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The House of Bernarda Alba

The House of Bernarda Alba

“You’ve thrown a hailstorm of hate upon my heart” – it could be a line spoken by Harriet Walter’s scheming matriarch in the TV hit Succession. Alice Birch was a writer on that show and has now adapted Federico García Lorca’s 1936 play for the National Theatre with Walter starring as Bernada, the prowling, seething, sharp-tongued mother, preaching decorum and restraint to a brood of unhappy, unmarried daughters. The play starts with the death of their father, and questions of inheritance abound. Augustias, a daughter from Alba’s first marriage, signals foul play from the dead man. Now freed, she has designs on local farmer, Pepe El Romano. But so do the other girls. Bernada – prone to describing her humbler neighbours in animal terms – has her work cut out. It’s a fine, textured production from Director Rebecca Frecknall, who brought such atmosphere to Tennessee Williams’ work at The Almeida. Lorca proves a fitting outlet for her talents. 


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