The House of Bernarda Alba

Federico Garcia Lorca wrote "The House of Bernarda Alba" or La Casa de Bernada Alba in 1936, two months before his execution at the young age of 38.

This is a really dark play written by a man about women. This is probably one of the few plays that has an all-women cast. 

I love how Chay Yew and Glen Goei are able to adapt and contextualize the story into Singapore's Peranakan community while largely retaining Lorca's original work.

The House of Bernarda Alba is a play set in a living hell. It begins with a grieving, dominating matriarch, Bernarda Alba (played by Claire Wong) who after burying her husband is intently set on tightly controlling the lives of her five unmarried grown-up daughters. 

Some of the cast members clearly did stand out from the rest. For example, Jo Kukathas who plays Poncia aptly portrays the fiery, nosy yet loyal servant. Also, Glory Ngim definitely stands out as her role as Adela, displaying a source of suspense and free-spiritedness at the same time. I feel that she brings out the symbol of rebellion pretty well through her acting. 

Besides the casting, I love the careful and detailed production and set design. The costumes are beautifully selected and the presence of beaded slippers, weaving, even those olden day looking shophouse windows allow one to relate what is happening in the rule-bound and strict Peranakan family. 

The sounds and silences in the play are also perfectly orchestrated, building up the suspense and tragedy that is unfolding in the house.

This play is definitely one that is rather thought-provoking. It may be a work critiquing the place of women in society today but similarly one could relate it to a critique about power and authority and how people are largely resistant to change and even grow to perpetuate such dominance, repression and authority over time. 

W!LD RICE's The House of Bernarda Alba runs from 12 March to 29 March 2014 at the Drama Centre Theatre.