Theatre Programs The House of Bernarda Alba | Page 2

SYNOPSIS
Set in 1936 in Andalusia only days
before the violent outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War, Lorca’s The House
of Bernarda Alba presents us with a
tyrannical matriarch who rules over her
household and five daughters, cruelly
crushing the hopes and desires of
everyone under her roof.
The women in this claustrophobic play
are tragically and violently frustrated,
longing for freedom and for sexual and
social equality.
The entire play is set in Bernarda’s
house, where she lives with her five
daughters and her servants.
The play opens with the servants
cleaning the house, whilst the funeral of
Bernarda’s second husband takes place
in the nearby church. Bernarda then
arrives with the mourners made up of
the townspeople, and soon sends them
all away. She then gathers her daughters
together and tells them they must all
now observe an eight-year mourning
period for her dead husband, father to
all of them but one. Each member of
the household deals with this news in
their own way. Secrets are revealed and
another life is lost.