¡Bernarda!- A new take on the classic by Lorca by
This script is about to receive its world-premiere, Oct. 2023, produced by Teatro Vista and co-presented by Steppenwolf in their 1700 Theater. This new English version of "The House of Bernarda Alba" is streamlined and it enhances some of the humor in the original that gets lost in translation. I grew up with this classic, and I also, like Garcia Lorca, grew up queer in Catholic Spain. I don't...
This script is about to receive its world-premiere, Oct. 2023, produced by Teatro Vista and co-presented by Steppenwolf in their 1700 Theater. This new English version of "The House of Bernarda Alba" is streamlined and it enhances some of the humor in the original that gets lost in translation. I grew up with this classic, and I also, like Garcia Lorca, grew up queer in Catholic Spain. I don't think this play has yet received a proper production in the Anglo world, in part because the translations have been inappropriately literal, and in part, because the predominantly WASP casts were not able to embody the story in a way that give it justice. The world premiere of this version is directed by Wendy Mateo, and the complete designing team is femme.
Lorca never saw this play produced. He rewrote a lot, in general. And I imagine that for a world premiere of this play, he would have made a lot of changes to the manuscript that we know today. With that in mind, my goal was to reimagine how Lorca would have told the legend of Bernarda Alba in 2023.
1. Structure: Instead of a multi-act shape with waves, this new version is one act like a train speeding towards a crash.
2. Setting/Vision: This version heightens the Greek aspects of the original. And we're treating it with the same freedom we approach an Elektra or a Medea, by focusing more on the spare action and less on the language of the original. Time and space is ambiguous, mythical. This is a retelling of a legend, and in a way this is Poncia's version. Poncia and Carmelita (previously known as La Criada) being the Greek chorus.
3. Streamlined: This show runs for 65-70 minutes. We have focused the action on what happens inside the house, eliminating a lot of the secondary plots taking place outside. The dialogue has been sharpened to be more American and anglo. We have removed a lot of repetitions and old-fashioned forms of exposition.
4. Characters/Casting: Bernarda and her mother Maria Josefa can be played by the same actress for the first time. We have underlined the generational trauma, and foreshadow that Bernarda will end like her mother and her grandmother. The character of the sister Amelia has been removed. Now the Criada has a name, Carmelita, and a bigger role. A lot of the smaller roles have been eliminated to bring the cast down to 7 actresses.
5. Humor: Most importantly, I have heightened the humor that Lorca points at in the original but that never gets played outside Spain, and almost never inside of Spain. This version, I hear, is surprisingly fun, and funny, but we still can land the full tragedy at the end. We have clearly established this humor within our own form of Spanish camp. I argue that the original was funnier than people give it credit for.
Lorca never saw this play produced. He rewrote a lot, in general. And I imagine that for a world premiere of this play, he would have made a lot of changes to the manuscript that we know today. With that in mind, my goal was to reimagine how Lorca would have told the legend of Bernarda Alba in 2023.
1. Structure: Instead of a multi-act shape with waves, this new version is one act like a train speeding towards a crash.
2. Setting/Vision: This version heightens the Greek aspects of the original. And we're treating it with the same freedom we approach an Elektra or a Medea, by focusing more on the spare action and less on the language of the original. Time and space is ambiguous, mythical. This is a retelling of a legend, and in a way this is Poncia's version. Poncia and Carmelita (previously known as La Criada) being the Greek chorus.
3. Streamlined: This show runs for 65-70 minutes. We have focused the action on what happens inside the house, eliminating a lot of the secondary plots taking place outside. The dialogue has been sharpened to be more American and anglo. We have removed a lot of repetitions and old-fashioned forms of exposition.
4. Characters/Casting: Bernarda and her mother Maria Josefa can be played by the same actress for the first time. We have underlined the generational trauma, and foreshadow that Bernarda will end like her mother and her grandmother. The character of the sister Amelia has been removed. Now the Criada has a name, Carmelita, and a bigger role. A lot of the smaller roles have been eliminated to bring the cast down to 7 actresses.
5. Humor: Most importantly, I have heightened the humor that Lorca points at in the original but that never gets played outside Spain, and almost never inside of Spain. This version, I hear, is surprisingly fun, and funny, but we still can land the full tragedy at the end. We have clearly established this humor within our own form of Spanish camp. I argue that the original was funnier than people give it credit for.