still relevant today. Themes such as love, death, crime and internal problems within families brought on by conflict between generations seem to remain important no matter how much the world changes. In order to enhance the understanding of the class, particularly in relation to the social and cultural context in which the play was set, we adjusted the thermostat in the room so that we had to perform in sweltering heat. As Stanislavski once wrote, “take nothing for granted. Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully.” We found that something as simple as adjusting the temperature allowed us to relate to a greater extent with the characters in question, as we began to feel that we were in the Spanish countryside. The resulting sensations of confusion and irritability that we were actually experiencing allowed us to employ a form of
Social, cultural, historical context
Federico Garcia Lorca wrote “Blood Wedding” in 1933 during the social turmoil that was taking place in Spain. His plays were viewed as controversial and opposed to traditional Spanish values and traditions. As a result of this, he was executed by a firing squad on 16th August 1936, following the outbreak of Spanish civil war. At the time that Lorca was writing “Blood Wedding” Spain had a non-pluralist society. All aspects of political and domestic life were controlled by a single religion: the Catholic Church, which is a constant presence throughout the play in the form of religious ceremonies. Franco, the leader of the Nationalists, who established himself as a dictator following the revolution, wanted to increase the influence of the church and control social change. This tension is also apparent throughout the play. Organised religion no longer has such a hold on political and domestic life as it did in 1933, and its influence has diminished not only in Spain, but also in Europe and much of the rest of the world. However, many of the themes present in “Blood Wedding” are still relevant today. Themes such as love, death, crime and internal problems within families brought on by conflict between generations seem to remain important no matter how much the world changes. In order to enhance the understanding of the class, particularly in relation to the social and cultural context in which the play was set, we adjusted the thermostat in the room so that we had to perform in sweltering heat. As Stanislavski once wrote, “take nothing for granted. Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully.” We found that something as simple as adjusting the temperature allowed us to relate to a greater extent with the characters in question, as we began to feel that we were in the Spanish countryside. The resulting sensations of confusion and irritability that we were actually experiencing allowed us to employ a form of