18 Marzo, 2018 | ISSN: 2281-3624/3 Creative Commons Attribuzione 3.0 Italy

The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in theGarden – Περλιμπλιν & Μπελισα

1/2 Francesco Chiaro

Thessaloniki-based Oberon Art Group brings to the always-atypical T Theatre its personal take onLorca’s The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden, adding to the age-old question ofhow to deal with a classic in our contemporary days, without bringing anything new to the table.

Spoiler

La compagnia teatrale Oberon Art Group, nata a Salonicco nel 2009, porta sulla scena del sempresui generis Teatro T la propria visione personale de L’amore di Don Perlimplín con Belisa nelsuo giardin, andando ad aggiungere carne al fuoco dell’annosa questione di come gestire i classicinella contemporaneità, senza però aggiungere niente di nuovo alla discussione.

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Spoiler

Η Oμάδα Τέχνης Oberon, με έδρα τη Θεσσαλονίκη, φέρνει στο πάντοτε ιδιότυπο Θέατρο Τ τηνπροσωπική του εκδοχή του έργου Ο έρωτας του Δον Περλιμπλίν και της Μπελίσα στον κήποτου Lorca, προσθέτοντας ερωτηματικά στο παλιό ζήτημα «πώς να ασχοληθεί κανείς με ένα κλασικόστις σύγχρονες μέρες μας;», χωρίς όμως να προσφέρει κάτι καινούργιο στη κουβέντα.

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Craved as long as absent, unobtainable in this life, harbinger of prosperous sufferings. Loveaccording to Federico García Lorca could only be found on a road made of cypresses and orangetrees; an impossible consensual indecency that could only exist in that non-Euclidean space wherelove unavoidably meets death. Albeit “minor”, The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in theGarden is a clear example of Lorca’s poetics. Indeed, as the man himself said, theatre is but poetry«standing up from the book and becoming human», a heartfelt involvement with the distressedhuman condition. And what better way to share this view than by portraying the story of an old, uglyman who marries a young, beautiful girl and ends up dying to fulfill his love?

The peculiarity of this play written in 1928 and first performed in 1933 due to the increasingpolitical controversies that shrouded the author and would eventually lead to his death three yearslater – other than the musical operatic interludes – lies in the trailblazing and definitely non-conventional role of Don Perlimplín, a man who did not know love and yet became devoted to it,neglecting any possession just to hold onto an ideal till death. A man who wears the clothes of thevery common machismo only to inflict his own fatal wound, leaving us bewildered among lyricismand grotesqueness.

Indeed, Lorca’s theatrical production boasts a plethora of independent, reactionary and idealisticwomen (Yerma and The House of Bernarda Alba, to quote a few) who go beyond tradition not simplyto quench a sexual thirst or to give in to a whim, but to express their true feelings regardless of thedictatorial and patriarchal power. Women who play the role of the sacrificial lamb on the altar ofmale honour, tormented by loneliness in a context controlled by prejudicial behaviours, suffocatingtaboos, scuttlebutts and rumours. Women who have nothing to share with Belisa, thus paradoxically

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18 Marzo, 2018 | ISSN: 2281-3624/3 Creative Commons Attribuzione 3.0 Italy

The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in theGarden – Περλιμπλιν & Μπελισα

2/2 Francesco Chiaro

turning Don Perlimplín into the most interesting female character in the play.

Oberon Art Group’s take on Lorca’s tragicomedy, entitled Perlimplín & Belisa, works on thisparadox with a very light touch, using an ethereal stage direction and a cloudy interpretation onbehalf of both main actors, delivering scant laughs and less tears for the truly tragic ending. Indeed,once Belisa hugs for the first and last time her husband, entering those territories of pain inhabiteduntil then only by Perlimplín, and murmurs «Yes, yes, I love him, I love him with all the strength ofmy body and mi soul. But where is the young man with the red cape? Dear Lord, where is he?», weshould be taken back to the point of non-departure. We should understand that there are no moreinterlocutors in the world. But I am not sure we do.

Reading, especially a classic, is never a way to pass the time, but to fill it with new meaning andquestions, to turn our entrails inside out and see how immortals our crookedness and monstrosityreally are. Representing on a stage a classic, therefore, should never be a mere proof of concept –i.e. a demonstration that some principles contained in a play are still valid – but should find a way tobreach the veil of contemporariness and talk with honesty to its modern audience. It should re-represent, make present again. And not simply present again.

The show is still playingTheatre TAlexander Fleming 16 – Thessalonikifrom 9 March to 1 April 2018,Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays21.30

Oberon Art Group presentsThe Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden – Περλιμπλίν & Μπελίσαby Federico García Lorca

translation Oberon Art Groupdirection Alekos Spyridakismusic Michalis Goutis (original music composition for the show)sets-costumes Dora Gouniroudis, Maria Stavrakilighting design Dionysis Karathanasismovements Mariantis Psomatakismake up Irene Siganouvideo editing Michalis Gigounidisphotography Tasos Thomogloudesign-production of printed materials: ΚΕΘΕΑ ΣΧΗΜΑ+ΧΡΩΜΑproduction organization-contact Apostolos Liapisproduction Oberon Art Groupcast Dionysis Karathanasis, Ioanna Lambni, Dimitra Pasiou and Sophia Sassili

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