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Interaction of Style and Meaning in Drama and Performance: The Case of Blood Wedding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Extract

In his essay entitled ‘Poetry and Drama’, T. S. Eliot states that ‘a mixture of prose and verse in the same play is generally to be avoided’. The reason, says Eliot, lies in the fact that ‘each transition makes the auditor aware, with a jolt, of the medium’ (p. 13). Alternating use of prose and verse within the same work of art is justified, he adds, only when the author's specific purpose is to produce just such ‘a jolt’ in his audience. The case of Lorca's Blood Wedding and its recent 1990 Israeli production calls for a reassessment of Eliot's analytical approach.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1997

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References

Notes

1. All quotations from Eliot, T. S., Poetry and Diama (London: Faber and Faber, 1950).Google Scholar

2. This concept is based on Jung's theory of human understanding of symbols. See: Jung, C., ‘Approaching the Unconscious’, in Jung, C., ed., Man and his Symbols (London: Picador, 1978), pp. 195.Google Scholar

3. All Spanish quotations from the play are taken from Lorca, F. G., Bodas de Sangre, in Obras Completas (Madrid: Aguilar, 1986, Tomo II; pp. 701803)Google Scholar. The English quotations are taken from Lorca, F. G., Blood Wedding, in Three Tragedies, trans. Graham-Lujan, J. and O'Connell, R. L. (London: Penguin Books, 1947; pp. 3195).Google Scholar

4. This idea is based on Kowzan's theory which states that in addition to the primary function of stage scenery to describe location, it also transmits second degree messages. See: Kowzan, T., ‘The Sign in the Theatre’, in Diogenes (61, 1968), pp. 5280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Ilumina el chaleco y aparta los botones / que después las navajas ya saben el camino. (Obras Completas, p. 778)