'The House of Bernarda Alba'

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This July, students from St Ninian’s High School will be performing Federico Garcia Lorca’s final play, 'The House of Bernarda Alba'. Written in 1936, the play focuses on the themes of oppression, repression, desire, patriarchy and what happens when individuality and freedom are restricted. Lorca, who was a lifelong opponent of Franco, and whose work reflected his political and social views both overtly and through metaphor and poetry, was murdered by fascists within months of completing the play.

This intense and claustrophobic drama hinges on the eponymous matriarch imposing an eight-year period of mourning on her five daughters after the death of her husband. This effectively traps the young women and binds them to their ever possessive and controlling mother.

BERNARDA: From now on you answer to me. It’s needle and thread for women, and mule and whip for the men. That’s how it has to be.

The daughters’ reactions to these restrictions form the crux of the antagonism and lead to the ultimate tragedy of a family in crisis.

This production will emphasise the claustrophobic nature of the story by using a small, enclosed playing space in which the audience will surround the actors, forming barriers of spectators and creating a heated, paranoiac landscape which continually entraps and limits the characters’ movements - like birds trapped in a cage.

Our young cast of Year 12 and Year 10 students have found the exploration of this play thought-provoking and in some ways alien - the absolute control exerted by Bernarda seems bizarre and archaic to them. The urge to rebel or resist is both natural and attractive.

ADELA: You’ll hear it. Because I am no longer afraid. Now I’m stronger than you are. And I’m not afraid.

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Venue

St Ninian's High School
St Ninian's
Douglas
IM2 5RA

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Dates

The event runs from 18:45 to 20:45 on the following dates.
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