House of Bernarda Alba
Set in a rural Andalusian village Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba tells the story of an ageing, domineering widow and her grown-up daughters as she imposes a traditional mourning period of eight years after the death of her second husband.
Although typically Spanish, the people in this novel such as Bernarda herself and her daughter Angustias are universal; the characters of the controlling mother and the rebellious daughter occur everywhere.
Twisting with new feelings and secrets being exposed in the plot, the true prison of Alba's house is soon revealed to all, shocking many with the sharp turn at the end of the piece. Filled with florid and romantic language, exotic metaphors and numerous issues such as tradition, sex, authority and beauty, there's certainly no shortage of scandal. With such complex subjects, it's clear that the reader won't be vexed with what Lorca has to offer in the last play he wrote before being tragically killed in 1936.
The idea of reading plays brings gloomy grimaces to the faces of many. My memories of reading plays involves me being stuck in an English classroom, the mandatory Shakespeare and Priestly texts making me want to hit my head against a brick wall.
If more plays such as Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba were read in school, I'm sure young people’s perceptions of theatre would definitely change.
