Julie Van den Berghe (1981) made her TA-2 debut with Lorca’s Blood Wedding.

Van den Berghe: ‘For me, the play is a plea for love; especially forbidden love and surrendering to it. The most important thing for me is to show what it means to be human, to surrender to the most primal needs. Blood is thicker than water.’

A groom is preparing to be wed. His mother is having trouble coping with the idea of him leaving. She lives in the past, eaten away by her grief after the violent death of her husband and eldest son. She yearns for revenge on the family that ruined her life. While the bride-to be prepares for the big day, her former lover Leonardo gallops past her house every night. The passion between the two has far from cooled. Even before the wedding celebration warms up, the bride and the ex lover flee the scene. The shamed families open the hunt on the forbidden lovers and execute their cruel, bloody revenge.

Together with Yerma and Bernarda’s The House, Blood Wedding forms the trilogy of the Spanish countryside. In a world of scarcity where family ties and property are sacred, love and lost struggle to survive. Lorca’s tragedy is the portrait of a society weighed down by dark family feuds, moral masochism and sickly grief.

'Everything fits in this play: the unparalelled decor by André Joosten, the costumes, hair and make up. Every detail is in perfect harmony with the grand whole. ' - Theaterkrant ****

'Convincing debut Van den Berghe at TA.' - NRC ****

'Chris Nietvelt is a magnificent shrew.' - Parool ****

ta-2 / Frascati
Within Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s platform for the development of directing talents, TA-2 and Frascati first produced Rashomon-effect, directed by Joachim Robbrecht. Blood Wedding will be the second collaboration in the multiannual partnership aimed for a step-by-step development of the director’s trade. In this relationship both partners deploy their expertise, and works within larger organisations are the central aim.

with thanks to