Actor Sebastián Gálvez

THEATER REVIEW | 'WEARING LORCA’S BOWTIE'

A Poet Lonely and Adrift in New York

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

“Wearing Lorca’s Bowtie,” presented by theAENY-El Puente company at the Duke on 42nd Street.

By JASON ZINOMAN.

Published: December 11, 2011

“Wearing Lorca’s Bowtie,” a mood piece inspired by the writings of Federico García Lorca, features scenes in Spanish and English, but nothing said in either language makes as much of an impact as the quiet images in this impressionistic show.

New York Times Review

Readers' Reviews

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

One scene portrays a bizarre, ominous party out of “Eyes Wide Shut,” from the perspective of a solitary blindfolded figure pushed around a room. In another theatrical flourish, a performer (Carlos Renedo) hanging on to a wide ribbon does a daredevil drop from the ceiling, his support stopping him just about a foot before he would hit the floor. These wordless scenes, mounted by the AENY-El Puente company, at the Duke on 42nd Street, evoke the peculiar disorientation and loneliness of navigating a new city.

Along with these striking, loosely connected scenes — staged on a large set filled with rolling scaffolding — are snatches of dialogue by García Lorca about coming to America in 1929. Scenes from the Depression are linked with today’s Occupy Wall Street protests, and this attempt at topicality comes off as abrupt and hollow. There’s an awful lot going on in the show, which is directed by Josh Hecht and Ignacio García-Bustelo. The text is by Mar Gómez Glez and Judith Goudsmit, who use snippets of poetry from García Lorca. And while the goal is not to produce a traditional well-made play, some focus would help.

Even before the production begins, the spare set is crowded with actors milling about. While this may bring to mind Zuccotti Park, the staging also looks sloppy and without purpose. The transitions lack imagination, and some of the ideas in the text, like the challenges of communication across cultures, seem tossed in and unarticulated. There are enough lovely moments to capture your attention, but once that is accomplished, one wishes the show could make more of them.

“Wearing Lorca’s Bowtie” runs through Saturday at the Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, Manhattan; (646) 223-3010, new42.org.

A version of this review appeared in print on December 12, 2011, on page C3 of the New York edition with the headline: A Poet Lonely And Adrift In New York.