Theatre Programs The House of Bernarda Alba | Page 3

THE PLAYWRIGHT
Federico García Lorca is one of the most
important Spanish poets and dramatists
of the twentieth century. García Lorca was
born June 5, 1898, in Fuente Vaqueros,
a small town a few miles from Granada.
His father owned a farm in the fertile vega
surrounding Granada and a comfortable
mansion in the heart of the city. His mother,
whom Lorca idolized, was a gifted pianist.
After graduating from secondary school
García Lorca attended Sacred Heart
University where he took up law along with
regular coursework. He published his first
book, Impresiones y Viajes, in 1919.
Also in 1919, García Lorca travelled to
Madrid, where he remained for the next
fifteen years. Giving up university, he
devoted himself entirely to his art. He
organized theatrical performances, read
his poems in public, and collected old
folksongs. During this period García Lorca
wrote El Maleficio de la mariposa, a play
that caused a great scandal when it was
produced in 1920. The next year he
published Libro de poemas, a compilation
of poems based on Spanish folklore.
Much of García Lorca’s work was infused
with popular themes such as Flamenco
and Gypsy culture. In 1922, García Lorca
organized the first “Cante Jondo” festival in
which Spain’s most famous “deep song”
singers and guitarists participated. The
deep song form permeated his poems
of the early 1920s. During this period,
García Lorca became part of a group of
artists known as Generación del 27, which
included Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel,
who exposed the young poet to surrealism.
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In 1928, his poetry collection Romancero
Gitano brought García Lorca far-reaching
fame; it was reprinted seven times during
his lifetime.
In 1929, García Lorca moved to New York
City. The poet’s favourite neighbourhood
was Harlem; he loved African-American
spirituals, which reminded him of Spain’s
“deep songs.” In 1930, García Lorca
returned to Spain after the proclamation of
the Spanish republic and participated in the
Second Ordinary Congress of the Federal
Union of Hispanic Students in November
of 1931. The congress decided to build
a “Barraca” in central Madrid in which to
produce important plays for the public. “La
Barraca,” the traveling theatre company
that resulted, toured many Spanish towns,
villages, and cities performing Spanish
classics on public squares. Some of García
Lorca’s own plays, including his three
great tragedies from the 1930s, Bodas de
sangre, Yerma, and La Casa de Bernarda
Alba, were also produced by the company.
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