Choose one production that you have seen and which you particularly enjoyed and discuss the aspects which made it so successful?

Authors Avatar
9th April 2005

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 "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 jukebox, the bell, the wash basin and the sewing machines were all old fashioned.
Join now!


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 is a preview of the whole essay