The House of the Bride

Seeing Constellation Theater's innovative production of Lorca's Blood Wedding reminded me of the script's explicit references to the barren landscape of Almeria. The set is minimal, as it should be, to highlight the isolation of the characters and the unforgiving environment they inhabit.

In an exchange in the first act, the groom's mother complains of the distance they had to travel to reach the bride's remote house, "a four hour journey and not a house or a tree." The bride's father laments the dry earth and how he "had to labor over it and shed tears to get anything from it."

Lorca based the play on actual events that occurred in 1928. The dramatic story was widely reported in the national press and journalists described the empty, ochre-colored earth for their readers. In his stage directions, Lorca suggests the the bride's home appears in a "panorama of brownish plains, everything hardened like a landscape of ceramic."     

Lorca did make some changes to the location, however. The bride's home is a cave, rather than the expansive Cortijo del Fraile she actually lived in. And the final chase scene and confrontation takes place in a dense forest. These alterations enhance the symbolic impact of the settings. However, at the time the play was premiered, some critics found the overt symbolism to be a weakness.

Constellation Theater's production ends March 4, so go see for yourself! My photographs of the Cortijo Del Fraile are up in the entryway and hopefully help viewers to imagine the setting of the action.

Constellation Theater's Blood Wedding

Constellation Theater's Blood Wedding opens this weekend at Source theater on 14th Street!

The lobby will include a few of my photographs of the Cortijo del Fraile, the site of the real-life tragedy that inspired Lorca's play. The image above was taken last November, showing the current state of the old cortijo.

Lovers are torn apart as two families in rural Spain are intricately bound in an unbreakable cycle of murder and revenge. Experience passion and violence mixed with song and ceremony. Federico García Lorca illuminates our deepest desires with gorgeous poetic imagery and the haunting appearance of a human Moon.

Directed by Shirley Serotsky. English Translation by Tanya Ronder. 90 minutes, with live music.

Visit constellationtheatre.org and use the code SPAIN for $20 General Admission Tickets!

Also this Thursday and Friday 2/2/ and 2/3 are Pay What You Can!

Preserving the Cortijo del Fraile

Federico Garcia Lorca's drama Blood Wedding was inpsired by a true story that appeared in a Spanish newspaper in 1928. A bride-to-be ran off with another man (her cousin) the night before the wedding, but the groom's brother discovered the couple and shot and killed the lover. The bride-to-be lived on a farm known as El Fraile. Over 75 years later, the ruins of the farm remain in the remote countryside of Nijar in Almeria, accessible only by a poorly marked, unpaved road. The site also appeared in Sergio Leone's 1966 film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood.

However, the site has been rapidly deteriorating following years of neglect and increasing vandalism. The bildings lie on private property and the government has had limited authority, or interest, to act to protect the site. In recent months, demonstrators have gathered at the Cortijo to call for action. Finally, last week the regional government, the Junta de Andalucia, published an order classifying the site as Bien de Interes Cultural (BIC), a protected site of cultural importance. Now plans are in the works to resore the buildings and turn the cortijo into a cultural and historial center.

Save the Cortijo del Fraile

Federico Garcia Lorca's Bodas de Sangre was inspired by a true story that appeared in a Spanish newspaper in 1928. A bride-to-be ran off with another man (her cousin) the night before the wedding, but the groom's brother discovered the couple and shot and killed the lover. The bride-to-be lived on a farm called El Fraile. Over 75 years later, the ruins of the farm remain in the remote countryside of Nijar in Almeria, accessible only by a poorly marked, unpaved road.

Unfortunately, after years of neglect, the site is now rapidly deteriorating. This state of decay makes for compelling images, but the extent of damage now threatens the future of the buildings on the site. While the structures are recognized as a historic landmark, they reside on private property and so far no action has been taken to preserve or restore them. However, there have been renewed calls for action.

Some fellow photographers have taken up the cause. While I'm not a big fan of HDR images, two images here and here are effective at supporting the case for urgent intervention. Another Flickr account devoted to shaming those who trash the Cabo de Gata natural park has another striking image. And, of course, there is now a Facebook group devoted to saving the Cortijo del Fraile.

