The House of Bernarda Alba by
Ferdinand Lorca
Malthouse until March 1,1998
Reviewed by Kate
Herbert around 23 March 1998
The Spanish produced the first
Revenge Tragedies in the 17th century and its inherent vengeance was invariably
related to defence of a woman's honour. This theatrical tradition of blood and
passion continues in Ferdinand Lorca's play, The House of Bernarda Alba,
written in 1936, the year of his death.
Flamenco
choreographer, Charito Saldana, with aid of a Women Artists' Grant, has recreated
Lorca's tragedy about an autocratic mother and her five unmarried daughters,
less focussing more on flamenco than text.
Her
collaboration with director, Simon Palomares and musical director, Richard
Tedesco, heightens the dramatic intensity of particular moments although, as a
whole, the text remains unintegrated with the dance and music.
It is a
play about women: their social and sexual repression, which continued in Spain
until quite recently. When father dies, Bernarda (Veronica Gillmer) controls their
lives. A beautiful young man wants to marry the 40 year-old Angustia (Elena
Maya) for money but has a clandestine tryst with the youngest, Adela (Saldana).
The sisters' frustration, passion and anger is palpable in the Lorca version.
Two actors
(Susie Dee & Sergio Tell) play comic serving women and comment on the
action which is so subtly depicted in dance. The two are charming characters,
but their scenes become repetitive and, by Act Three, interrupt the momentum of
the escalating tragedy.
The inexorable
surge toward Adela's suicide is imperative in the narrative, but it is
anti-climactic in this version. Perhaps the series of passionate climaxes
experienced in each flamenco piece has made it impossible to reach another with
the final subdued image of Adela's hanged body.
Images of
the women are seen in silhouette against huge bedsheets pegged on washing lines
and some dramatic backlighting at the opening highlights the funereal quality.
The six
musicians and singer (Titi De Algeciras) capture the essence of pain and
anguish in the wailing vocal vibrato combined with sensual saxophone and guitar
with pulsing percussion.
Each of the
talented women has a distinctive dance style although the details of Lorca's
characters and their fraught relationships and rivalries remain shadowy. The
suitor, Pepe, (Johnny Tedesco) brings a forgotten maleness to the stage with
his vibrating youthful energy.
This is an
exciting and entertaining project that could have better integrated text. It
could benefit from swifter scene changes and better sightlines.
KATE
HERBERT
No comments:
Post a Comment