Blood

Synopsis

Rosa and Eric Sabato are exiles. They were imprisoned, tortured and finally expelled from Chile by the Pinochet regime in 1974. She's a war correspondent and he's an analyst. Twenty years later in Paris, Rosa's novel, Present Shadow, has just been published. It's the first time she's drawn from the experience of the coup, when their son was taken away from them. Twenty years later, they still can't find him.

Our Review:

26 September 2003

Blood is billed as a tale of two political exiles from Chile who, in the confusion of escape, lose their son and spend the ensuing years trying to find him. In fact, it's writer Lars Noren’s attempt at updating the Oedipus story, but he does so in such a literal and heavy-handed manner that it becomes extremely hard to take seriously.

The idea that the Royal Court limits itself to violent and gratuitous pieces of writing with the intention of shocking audiences is unfounded, but Blood conforms to that cliché. We watch journalist Rosa and psychiatrist Eric try to “pull themselves out of the grave” and continue with life. As the predictable Oedipal plot unfolds, it's punctuated with sexual and violent episodes.

It seems Rosa has a ‘fetish’ and begs her husband, not for sex as we first suspect, but ritual humiliation and beating akin to that she received at the hands of her captors in Chile. This opens up possibilities for an int...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (193.130.127.205) - 14 October 2003:

Rather peculiar, and not the best thing that I've seen at the Royal Court, but it wasn't as dire as some of the reviewers made out. 'Very Scandinavian' was how one friend described it, and I can see what they mean. Good performances from the cast... at least, they made the most of the material. It's a shame, though, that the highlight was seeing Tom Hardy with his kit off. My God, that lad is fit. ...

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