A new version by Emily Mann
By Federico garcía Lorca
Directed By Bijan Sheibani
Following her husband’s funeral, powerful matriarch Bernarda Alba decrees to her five daughters that the household will enter a period
of eight years mourning. The only one it seems will escape this fate is the eldest daughter, Angustias, who is already betrothed to the
village’s most eligible bachelor.
In the strict confines of the house, jealousy and suppressed sexuality rise to the surface. As Bernarda’s oppression of her daughters increases it is more than the girls’ liberty that is in danger.
With Shohreh Aghdashloo leading the cast as Bernarda Alba, one of Lorca’s best-known works is relocated to rural Iran.
Bijan Sheibani has previously directed work at theatres including the Royal Court, Soho Theatre and Young Vic. He is an Associate Director at the National Theatre, where his productions include Our Class and The Kitchen.
Previews Thu 19 - Wed 25 January
Press Night Thu 26 January (7pm)
Evening performances 7.30pm
Saturday matinees 2.30pm from 28 January
Wednesday matinees 2.30pm on 15 & 29 February
SPECIAL EVENTS
Happy Mondays 23 January
Talkback Mon 20 February (post performance)
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
Captioned Thu 23 February, 7.30pm
Audio-described Sat 3 March, 2.30pm (Touch Tour at 1pm)
Bernard Alba
With her husband Houshang, Shohreh writes, performs and produces Farsi language theatre for an Iranian audience through her travelling theatre group Drama Workshop ’79.
Television includes: House of Saddam (Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries); Law & Order; Grey’s Anantomy; ER; Will & Grace; 24.
Film includes: The Stoning of Soraya M; House of Sand and Fog (New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress / Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress / Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female / Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress); The Nativity Story; X-Men: The Last Stand; The Lake House; The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2; American Dreamz; The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Darya
Theatre includes: The Syndicate (Chichester Festival Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); Nicholas Nickleby (Chichester / West End / Toronto); Hurts Given and Received (Riverside Studios); A Family Affair (Arcola Theatre); The Duchess of Malfi (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Copenhagen (Watermill Theatre); Car Thieves; Absurd Person Singular (Birmingham Rep); Tales from the Vienna Woods (National Theatre); A Round Heeled Woman (Riverside Studios / Aldwych Theatre); Gertrude (Riverside Studios / tour / Elsinor); The White Devil; The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore; Othello (Lyric Hammersmith); Judith (Battersea Arts Centre / Traverse Theatre / European tour); Conversations with My Father (Old Vic / Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); Oedipus (Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh); Phaedra (Old Vic / Aldwych); Golgo; Seven Lears; The Last Supper; No End of Blame (Royal Court); Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Fortune Theatre); Mother Courage (Mermaid Theatre); Bright Room Called Day (Bush Theatre); Anatol; Walpurgisnacht (The Gate); Phedre; Heartbreak House; The Genet Trilogy; The Rivals; Altona; Mr Puntila and His Man Matti; The Merchant of Venice; Arms and the Man (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow); Philosophy in the Boudoir (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow / European tour); The Soldiers; Last Days of Mankind (Edinburgh Festival); Impresario of Smyrna; Remembrance of Things Past (European tours); Othello; Mother Courage; The Crucible; Hay Fever; What the Butler Saw (Birmingham Rep).
Television includes: Lewis; Life On Mars; Sensitive Skin; My Dad’s the Prime Minister; The Sins; The Passion; Vanity Fair; Broker’s Man; French and Saunders; Seeing in the Dark; The Lenny Henry Show; Casualty; EastEnders; Inspector Morse; Quatermass; Parker; Life After Life; Sam Saturday; Girls on Top; Sword of Honour; Wing and a Prayer; The Reef.
Film includes: Three; The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone; Bodywork; Dance with a Stranger; Smart Money; Paperhouse; Parker.
Asieh
Theatre includes: Sixty-Six Books; If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush Theatre); After The Dance; Every Good Boy Deserves A Favour; Some Trace of Her; Women of Troy (National Theatre); Stephen and the Sexy Partridge (Trafalgar Studios / Old Red Lion); Avocado (King’s Head Theatre); Serious Money (Birmingham Rep); Natural Selection (Theatre 503); Kindertransport; The Kiss (Hampstead Theatre); The Yellow Wallpaper (MAC Birmingham / Lion & Unicorn Pub Theatre / Brewery Arts); You Might As Well Live (New End Theatre / Pleasance Courtyard / Edinburgh); Mariana Pineda (Arcola Theatre); Flanders Mare (Sound Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Salisbury Playhouse); Design For Living; Fight For Barbara (Theatre Royal Bath); Julius Caesar (Cynergy Theatre Company at Wandsworth Prison); Man of Mode (Northcott Theatre Exeter); The Country Wife (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Paradise Syndrome (Man In The Moon); Buddy’s Song (New Victoria Theatre).
Television includes: Titanic; Doctors; Hotel Babylon; Life Begins; Coupling; NY-LON; Black Books; Watermelon; Comedy Lab: The Pooters; Extremely Dangerous; The Dark Room; Close Relations; The Peter Principle; Wycliffe; Casualty; In Your Dreams; The Bill; Tears Before Bedtime.
Film includes: A Bunch of Amateurs; Trouble Brewing (short film); Run, Fat Boy, Run; Max; Checkout Girl (short film); What Rat’s Won’t Do.
