BARBARISM AT THE ABBEY?

So will there be walk-outs on the opening night of the pivotal production in year s Eircom Dublin Theatre Festival? Perhaps. Because for once when the programme for the Festival contains the line this play contains scenes that some may find offensive , this is more than just hype. Some people did walk out when the play was recently presented at the Edinburgh Festival, though reports of such protests have been greatly exaggerated in the media.

So what is this potentially explosive production? Barbaric Comedies, at the Abbey, which actually opens this year s Festival on October 1st. In fact, it s three plays, Silver Face, Rampant Eagle, and Wolve s Romance, written by Ramon Maria del Valle-Inclan but presented here in a new adaptation by Frank McGuinness.
It s original author described Barbaric Comedies as a grotesque tragi-comedy and the Abbey claims it chronicles the ruthless reign of Don Juan Manuel Montenegro at the end of the 19th century, when Spain was struggling to rid itself of feudalism. Likewise, it is claimed that the story of Don Juan s descent into corruption and evil, and the greed of his savage sons makes for powerful, disturbing, compelling theatre.
Even so, one wonders is it really necessary, for example, to have one of the play s female characters nude and raped on stage a scene that one presumes led to at least some of those walk-outs in Edinburgh. Indeed, two Irish actresses did ask themselves this very question. Both then decided not to appear in the play. One is Charlotte Bradley, probably best known for her roles in Passion Machine plays such as Buddleia and one of the stars of Gerry Stembridge s movie About Adam, which opens this year s Cork Film Festival.
Firstly, I would have to say I believe theatre should be provocative and cause dissension and it s wonderful that the Abbey has the balls to put on a play that everyone is talking about even before it opens and I, for one, am dying to see it, all reservations aside, she says. But what, exactly, were Bradley s reservations in relation to Barbaric Comedies? Being nude and raped on the Abbey stage, specifically?
I don t have a problem with nudity or sex, but what I do have a problem with is this particular rape scene, she explains. My over-arching question was how did this scene fit into the entire structure of the play? And when I read the script I realised that this woman didn t reclaim any of the strength, or the power she had in the beginning of the play, before she was raped.
Naturally enough, as an actress, I had reservations about how the rape scene itself would be staged, a factor that effected my final decision not to do the play. But, let s face it, I ve been murdered in a movie! So I will accept even violence, if the context is right. But what I really found objectionable, morally, about Barbaric Comedies was the fact that there was no redemption for this woman. She becomes, basically, Don s Juan s prostitute and he even ends up kicking her, while she s pregnant. In fact, the depiction of sex in this play is relentlessly violent and the women are relatively one-dimensional. It s that same tendency you see in the work by too many Irish writers women as are either Madonnas or whores.
Even so, the main image being used to promote the play shows a woman s naked cleavage over which is placed the shadow of a crucifix. This would suggest that Barbaric Comedies focuses on the split between sex and the spirit.
The play does have all those religious connotations, but very warped, Catholic connotations Bradley argues. In fact, when the woman I was to play decides to sleep with Don Juan, she undresses and prays by the bed before doing so. And there is that dichotomy because she is praying as if trying to make the sex act sacred, but she s still prostituting herself. And there is, as I say, no redemption for her. She simply becomes his victim.
Calixto Bieito, the director of Barbaric Comedies, was contacted for a response to Charlotte s Bradley s comments on the play. A spokesperson for the Abbey said he had a little trouble with his English and would probably prefer not to be drawn into a discussion on the more controversial aspects of the play.