A daughter who loves her father?
The Electra complex is named after a Greek heroine who, according to mythology, was strongly attached to her father. She was unable to separate herself from him even after his death. The term refers to the daughter's latent, often unconscious relationship with her father, and his desire to favor her or substitute her for her mother in his life.
I have also found the Elektra complex in this production of Bernard Alba (by Romana Horáková) production at the Theatre na Orlí. Lorca's drama is traditionally seen as a critique of society and its conventions, but in this production, it seems as if this level is often in the background. The question: ‘What will other people think of this?’ is heard several times, but it does not form the core of this production. The motif of society is especially present here at the beginning, when Bernarda locks her daughters in the house and orders them to mourn the death of her husband. That is, after all, what custom and tradition preach. The social motif is very noticeable here and appears in the gossip that Poncia (Lesana Krauskova) spreads, but even more at the end of the production, when, after the death of her daughter Adela (Klára Ondrůšková), Bernarda insists that her daughter ‘remain pure’ and that her death be presented in this way before society. She does not want to admit the truth and the fact that this is not the case. Much more prominent themes are, for example, the need for freedom, the longing for love, or the relationships between daughters and mother.
The way the production works with the character of the man (Tomáš Pavlica) is also interesting. He first represents the father and later the fiancé of Angustias (Markéta Bílková). However, his interest (at least in some aspects) is much more in her sister Adela. It is Adela who is the character who was most attached to her father. It's as if she transferred her feelings to another man after his death. The fact that he is her sister's fiancé doesn't bother her, either. What matters to her is that she loves him. Whether that love is reciprocated or not we will never know. And it is here we can perhaps see the Elektra complex, in her longing for her father transferred to another character.
The designation ‘man’ is also telling. As if the man were more of a symbol than a person. This supports the interpretation that the essential lies more in women than men. Yet women often have to adapt to men.
As far as the acting performances are concerned, Lesana Krausková as the maid Poncie and Klara Ondruskova as Adela impressed the most. On the contrary, the male character was problematic. His presence on stage did not always fit into the overall concept of the production. Perhaps it would have been more effective to leave him as only a shadow, which would have also underlined his symbolism.
The set was simple, but all the more effective for that. Each of the daughters had their own box, which represented their only personal space where they could be themselves, as if it was their room where they could hide their secrets – at least until Poncia, at Bernarda's behest, inspected their contents. Privacy ceased to exist, and the boxes were suddenly a symbol of confinement and enclosure more than privacy. At the same time, however, they serve as a practical element of the set design, which often allowed for movement, organization of space, and its articulation.
The canvas was also an important visual element, which at some moments divided the stage and thus created a kind of border between two worlds: what was happening in front of it and behind it. Its presence created a kind of more intimate atmosphere in which the women's story took place.
This production of Bernarda Alba presents a glimpse into a woman's world in which, although the rules are given, not everyone wants to follow them. It speaks of women's silence and defiance with such urgency that one has to ponder what one has just seen on stage even after leaving the theatre.