Spanish Ghosts: Notes on the Locations

I provided some information at the Spanish Ghosts exhibition about the locations where the photographs were taken. These buildings and spaces have many intriguing stories behind them that add to their significance. Here are the descriptions:

Cortijo del Fraile: Federico Garcia Lorca's Bodas de Sangre was inspired by a true story that appeared in a Spanish newspaper in 1928. A bride-to-be ran off with another man (her cousin) the night before the wedding, but the groom's brother discovered the couple and shot and killed the lover. The bride-to-be lived on a farm called El Fraile. Over 75 years later, the ruins of the farm remain in the remote countryside of Nijar in Almeria, accessible only by a poorly marked, unpaved road. These images show part of the chapel building on the property.

Carabanchel: In October 2008, I spent two days photographing the interior of the former Carabanchel prison in Madrid, one of the most infamous architectural landmarks from Spain’s decades of dictatorship. General Francisco Franco ordered construction of the complex in the 1940s to house the regime’s many political prisoners. After the prison was finally closed in 1998, the building was heavily looted—all the metal gates and fixtures were removed—and it became a haven for graffiti artists, drug addicts, homeless immigrants and curious observers. The month after my visit the entire structure was demolished to make way for new development of condominiums and a hospital.

Santa Isabel: In 1966 the Beatles renounced performing live after more than four years of relentless touring around the world. As a change of pace, John Lennon took on the role of Private Gripweed in Richard Lester's black comedy How I Won the War, which spent three months filming in the desert of Almeria, on the southern coast of Spain. John and his then-wife Cynthia rented a villa, known as Santa Isabel, from a wealthy local family. It was here that Lennon began writing the verses to Strawberry Fields Forever, immortalized on a series of low-fi recordings in which Lennon's voice and acoustic guitar reverberate through the villa's grand rooms. The grand house later fell into disrepair, but is now being renovated into a museum of cinema. These photographs were taken just before the renovations started.

Tabernas: During the 1960s and 1970s, the desert around Tabernas was used as a backdrop for numerous films, including Sergio Leone’s early Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood. Film sets that Leone built to look like towns in the American West have been preserved in the dry climate and have now become a tourist destination for curious visitors and film fans. The remains of Leone’s Flagstone set from Once Upon a Time in the West are more remote, but the Phoenix Bank is still partially standing.

Cabo de Gata: The landscape of Cabo de Gata, along the coast of Almeria, is dotted with architectural remains. The photographs here show the interiors of an abandoned house marked with graffiti, a 19^th century church adjacent to a salt-processing plant, and an 18^th century fortification.

Ghost Houses of Cabo de Gata

 

The landscape of Cabo de Gata, along the coast of Almeria, is dotted with architectural remains -- eighteenth century fortifications, abandoned mining operations, and empty cortijos. These vacant structures, fixed in the arid desert landscape for decades or centuries, seem timeless. They could have been abandoned fifteen years ago, or 150 years ago. It's often hard to tell, as the stillness of the desert masks any signs of life. However, these architectural relics are, in fact, products of human history and have some intriguing stories to tell. The Cortijo del Fraile (which I blogged about previously) was the site of a deadly love triangle that became the inspiration for Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding. Not far away along the coast, I encountered an abandoned house at the edge of an enormous cliff that dropped the ocean below. I've been unable to find any information about it, though a detailed topographical map of Cabo de Gata identifies the spot as "Casa del Tomate". Inside, there is also evidence -- graffiti, a few empty bottles, a pair of discarded boots -- of more recent visitors.

Inside the Cortijo del Fraile | Google Maps

Inside the Casa del Tomate | Google Maps
 

Cortijo Del Fraile

Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding was inspired by a true story that appeared in a Spanish newspaper in 1928. A bride-to-be ran off with another man (her cousin) the night before the wedding, but the groom's brother discovered the couple and shot and killed the lover. The bride-to-be lived on a farm called El Fraile. Over 75 years later, the ruins of the farm remain in the remote countryside of Nijar in Almeria, accessible only by a poorly marked, unpaved road. These images show part of the chapel building on the property.