Finished just two months before the author's murder on 18 August 1936 by a gang of Franco's supporters, The House of Bernarda Alba is now accepted as Lorca's great masterpiece of love and loathing.
Five daughters live together in a single household with a tyrannical mother. When the father of all but the eldest girl dies, a cynical marriage is advanced which will have tragic consequences for the whole family. Lorca's fascinatingly modern play, rendered here in an English version by David Hare, speaks as powerfully as a political metaphor of oppression as it does as domestic drama.
This production was recorded in the Autumn of 2020 and therefore was made observing restrictions to ensure the safety of all company members against Covid-19. More information about Arts University Bournemouth’s Covid-19 management can be found at https://aub.ac.uk/covid-19
Director's note
The House of Bernarda Alba was, tragically, Lorca’s last play, written the year he was brutally murdered by Franco’s henchmen at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
Along with Blood Wedding and Yerma, the play forms a trilogy expressing what he saw as the gratuitous oppression of Spanish women.
There are no men in this play. In their absence, the wounds they inflict move to centre stage and are intended to provide a unique insight into the mutilations that patriarchy inflicts on the feminine psyche.
When asked what made him the writer he was, he said - ‘I will always be on the side of those who have nothing. A political writer in the deepest sense, where the act of writing is part of the struggle for a better world.
We hope we have done him justice and that you enjoy the production.
The company.
The House of Bernada Alba - Wednesday
AUB Productions presents The House of Bernada Alba. Book your free ticket to the Wednesday live stream below.
The House of Bernarda Alba - Saturday
AUB Productions presents The House of Bernarda Alba. Ticket available on 27 February 2021
