Post by marion on Dec 21, 2023 10:27:54 GMT
There’s nothing like a bit of Lorca to get you into the festive spirit, 😂😂😂
This stars Harriet Walter which was my main reason for booking. It is a very modern production and absolutely littered with F-bombs which was quite a surprise. The main story is that the newly widowed and mother of five adult daughters, Bernarda, imposes a strict eight years period of mourning which of course drives everyone nuts. The eldest daughter is 39 and has a lot of money and she is engaged to a local, younger lad and the marriage will be allowed to proceed. However the youngest daughter loves and has sex (through the railings in this production!) with him. She is of course grassed up by one of her sisters (who also loves him) as the enforced seclusion makes them turn on each other. Tragedy ensues.
This is the second play in as many months where I have watched a young woman hang herself! If this is becoming a trend I hope it is a short one because it turns my stomach.
Harriet Walter was of course immaculate in her presentation although it was a strange production imho. The girls were very vocal and although Bernarda does impose this mourning there is obvious outrage and yelling so it isn’t quiet. And the opening scenes have so many people talking across each other with the lighting making them black silhouettes I didn’t really know who was in fact talking! I would have expected a more traditional version to have Bernarda even more in control. Mind you when one daughter displeases her she does plunge her hand in boiling water! There was also less madness in the daughters than I was expecting, with more quarrelling and anger.
So on the whole it was very good, interesting and thought provoking and well received but not a complete rapturuous standing ovation by any means. It also featured, in a small role, the little midwife who became a nun in Call The Midwife, and Isis Hainsworth as the youngest daughter who I think is an up and coming star. She was indeed very good, as were they all.
This stars Harriet Walter which was my main reason for booking. It is a very modern production and absolutely littered with F-bombs which was quite a surprise. The main story is that the newly widowed and mother of five adult daughters, Bernarda, imposes a strict eight years period of mourning which of course drives everyone nuts. The eldest daughter is 39 and has a lot of money and she is engaged to a local, younger lad and the marriage will be allowed to proceed. However the youngest daughter loves and has sex (through the railings in this production!) with him. She is of course grassed up by one of her sisters (who also loves him) as the enforced seclusion makes them turn on each other. Tragedy ensues.
This is the second play in as many months where I have watched a young woman hang herself! If this is becoming a trend I hope it is a short one because it turns my stomach.
Harriet Walter was of course immaculate in her presentation although it was a strange production imho. The girls were very vocal and although Bernarda does impose this mourning there is obvious outrage and yelling so it isn’t quiet. And the opening scenes have so many people talking across each other with the lighting making them black silhouettes I didn’t really know who was in fact talking! I would have expected a more traditional version to have Bernarda even more in control. Mind you when one daughter displeases her she does plunge her hand in boiling water! There was also less madness in the daughters than I was expecting, with more quarrelling and anger.
So on the whole it was very good, interesting and thought provoking and well received but not a complete rapturuous standing ovation by any means. It also featured, in a small role, the little midwife who became a nun in Call The Midwife, and Isis Hainsworth as the youngest daughter who I think is an up and coming star. She was indeed very good, as were they all.
Anymore to come?
