Theatre
Love, Lust and Lynching in Fuente Ovejuna
MITP
Bringing a 17th century play to life and keeping it fresh and entertaining, especially if the original is rather heavy in diction and content, is a feat of theatrical mastery.
...a wonderful hybrid of drama, comedy, improvisational theatre and audience involvement- André Delicata
Granted, Daniel Goldman’s adaptation of Lope De Vega’s 1619 play based upon a real event in 1476 – Fuenteovejuna, re-styled into Love, Lust and Lynching in Fuente Ovejuna – a terrific West End fringe theatre hit, gains major points for the comedy treatment it was given.
But it also portrays the essential plotline and emotional journeys of De Vega’s original very well.
Mellow Drama’s current production of Love, Lust and Lynching came as a very welcome break from the rather heavy theatrical fare we’ve been having over the past few weeks.
It manages to come across as a wonderful hybrid of drama, comedy, improvisational theatre and audience involvement without falling back on the crutch of farcical silliness and is to be commended from the onset even for this.
Director Wesley Ellul stated in his note that the aim was to strip theatre down to “its barest essentials” and expose “the true soul of theatre which lies in the players themselves”.
His direction and enthusiasm clearly rubbed off on the fantastic cast of likable characters he put together.
Stefan Cachia Zammit gave an excellent performance as the villain of the piece, Fernan Gomez De Guzman.
He is a lustful, plutocratic Commander of the Order of Calatrava who lords it over the villagers of Fuente Ovejuna (The Sheep’s Well) and attempts and often manages to have his way with the pretty village girls.
All that is except Jo Caruana’s feisty Laurencia, who doesn’t even give him the time of day and has such emancipatory ideas that her way of thinking is rather too progressive for her fellow villagers.
David Chircop’s Frondoso is in love with her and despite her initial rejections, he still saves her from the commander’s clutches, comically taking Guzman’s crossbow and first threatening him and then stealing it and running off, leaving him unarmed and alone in a forest glade.
Mr Chircop gave a great performance as the love-struck Frondoso whose guitar-strumming love scene with Laurencia was really quite clever.
It weaved in lines from popular songs into his reasons for loving her while she responded trying to brush him off, but as he saved her, she relents and realises that she does love him. Their on-stage chemistry and energy was matched by that of Alexandra Camilleri Warne’s Pascuala, their friend the milkmaid and Luke Farrugia’s Mengo the shepherd.
These two characters had terrific supporting roles and made the very best of them – coming across as dynamic and strong.
Indeed these two gave outstanding performances and bagged several laughs, while still involving the audience in some of their more poignant moments in the play.
The two most comical characters – no doubt, cynically intended to be so by Goldman, were Jean-Pierre Busuttil’s King Ferdinand and Julia Calvert’s Queen Isabella.
They played their roles with the perfect send-up of upper-crust snobbery, acting rather like talk-show hosts and providing the political satire of rulers who are too detached from their people to know what is going on in their country.
Tyrone Grima’s Esteban, Fuente Ovejuna’s mayor and Laurencia’s father and Justin Camilleri’s Barrilldo as deputy mayor also gave effective performances.
They helped convey the play’s original plot.
Meanwhile, relatively new to the theatre, Alessandra Camilleri’s Rodrigo Tellez Giron, Justin Mamo’s Flores and Alessandro Grech La Rosa’s Ortuno completed a cast whose individual performances were solid and helped the fluid progression of the piece thanks to the great sense of timing which everybody had.
This was essential in the parts involving the audience because of the fact that coupled with presence of mind, the flow was uninterrupted as unwitting members were roped in to actively participate in the development of the play.
From the reading of royal decrees, the eventual chase and mass “lynching” of Commander Guzman and the eventual torture of the villagers at the hands of the Inquisitor (also played by the multi-talented Mr Cachia Zammit) to find out who killed the commander, the concept of turning the viewers into extras and participants grew into a strength in itself.
The audience is in for a few surprises when it comes to this self-reflexive play which comments on its own theatrical devices and makes fun of others, while never losing sight of the play’s original intentions.
• The play is also being staged on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.