An exploration of female identity, sexuality and power: Lorca’s The House Of Bernarda Alba is transformed for a Royal Exchange co-production with Graeae Theatre Company in February.
Directed by Graeae’s Jenny Sealey in a translation by Jo Clifford with the award-winning Kathryn Hunter in the title role, it weaves the talent of deaf and disabled actors into drama using British Sign Language, audio description and captioning. The production will run from February 3 to 25.
Bernarda’s husband is dead. Now she alone rules her household and the lives of her five daughters. A period of mourning will be observed without contact with the outside world and the men who might bring them ruin.
That is except for Angustias, whose inheritance has attracted a wealthy local suitor. As the wedding approaches, Bernarda struggles to retain her suffocating grip on the family and on these women whose appetite for defiance is growing.