The House of Bernarda Alba - Lyttleton (NT)

[amyja89]

Really enjoyed this last night, but I do understand the reservations about Harriet Walter. She plays the role in a completely narcissistic, wilfully oblivious way, rather than traditionally terrifying. It works on a subtle level, but there is a certain disconnect when it comes to certain moments where she's doling out 'punishments'.

[mkb]

I caught the matinée on Saturday 16 December and did not like this. Having enjoyed other Lorca plays, I was looking forward to finally being able to cross this one off my list, but I sense this adaptation is far removed from the original, and comments in this thread support that. I think it may be true to say I have still not seen The House of Bernarda Alba proper.

The most jarring aspect here is the modern dialogue, replete with gratuitous and inauthentic swearing, that works against any construction of realistic characters. Harriet Walter, normally so reliable, gives no coherent or consistent sense of what drives the widowed matriarch. That must surely be down to the adaption and bad direction, as pretty much all the supporting roles also feel somewhat "off".

The dolls' house set, with three floors of clinic-white rooms, manages to create restricted views for much of the front stalls.

Clearly, Lorca's ending is meant to be

SPOILER: Click to show

emotionally powerful and shocking, but I was left unmoved and uncaring.

Two stars.

Act 1: 14:21-15:37
Act 2: 16:01-16:42

[alessia]

I thought this was good - though very hard to watch. I think after this and Blood Wedding I have to accept that Lorca is not my thing, I just find the patriarchal settings too much and I end up angry at the end. Angry with the mother, angry with the daughters, esp the youngest, and angry with the Pepe guy most of all. I know what Lorca is doing but watching women live their lives as inferior humans for over two hours of my life is not something I want to do again. As for the production I felt it was beautiful to look at, I was third row in the stalls and didn't feel I missed anything, maybe a tiny bit of the final part in the upstairs room. My favourite character were the grandma and the older servant.

[Mark]

Found this pretty dull for the first hour, picked up slightly before the interval. Act two was faster but again pretty one note until the end. Not my thing.

[Jan]

Maggie Smith was offered the lead in a previous production of this play. She commented “I don’t want to play that ghastly old bag - whatever happened to light comedy ?”

[alessia]

Jan 3, 2024 21:38:15 GMT Jan said:

Maggie Smith was offered the lead in a previous production of this play. She commented “I don’t want to play that ghastly old bag - whatever happened to light comedy ?”

Really? I can't say I blame her for saying that, I completely agree lol

[bordeaux]

I thought this was excellent too, with the gradual build-up of tension paying dividends at the end, which I found extremely powerful. Outstanding performances all round and Rebecca Frecknall's trademark style fitted the material in my view. I look forward to seeing what she does next.

I did, though, find the repeated use of the f-word jarring in this context. Why would someone of Bernarda Alba's standing and values being swearing at her children all the time? Why would she put up with it from a servant? I'm sure there is an answer - Alice Birch is a thoughtful writer - but I'd be interested to know what it is. The friend I went with has lived in Italy and he wondered whether both Italian and Spanish have a richer language of vituperation than we do and whether the f-word was chosen to get that across to English-speakers. Does anyone know if her language in the Spanish is in any way shocking?

[jm25]

I spent the first 30/40 minutes of this thinking I’d have to leave at the interval; I found it that pretentious and unbearable. Thankfully it picked up towards the end of the first act, enough for me to stay, and I found the second act much tighter.

There weren’t many positives for me but I did think the set was a great idea. It was just a shame I couldn’t see half of it from the front row. The last scene especially lost a lot of its punch because I couldn’t see the characters’ reactions.

I was impressed with Thusitha Jayasundera, Lizzie Annis and Pearl Chanda but found Isis Hainsworth a touch too shouty. The shouts were actually quite painful on the ears from the front row but the sound mixing is probably more to blame there.

Full disclosure, I am not familiar with the original text at all - and perhaps that’s why I didn’t have a problem with the modern language and its clash with the setting. It felt like looking at the core ideas of the text through a 21st century lens. It was anachronistic, yes, but not to the extent that it detracted from what it felt like the heart of the text was getting at.

All in all, though, not one of the NT’s better offerings.

[david]

My last day in London sees me having a double show day in the NT. First up was the final matinee of Bernarda Alba. I have loved all of Rebecca Frecknall’s other work up to now, but as her debut show at the NT, I’m sorry to say that this really didn’t do a lot for me and was my first misfire of the year. I think a lot of her directorial choices (e,g the slow movement at the end of Act 1) used in previous productions which worked well there really didn’t transfer well in this production. 

Despite sitting up close in row D of the stalls, I really couldn’t connect with this production at all (or care about any of the character’s story arcs) and with the run time at 2hrs and 20minutes it really did feel a lot longer than the time suggests. For me the production only really came alive in the last 20 minutes of each Act. Act 1 for the first. 40 minutes really did drag. Thankfully Act 2 was a bit more engaging but again, it was the final scenes that really had any kind of energy.

Whilst I liked the 3 storey house from designer Merle Hensel, for me, the final tragic scene in the bedroom lost a lot of impact as I couldn’t see half the cast in the upstairs bedroom from my seat. I think this is one show where sitting in the Circle or sitting further back in the stalls would have been a wiser choice in order to get the full emotional impact from this scene.

In terms of casting, I wasn’t entirely convinced by Harriet Walters portrayal of a controlling matriarchal figure for the majority of the play. If she was supposed to be a person to be feared, it was only in the last scenes in each Act where I felt this came across well other than that it didn’t work. The ladies playing the daughters and maids I liked. Eileen Nicholas as Maria the granny was brilliant and a highlight in this show. 

Rating - 3⭐️

Next up is Infinite Life so hopefully I can end my trip on a more positive note.

[andrew]

Don't want to retread ground since I saw the final performance but I really like it. It worked for me on most of the levels it was trying to, I found it engaging. It was a slightly tough watch from the sides of the front stalls just for how many things could be in your way but you get what you pay for. My big negatives were the grandmother and the Birchian overlapping lines from the first scene which just weren't necessary. It made sense in Anatomy of a Suicide, it didn't make sense here. Like performance art incongruent with the style it eventually settles into. 

Great work from everyone involved though, would let Pepe destroy the fabric of my entire family any day.