A CLOWN VERSION of Lorca's last play? Why, you might well ask. The Swedish, all female company, Theater Manjana, directed by the English mime artist, Nola Rae, have used this intense drama about five unmarried daughters crushed by their mother's destructive power as a basis for an energetically burlesque treatment, which swings from broad to black humour, underscored by pathos.
Sexual repression is the dominant theme, with five sisters yearning for one man, here represented as a dress suit on a coat hanger. While the eldest sister has the dowry, it is the youngest who is favoured by the suitor, leading to visceral jealousy and desperation. Through mime puppetry and flamenco - and even the occasional burst of speech - the players throw all the passion into high relief, so that it is like watching a cartoon version of Lorca.
Despite the enormous talent and inventiveness of these performers, it was less than convincing as a treatment of Bernarda Alba. The unrelenting, tragic mood of the play has been jettisoned along with the richness of its language, and that is a significant loss. Like it or not, Lorca's vision has a particular context, which takes form through his text, with its constantly shifting linguistic registers.
For all its emblematic potency, the clowning tradition does not convey the essence of this stark threnody. It is a variation on a theme, certainly, and one which was warmly received at the Town Hall Theatre last night, but somehow one awaits the clown version of Oedipus Rex with some trepidation.