Passionate, captivating, dynamic…and just: Spanish
Spanish writer and playwright Federico García Lorca is known for his dramas inspired by Spanish folklore, Andalusian nature, and surrealism. His most famous pieces, also called the rural trilogy, are Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba. The last of these was also the last one he wrote. In 1936, soon after finishing it, he was shot by Nationalist forces during the Spanish civil war. American composer Michael John LaChiusa rewrote the drama into a musical, a work which was premiered in 2006 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre under the title Bernarda Alba. Actors from the Janáčkova Academy of Performing Arts in Brno have brought this musical to Setkání/Encounter festival and stirred up passions of love, hate and family drama in Divadlo na Orlí.
The second husband of Bernarda Alba (Romana Horáková), father of four out of five of her daughters, has died, and so his house goes to her. The audience is guided through this plot by the opening song, performed by the maid Poncia (Lesana Krausková). She has been in the house long enough to know all the dirty secrets and to learn how to survive there. Krausková portrays her as a balanced woman who has come to terms with her life and won't be bossed around. Even during a conflict, she looks the lady of the house in the eyes with all of her dignity and shows her that she isn't threatened by her, because sooner or later she´ll be needed again. A similar revolt comes from the youngest of Bernarda´s daughters - Adela (Klára Ondrůšková). Despite being the youngest, she is the most pushy out of the sisters, and she knows what she wants in life. But she's still young, after all, so she follows her feelings rather than her mind. She's seeing Pepe Romano (Tomáš Pavlica) and doesn't care that he's engaged to her step sister Angustias (Markéta Bílková). Bílková was less expressive in portraying this character than the rest of her colleagues. She couldn´t dive deeper into the psychology of an obedient daughter and a distant sister, so her performance remained shallow. Similarly bland was Karolína Krobotová as Magdalena. But in this case, the problem was the lack of opportunities for the character to perform, so the actress couldn't show off her skills as much. On the other hand, Aneta Měsícová, who also had fewer interactions, managed to capture the nature of a young woman convincingly. A huge addition was the young energy that Adela and Amelia radiated. Unlike Ondrůšková, Měsícová, as Amelia, was soft, innocent, and kind of still a child. Skipping and joyfully running around the stage suggested her still-present childish side, and so did the song she sang about a boy. With a happy facial expression and unsure, shy gestures, she spoke about a young lad she met and she giggled like a little girl. The contrast to the cheerful Amelia was Martirio (Natália Ondrejmišková). Unhappy, ugly, and handicapped Martirio is also secretly in love with Pepe. But she isn't his object of interest, and that is where her bitterness stems from. As her name suggests, she suffers quietly and endures the unkindness of her fate. To form this character, the actress worked mainly with movement. She was stiff and rigid, and she limited her facial expressions to a few suffering or bitter looks, and she meticulously adhered to the fact that the character has a lame arm.
The play’s set was simple. Each daughter had a chest on stage with her name on it. Those represented their rooms and a private space. But it was also under the control of their mother. She lets her daughters have personal space but she doesn't have a problem with disturbing it. When Angustias’ picture of her fiancé goes missing, she orders Poncia to search their rooms. This shows that Bernarda is the only force in the house, and apparently free decisions are actually under her control. On the back horizon stood panels with abstract artistic motifs resembling stains and colour strokes. They depicted the walls of the house, and absorbed many fights, secrets, and incidents that needed to stay hidden from the outside world. Even though the individual panels stood separately, the artwork on them was one continuous piece. Like a family, a whole which is broken and fragmented.
The production was also made special by its live music. The live chamber orchestra, directed by conductor Matěj Voda, induced strong emotion by using Spanish harmonies and melodies, none of which would have been so effective if recorded. Supplemented by occasional synchronised claps, stomps, or finger snaps from the actresses, it produced the dynamic passion which is present in Lorca's play and is so significant for it. These young students are gifted with prominent and high quality vocal abilities, so they handled the musical form excellently. They didn't even have difficulties with the temperamental and passionate Spanish dances.
