Calixto Bieito's production of Celestina for the Edinburgh Festival in
August 2004 was predictable but exciting. Predictable for those who had seen
his Don Giovanni at English National Opera and would be unfazed by a
modernized cross-dressing production which takes place in a Spanish bar;
exciting for Celestina specialists who would appreciate Bieito's deep
knowledge of the text and his teasing out of barely submerged themes like
Celestina's latent lesbianism. Kathryn Hunter negotiates the role of a
male-suited and shaven-head bawd with her customary aplomb, and adds the
correct quantity of wisecracking humour and scatological reference to the
role, with the odd touch of Theâtre de Complicité training in Brechtian
alienation (as in: if you think that this farrago of old saws is boring,
there are hundreds of pages of this stuff in the uncut version). In fact,
John Clifford's translation of the Comedia has been cut again by nearly half
in order to make way for onstage music by the Sinfónica de Gavá (guitar,
vocals, keyboard, bass, drums), and most of the love affair between Melibea
and Calisto goes for a Burton. The production fuses on the picaresque part
of the narrative. Calisto is a wealthy ne'er-do-well; his servants become
his low-life pals at the bar-cum-brothel, and the rest of the entourage are
prostitutes in Celestina's employ. Celestina's magic spell is transformed
into a Black Mass, and Melibea is enchanted by a combination of magic and
the drugs which Celestina procures for her.
The most effective moment of the production is the sudden switch from comedy
to tragedy. Celestina auctions a virgin and intellectually-challenged
Lucrecia (Sarah Paul) to the highest bidder, to laughter from the audience;
when the distressed and injured girl returns to the stage the laughter of
the audience freezes in their throats. The demise of Celestina, Sempronio
(Neil McKinven) and Pármeno (Daniel Cerqueira) follows shortly afterwards.
Our attention then shifts to the story of the lovers, but we see only one
assignation. Calisto (Christopher Fox) takes Melibea as the girl lies in an
opium dream; after their coupling she has to ask him who he is, despite the
passion she has declared for him before his appearance. Calisto wanders off,
but, as far as we can see, departs unscathed. Laura Rogers then does an
outstanding job on Melibea's farewell to her father, as does David Acton on
Pleberio's lament. The most important parts of these two speeches have been
retained by Bieito. But the audience is left with the awful realization that
Calisto's death is a delusion imagined by Melibea in a state of
consciousness affected by witchcraft and drugs.
Collectors of Celestina memorabilia may be amused by the additional note
that I was the featured 'talking head' on the topic of Celestina at the
Edinburgh Festival, a lecture that was attended by a couple hundred tourists
who had been booked to see the production. Their comments and questions
afterwards were extremely interesting.
Dorothy Sherman Severin, University of Liverpool.
dobby.severin(a)virgin.net
