Tag: Richard H Smith

Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca, Cottesloe Theatre, 14 December 1991

Gosh I thought this was very good.

I think it might have been my first experience of a Lorca play and by gosh this production of Blood Wedding was powerful.

I saw this with Bobbie.

Subsequently Janie and I both became very keen on Lorca and saw a good production of Blood Wedding at the Almeida in 2005.

But returning to this production, the Theatricalia entry for it is here. A very young Helen McCrory starred as the bride and Cyril Nri was the groom.

It seems that we saw a preview, as press night was three days after our sight of it.

Below is Michael Coveney’s review from The Observer:

Coveney On Blood WeddingCoveney On Blood Wedding Sun, Jan 5, 1992 – 41 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I think they got their timing wrong having press night on 17 December… a rare Cottesloe opening that missed out on Michael Billington or indeed anyone from the Guardian. But in my view it was the critics who missed out on a very good production.

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist by Dario Fo, Cottesloe Theatre, 26 January 1991

Very good.

That was my verdict in my log and that is my recollection of this production, which I saw with Bobbie.

I also saw the Donmar production in 2003 with Janie. I preferred the 1991 version. Perhaps it was the version or perhaps I had outgrown the play a bit by 2003. Both were excellent productions. I shall write up the Donmar production in the fullness of time.

Meanwhile, in 1991, Alan Cumming played the lead and won the Best Comedy performance Olivier award that year for his trouble. Cumming was involved in the adaptation for the version performed, along with Tim Supple who directed it..

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Below is Michael Billington’s up beat review:

Billington on AnarchistBillington on Anarchist Wed, Jan 9, 1991 – 38 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

That visit to the theatre was part of a highly active weekend, by the looks of it.

I test drove a Honda in the morning before the play – this was presumably to ascertain whether it would make sense for me to take the souped-up automatic Honda Civic (which subsequently became known as “Red Noddy”) from the Binder Hamlyn car pool, in exchange for my less impressive Renault stick-shift. The answer was yes.

On the Sunday I had lunch with Jilly Black (location lost in the mists of time) and went to Pam & Michael’s place in the evening – possibly for bridge or possibly just supper.