about the production
(...) By its baladic story, oppressive, dramatic atmosphere, the possi- bility of employing the elements of folklore, Blood Wedding by García Lorca is a rewarding play even for more demanding theatres which wish to offer not only cheap comedies but also dramas of merit to their audiences. Director Jozef Gombár and dramaturge Monika Michnová sought to make the story closer to our audience, therefore they substituted present-day song lyrics by Filip Topol for Lorca’s lyric passages.
(…) The permanent presence of all characters on the stage and their function of a chorus has a meaning-generating effect (a closed society like a single "organism" responds to all actions and does not make possible "escape", the violation of rules); it helps to create powerful, oppressive atmosphere and extends dimensions towards ancient drama.
Géza Hizsnyan, internal critic
(...) I understood the staging of Blood Wedding, a challenging play of undoubtedly great artistic merit as attempts to offer a quality play to the audience, to enrich it by own view and to tackle its elementary dramatic quality and a powerful tragic climax by employing the means of expression of modern theatre. (...) In Blood Wedding the scene designer exposed his almost poetical sense of materialization of the play’s symbolism, where tree branches over the play space is a dominant sign. (...) The director staged Blood Wedding as a public affair, an open theatre, s a matter of the whole community, while the actors are also part of the chorus.
Milan Polák, theatre theorist
creators
directed by Jozef Gombár
translation: Jarmila Hanzlíčková
arrangment: Jozef Gombár, Monika Michnová
dramaturgy: Monika Michnová
set: Jozef Ciller
costumes: Erika Gadušová
hudba / music: Róbert Mankovecký
choreography: Ján Hromada
assistant director: František Výrostko
poetry by Filip Topol
characters and cast:
Mother: Jana Oľhová, Bride: Lucia Jašková, Mother- in-law: Petronela Valentová, Leonardo’s wife: Renáta Rundová, Maid: Linda Zemánková / Eva Gašparová, Neighbour: Emília Čížová / Eva Gašparová, Leonardo: Miloslav Kráľ, Groom: Martin Hronský, Father: Ján Kožuch, The Moon: Andrej Štermenský, The Life: Margita Mazalová, The Death: Zuzana Belková, 1st male: Michal Gazdík, 2nd male: Andrej Hrnčiar, 3rd male: František Výrostko, Priest: Jozef Kramár, Wedding guests: Marica Bálintová, Štefan Mišovic
director
Jozef Gombár (1973)belongs to the youngest generation of Slovak stage directors. His works, from early to the most recent ones, encompass a extremely wide range of themes and genres. He has directed plays of grand themes, such as Lorca’s Blood Wedding or Oleana by David Mamet as well as light comedies (such as Dandy by Ferenc Molnár, or 1 + 1 = 3 by Ray Cooney). Besides classical drama he showed his aptitude for directing musicals (King David, Ratcatcher), or dance theatre (Faust in the Bratislava Dance Theatre). In addition, he writes fairy tales for the theatre, librettos for musicals, etc. in an interesting style. It is the eighth time that the story of passionate love defying all limits returns to the Slovak stage in his unique staging.