Lorca in a Green Dress and A Shroud for Lazarus Halcyon Theatre
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One of the 20th century’s preeminent poets, Federico García Lorca also became one of its many martyrs when, in 1936, the 38-year-old Spaniard was executed by the Franco regime. Cruz sends him to a kind of nonreligious purgatory, which in Juan Castañeda’s production consists of an unadorned stage flanked by benches. Shades are tasked with enacting scenes from Lorca’s life and embodying bits of his psyche. Lorca in a Green Dress, for example, is in charge of the poet’s dark desires. Lorca in Bicycle Pants represents childhood and dreams. A flamenco dancer stands for the traditions of his beloved Andalusia, and so on.
That leaves us with some pretty lines taken from Lorca’s work, a little self-mourning from Lorca himself, evocations of a few of his favorite motifs (the moon, Gypsies, water), and a lot of people telling him how great he is. What’s missing, despite Castañeda’s well-orchestrated and empathetic production, is the mix of the elemental, the elegiac, and the ineffable in Lorca’s poetry—verse full of desire and always grounded in the senses. Where is the writer whose Blood Wedding describes a jealousy like “silver pins . . . making my blood turn black” and “filling my flesh with bitter, choking weeds”?
A Shroud for Lazarus runs through 10/2: Fri 8 PM, Sun 6 PM, plus Sat 9/19 8 PM and Sat 9/26 3 PM, no show Sun 9/13.
Halcyon Theatre, Lincoln Square Theatre, Berry Memorial United Methodist Church, 4754 N. Leavitt, 773-413-0453, halcyontheatre.org, $10-$20 (each show).
