Lorca In A Green Dress, a co-production of Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theater, performing at the Ritz

Matt Rein, Ricardo Vázquez and Virginia Robinson in Lorca In A Green Dress. Photo by Linda Wong.

The great Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca died a nasty and sordid death: murdered by homophobic fascists, alongside a road, at night, his bullet-riddled body flung into an anonymous mass grave.  It is the achievement – and it is a major one – of Nilo Cruz‘s Lorca In A Green Dress to give García Lorca’s death a size and power commensurate with his 21st century prominence.  Lorca In A Green Dress (presented in a co-production by Pangea World Theater and Teatro del Pueblo, at the terrific Ritz Theater) offers homage to the man’s enormous world-wide presence.

Lorca is dense, imagistic, fraught yet powerful: García Lorca has died, been shot, and has been sent to the “Lorca Room” (analogous, the play tells us, to the Goya Room at the Prado), a dream-filled netherworld.  Here García Lorca encounters versions of himself: “Will the real Federico García Lorca step forward!” and 5 actors heed the call.  They play out scenes from García Lorca’s life, dramatizing his childhood, his relationship with his lover Rafael, with the painter Dalí.  García Lorca keeps trying to decide whether he will “break quarantine” and return to the living.  He tries, but finds himself frustrated by his disembodied ghostly presence.  He returns to the dreamland, content now, accepting his presence as a Great Poet.  “For España.”

Actor Ricardo Vázquez plays the difficult role of García Lorca (the program calls him “Lorca with Blood”) with power and charisma.  Cruz provides Vázquez with precious little realistic detail.  Rather, Vázquez is asked to speak a highly lyrical, charged theatrical language; indeed, the play depends on this.  Happily the actor handles this with aplomb.  He watches – and grows – as the other actors enact scenes from García Lorca’s (tragically short) life.  Vázquez makes us feel García Lorca’s death-terror as well as his resigned acceptance.

Vázquez receives good guidance from director Alberto Justiniano, who adamantly refuses to “fancy up” the play, understanding that poetic language is best presented simply; to do otherwise is to do a disservice both to the play and to the acting.  He uses music and dance when it’s appropriate, but he always stays focused on García Lorca’s exploration.

Justiniano elicits excellent performances from Matt Rein (has anyone else noticed how good this man is?), from the contained yet powerful Andrea San Miguel, from the goofily frightening Rolando Martinez, from David Schlosser as the artful and forceful wearer of the green dress.  Kudos also to guitarist Scott Mateo Davies and Flamenco dancer Virginia Robinson (every time they came onstage I was in heaven).  Excellent work all around.

It is my duty as theater reviewer to report that Lorca In A Green Dress, while beautifully done, is dense, lyrical, filled with heightened poetry, with jagged scenes which defy easy summary.  Like Frank’s current Misterman, Lorca doesn’t have a definable plot, even a consistent theme.  Opening night audience was quiet, attentive, appreciative, but also a touch bewildered.  So: if clarity is something you must have in a play, well, Lorca In A Green Dress may not be for you.

But if you miss this one, you’ll miss some outstanding acting and powerful playwriting.  Don’t.

For more info about John Olive, visit his (recently updated) website.