Rather than try and create a taste of Spain, Hughes and Harris focus on the rural, evoking the timeless spirit of folkloric traditions that transcends nations. So the tale of two feuding families, locked in a death spiral of conflict even as they celebrate a marriage that should be uniting their houses, could be anywhere, not just the Almerian mountains where Lorca set it, and a multitude of British accents thus don’t sound out of place.
Hughes’ interpretation from David Johnstone’s translation is just beautiful. Pragmatic in its nature, it veers towards the densely poetic in its use of language, somehow heightening the intensity of what is already a ferocious story. Barbara Flynn burns self-righteousness as the Mother who trusts no-on e and nothing, Sarah Smart’s enigmatic Bride caught between love and duty, even the smaller contributions of Andrea Riseborough as Leonardo’s discarded wife.