The House of Bernarda Alba

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:10pm

Does anyone know of or have any comments about this play by Lorca? My school just recently did a production of it and was wondering if anyone had any comments on it.

[stonewall2]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:26pm

We did this my freshman year in college- I played the maid(thus ended my dramatic hopes!). Although I do remember that we did some "analysis" of the play and background material on Lorca himself, I truly believe that the reason behind the selection of the work was simply the fact that almost all the roles were for women, and there were no men in our drama class!

[CGoldstein]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:30pm

I was recently in a production of the play, and I think my teacher chose to direct that one because it had a large female cast and was very dramatic. He likes to do serious plays with large casts to incorporate as many people as possible. It was so much fun to do.

[hortonhearsasam]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:36pm

I actually just read this play a few months ago in my Spanish literature class. I found it very interesting, the way it addressed «el qué dirán» (the concept in English is a person/family's reputation based on what they do--translated directly: "What will they say?"), the relationships between the classes (maids and Bernarda's family), and I loved the tone that was set. I'm afraid that this play would lose a lot in the translation to English--do any of you who have done it have comments on that?

[CGoldstein]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:39pm

I have never read it in Spanish, however, I don't think that the main message would be lost in the English translation because the basic plots and characters should be the same in both languages.

[hortonhearsasam]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:48pm

I didn't mean that they would cut out characters or change the plot... I just mean the tone of the lines, the nuances in the language might be lost.

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:50pm

It's one of the great tragedies, with wonderful characterizations, a fantastic depiction of small-town Spanish life, and a true sense of inevitability about the outcome -- character really is destiny in this play. (In the interests of disclosure, I should admit I teach Spanish drama at the college level and I make my students read this play regularly!) If you like it, I'd highly recommend Lorca's other two "rural tragedies", YERMA and BLOOD WEDDING.

The National Theatre in London is currently doing a very strong production of it with Penelope Wilton as Bernarda, by the way -- I saw it just last week and I was very impressed with it.

[CGoldstein]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 2:56pm

Ohh ok I see what you're saying, I'd love to read the Spanish version and compare, it would be interesting.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 3:04pm

Wow, so happy to see a thread about a latin american classic here.

This is one of the powerhouses of latin american theater. I've seen it performed professionally (in Spanish) several times. Always stunning. When I was in school our spanish teacher had us mount it, but the catch was that it was all played by the boys in not-really-drag. It was one of the many ways we studied the play.

I would be very intersted to see it in English.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 3:19pm

My school did a newer version called "Another Part of the House".

It's based off of Lorca's original, but in set in Cuba, there are no outside people. Poncia's, who is played by a black woman, part is much different. It's much more dramatic and is not the comic relief that it once was. That part(comic relief) belongs to the Grandmother, Maria Josefa. Her part has really been beefed and is very important, unlike how it was it the original.

This play stays true to Lorca's original concepts, yet explores things that couldn't be discussed at that point in time. If you were to put on a production of one of the two, I suggest you do "Another Part of the House".

It's worth checking out!!!!!!

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 3:26pm

I also saw two dance productions of it.

One was done to Ravel's bolero. It was superb. All female cast. How they managed to convey the entire play during the piece is amazing.

The other was a full concert, 2 hrs, don't remember the music (it was 1986 or 87), all female cast except for one male that you would see dancing through a scrim. Very good, but not nearly as powerful as the first.

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 3:34pm

BERNARDA ALBA is actually the play by Lorca which translates to English best, because it's the play where he aims the most at realism (his subtitle for the play is "A Photographic Documentary"). His other plays tend to incorporate much more explicit poetry, which complicates questions of translation (as in BLOOD WEDDING). That said, though, there's always a loss in translation; inevitably, there are times when the translator has to use several words even to approximate the exact shade of meaning in one word of the original. And of course the rhythms of the Spanish dialogue just can't transfer over to English; the syntax of the two languages is too different.

Nevertheless, it does work in English. I'd recommend the film made back in the 1980s, based on a London production, with Glenda Jackson as Bernarda and Joan Plowright as Poncia.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 3:40pm

There's a film of it? I had no idea. Going to search for it...