THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA To 9 May.
Southampton.
THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA
by Federico Garcia Lorca English version by Tom Stoppard.
Nuffield Theatre To 8 May 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 8 May 3pm.
Audio-described/BSL Signed 8 May 3pm.
Runs 2hr 5min One interval.
TICKETS: 023 8067 1771.
www.nuffieldtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 2 May.
Repression chez Alba richly expressed on the Nuffield stage.
It’s a mark of the quality Patrick Sandford’s Nuffield production achieves that within the first few minutes I was wondering what life in the Alba household had been like before Bernarda's husband died. The play’s framed by family deaths; the first reflected in the ordered post-funeral ceremony with its black mourning clothes, the second sudden, taking place as Bernarda and her daughters flit around alarmed in their night-clothes.
Order matters. As the daughters rush to provide the guests with a drink at the start, it’s clear they’re fulfilling Bernarda’s instructions. The straight lines of chairs reflect a household ruled with a rod of iron, or at least a soon-flexed cane. Yet the final death happens amid gun-shot, scream and confused voices. Significantly, it’s said the neighbours are watching. The door at the rear wall’s centre has stood for Bernarda’s insistence on respectability. Now, instead of one panel, the whole door’s slid open.
Sandford’s production intensifies Bernarda’s struggle to maintain respectability against her daughters’ sexual desires. Three of them desire unseen charmer Pepe: Kate Lock’s 39-year old, willowy Angustias, showing moments of feminine grace amid worn and anguished desire, Verity Hewlett’s Amelia, with the confident surge of youthful desire and attraction, and hump-back Martirio.
Limping around, Katherine Tozer shows in her moments of hard-edged voice and determined standing-up to Bernarda – Martirio’s the only one to outface her – her soured sexual desire will lead her to replicate her mother’s denial of life.
Ann Mitchell’s Bernarda can be surprisingly soft-voiced. She’s someone for whom it’s an effort to rule like this, fuelled by determination to maintain respectability. It’s a strong interpretation, showing she too has been mentally deformed by the Catholicism surrounding the play and which, in1936, helped drive political repression in Spain.
Juliet Shillingford’s set, with its three huge, separate walls, suggests restriction and creates a sense of secrecy, while David W Kidd’s lighting increases the hot-house atmosphere. Repeatedly, and especially in the first half, groupings intensify the sexual hothouse, as when the daughters line-up front-stage listening with longing as working men pass-by. Finely performed throughout, this is a deeply impressive production.
Poncia: Annie Raitt.
Maid/Prudencia: Becky Hindley.
Bernarda: Ann Mitchell.
Angustias: Kate Lock.
Magdalena: Jessica Lloyd.
Amelia: Verity Hewlett.
Martirio: Katherine Tozer.
Adela: Samantha Robinson.
Maria Josefa: Helen Blatch.
Director: Patrick Sandford.
Designer: Juliet Shillingford.
Lighting: David W Kidd.
Composer: Dale Sumner.
Community director: Fran Morley.
Assistant director: Rae Leaver.
2009-05-03 10:29:44