The House of Bernarda Alba Essay -- Drama

The House of Bernarda Alba The National theatre Choose one production that you have seen and which you particularly enjoyed and discuss the aspects which made it so successful? The House of Bernarda Alba is a tragedy by Lorca which was set in Spain in the early 1930’s during the Spanish civil war and is about five daughters whose life’s resolve around their mother Bernarda Alba. The girls are repressed by there mother which could be why he wrote this play, to express his feelings and show through the characters how he felt during life as he was repressed for being gay â€Å"better never to lay eyes on a man, never to have seen one’. I enjoyed ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ as many aspects of the play were successful. There was a large, complicated realistic set like Stanislavski would use with period costumes and props which allowed the audience to see it visually which helped believability in the play as it contributed to the realistic acting. It helped you feel like you were in Spain, as a hot climate was suggested through the set; it was exotic, light and Spanish looking. The props gave a sense of the period the play was set for example the radio, the bell, the wash basin and the sewing machines were all authentic. The set was in Bernarda Alba’s house which was a grand mansion with a gilt, lofty ceiling. I think the towering interior clearly represented the distorted mind of Bernarda Alba. The house was a very open, free place for the girls to roam around in. It had a courtyard in the centre, light green walls making it seem larger and many plants, showing the outside was brought inside. I felt this was a success as the set showed how Bernarda Alba didn’t want the girls to leave the house as there were closed shutters down to the floor; this showed the girls were isolated from the outside world. The set designer has evidently striven to create a physical space which represented psychological unease There were four stone pillars which I feel could have represented four of the daughters and the last daughter was represented by the drain shaped as a cross on the courtyard, which showed she died. I also felt that the pillars were successful as they might signify the house is like a prison for the girls, and they are the bars. There were two stained glass windows one which was broken which gave a sense that once the... ... came across as controlling by her strict tone of voice. It was successful the way the director showed the girls as fearful of the mother. Every time someone would stroll in the room they would jump as they thought it was their mother and if their mother did come in they would sit down immediately and sit in silence sewing. If their mother asked them a question you would hear a fearful tremble in their voice as they replied showing they lived in fear of their mother. Another way in which the actors of the girls were effective is the way they reacted to men. The only men the girls would ever see apart from their father, was the man who delivers the fabric. So in the play when Pepe came to the door all the girls would get excited and start jumpy around screaming as they ran out the door. I feel this play was generally a very successful piece of realistic drama because of the set, costumes, lighting and the acting. It had a detailed set and several strong actors which helped bring the play to life as well as real rain at the end to create a dramatic effect. Long silences were used in the play to produce tension and it used comedy and tragedy to engage the audience.