Theatre Review
Fuente Ovejuna
Wrote By: Lope de Vega
Translated By: Laurence Boswell
Directed By:  Laurence Boswell
Where: Stratford Festival Of CanadaRun: June 19^th to October 4^th 2008
Theatre: Tom Patterson Theatre 

(My pick of the Stratford season!) 

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey (Ontario Correspondent - Canada)

Perhaps the greatest form of theatre is the one where you leave feeling you are recovering from a blow to the stomach, calming down a side-stitch and feeling the sensation of dried on tears down your cheeks. In what appeared to be a dissident season of up swings and pitfalls, Fuente Ovejuna (pronounced "fwentay ovah-huna") is the resilient perennial of this years' Stratford Shakespeare Festival Of Canada. An outrageous "googly" that seems it has been thrown out of nowhere, Fuente Ovejuna has the least appealing stage (Tom Patterson Theatre) to perform on, an awkward name to pronounce, and no famous "special guest" to lure audiences in. For what the seemingly obscure production brings to its audience is theatre at its finest; with a strength the magnitude of life's perils and communal adversity paired with an unparalleled resilience and undeniable greatness of humanity that we could be.

So what is this play about? Very good question. Lope de Vega was Spain's answer to Shakespeare. Vega was equally as thought provoking and compelling to the Spanish stage as his English counterpart during the Golden Age of theatre. Directed and translated by Laurence Boswell, a formidable advocate and aficionado of the Spanish Golden Age, he envelopes Lope de Vega's timeless story into easily relatable terms while maintaining the plays very essence.

The town of Fuente Ovejuna is part of a war between Spain and Portugal, as both countries lay claim to it borders. At present, Commander Fernan Gomez (Scott Wentworth) is a tyrannical overlord that has Fuente Ovejuna's peaceable community living in terror. Gomez is lecherous and sleeps with the towns women whether they are married or "pure," whether they want him or not. When Gomez sets his sights on the mayor's daughter, Laurencia (Sara Topham), her own fiery nature and a man truly inspired to love her named Frondoso (Jonathon Goad), protest the advances. What ensues is a story about dictatorship, commradery, ownership, community, and what becomes of a town under severe adversity by a tyrant. Vega is a perfect comparison to Shakespeare in authorship, and if you have not had the pleasure of reading one of the translations of Vegas' plays, I strongly urge you to do so; especially if you have exhausted the path to the British Bard.

Despite the plays infinitely darker tones, it is full of humour and delightful moments. The play is in equal measure comedy as it is drama. It has levity and is also weightless in appeal. Each scene from the onset is captivating; from the drums and trumpets that herald the onset of Fuente Ovejuna to the final words declared directly to the audience, the play poses great wisdom and moral ambiguities to be explored.  

To speak of the set decoration is to speak of the costumes at the same time for Fuente Ovejuna, as both appear so indicative of the play. A simple set with white awnings scalped towards the ceiling, and a dulled wood floor with boxed-in benches running the length of the stage (which is shaped similar to a runway). The costumes are the artful centerpiece of this production, the villagers are in rustic browns which look entirely feasible. But it is the hooded robes of grandness that bring a little excitement to the stage, especially when flanked with billowing colourful banners. The wedding scene sets alight where the majority are dressed in whites and a robust song and dance takes place.

However, with such a strong story to tell and a well-demeanoured fitting of staging and costume, what shines the brightest light of this production is the dynamite acting brought to the stage. Scott Wentworth as Gomez was lascivious and every bit a tyrant, only rarely do you stand back long enough to awe at how fabulous Wentworth truly is as an actor. He has been Macbeth, he has played the gammit at Stratford and yet he always delights the audience in all he does. When he took the stage for the final bow, we booed and cheered him, and he smiled gleefully at the job he had accomplished.  

The comedic timing in the production from the entire supporting cast was delicious and rambunctious. Every member of this cast was important, and they acted as such, because they were all villagers in a story about a village. Each one took the opportunity, in turn, to bring their presence to the stage.

With all this said, and I knowingly come in with a biased opinion at previously gushing over her performances, Sara Topham laid into the single greatest performance I have seen on stage. Immediately after the intermission, Topham has a scene as Laurencia that made grown men weep (I'm not kidding). The scene called for rage, and hurt and a punishing tongue in a speech to some of her community; it was harrowing, and unbelievably strong acting. She deserves as many awards as they handout for acting this year for this performance as it rendered the audience into utter silence. Now I'm convinced Topham was sadly misguided by her kin as she was adopted and no one bothered to tell her she is secretly a Barrymore, or Redgrave, or Fonda, or from the genetic pool of some other clandestine acting family.  

As if the acting wasn't enough, and the meticulous detailing of a director like Laurence Boswell didn't stand on its own merit, Fuente Ovejuna brings one more fantastic aspect to the production; a slow-motion fight scene. Seriously, this was so captivating and well choreographed, the fight became surreal and purpose driven. My hat goes off to Stratford Festival fight director John Stead, who understood intimately the tone of the fight in Fuente Ovejuna and therefore produced a fight scene that fit the story to perfection.

We are a community of individuals now, and Fuente Ovejuna will remind you of the purpose behind being actively community-minded. Fuente Ovejuna is this years' Pentecost for the Stratford Festival; that quiet little production, off to the side form the lavish productions, that will leave the audience members better off then when they first went in.