Amina
Theatre includes: The Last of the Duchess (Hampstead Theatre); Pera Palas (Arcola Theatre); Crocodile Seeking Refuge (tour); The Chair Women (Riverside Studios / tour); Othello (Mermaid Theatre); Sitting Ducks (Garrick Theatre); Jack Doyle (Olympia Theatre, Dublin); Privates on Parade (Oxford Playhouse / tour); Arms and the Man (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester / tour); Pygmalion; The Merchant of Venice; She Stoops to Conquer (Watford Palace Theatre / tour); The Heiress (Richmond Theatre / tour); A Man for All Seasons (Trinity Theatre, Dublin); The End of Me Ol’ Cigar (Greenwich Theatre); Charley’s Aunt; Kennedy’s Children (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); The Love of Four Colonels; What the Butler Saw; Identity Parade (Liverpool Everyman); Dear Janet Rosenberg (Mercury Theatre, Colchester); The Patrick Pearse Motel; The Lady’s Not For Burning (Perth Theatre); The Knack; Private Lives; Uncle Vanya; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Beauty and the Beast; The Lady from the Sea; The Importance of Being Earnest; Little Malcolm (Century Theatre); Hang Down Your Head and Die (Comedy Theatre).
Television includes: Prometheus; The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes; Sitting Ducks; An Unfortunate Accident; Emmerdale; Children of the Bible; Taliesin Tales; Kate; Orlando.
Film includes: The Rushing Waters of Velaba; Mr. Jericho; Tales from the Crypt; All Neat in Black Stockings.
Elmira
Amanda trained at RADA.
Theatre Includes: Sixty-Six Books; Crooked (Bush Theatre); Wastwater (Royal Court); Elektra; After Dido; King Lear (Young Vic); Our Class (National Theatre); Pornography (Birmingham Rep / Traverse Theatre); The City (Royal Court); The Glass Menagerie (The Lyric Theatre).
Television includes: Any Human Heart; Richard is My Boyfriend; Crimson Petal and the White; Persuasion; Rev.
Film includes: Bright Star; Scrubber.
Anahita
Theatre includes: Jumpy (Royal Court); One Night in November (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); Loyal Women; In Flame; The Man of Mode; Tombstone Tales; The Mai; The Maid’s Tragedy; Alcestis; Macbeth; Troilus and Cressida; Look Homeward Angel; The Matchmaker (RADA).
Television includes: The Appropriate Adult; Law and Order; Land Girls II & III.
Maryam
Theatre includes: Pornography (Tricycle / Theatre Royal Bath); 66 Books (Bush Theatre); Burning Cars (Hampstead Theatre); The Queen of Terence; The Bird Flu Diaries; Pray For the Souls of Martha & Veronica (Edinburgh Festival); Sanctuary (National Theatre); The Graduate (Gielgud); Age, Sex, Location, NYT (Lyric Hammersmith).
Television includes: The Borgias; Skins; Coma Girl; Margot and Mez; Silent Witness; Psychoville; Him and Her; Lifeskills; Roman’s Empire; Suburban Shootout 2; Hyperdrive; Red Cap.
Film includes: 10.10; Mrs Henderson Presents; The Train Game.
A Maid
Theatre includes: Yerma; Twelfth Night; Broken Glass (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Bubba & Luvvie (King’s Head); Mixed Up North (Out of Joint / Bolton Octagon); Brecht’s Turandot (Hampstead Theatre); Frozen (Manchester Library); The Odyssey; Crime & Punishment; The White Glove (Lyric Hammersmith); Aladdin and His Enchanted Lamp; Henry IV Parts I & II (Bristol Old Vic); The Weather; Jack; The Arbor; Sergeant Ola (Royal Court); Two Gentleman of Verona (Northcott Exeter); The Comic Mysteries (Greenwich Theatre / Oxford Stage Company tour); School For Wives (English Touring Theatre); Black Sail White Sail (The Gate / Sphinx tour); Don Quixote (Croydon Warehouse); Celestina (Actors Touring Company); The Government Inspector; Cyrano De Bergerac (Greenwich Theatre); The Magic Carpet (National Theatre); Pinocchio (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Spring Awakening (Sheffield Crucible); The Venetian Twins (Southampton Nuffield); Stags & Hens (Liverpool Playhouse); The Merchant of Venice; Arabian Nights (Shared Experience); Bed of Roses (Hull Truck / Bush / Royal Court).
Television includes: Game of Thrones; The Bill; Holby City; Like Father Like Son; EastEnders; Harringham Harker; Mersey Beat; TLC; Macready and Daughter; Kid in the Corner; Sunburn; Peak Practice; Where The Heart Is; Soldier Soldier; Casualty; Absolutely Fabulous; The Chief; Murder Most Horrid; Smith & Jones; Brookside; Queen of Hearts; Gaskin; Blind Justice; Daniel Deronda.
Film includes: Mamma Mia!; Eastern Promises; Pure; Topsy Turvy; Secrets and Lies; In Hitler’s Shadow; The French Lieutenants Woman.
Mia has worked as an actor in numerous radio plays and readings for the BBC and other independent companies since 1985. As a composer, her work includes scores for the West End, RSC, National Theatre, television documentaries and BBC Radio.
Farzaneh
Theatre includes: Nocturnal (RADA); Tales From The Harrow Road (Soho Theatre); Birth of a Nation; The Eleventh Minute (reading) (Royal Court); The War Next Door (Tricycle Theatre); 1001 Nights Now (Northern Stage); The Shagaround (reading, Nuffield Theatre); 4 Portraits of Mother (New Vic Basement).
Television includes: The Shadow Line; The Little House; Holby City; EastEnders; Doctors; Holby City; The Fixer; Generation Kill; The House of Saddam; The Bill; Trial and Retribution; Prime Suspect; Secret Smile; Silent Witness; Afterlife; Murder Prevention; Spooks; Casualty; The Grid; Messiah II – The Promise; Walking With Cavemen.
Film includes: Pusher; Syriana.
Radio includes: Baghdad Burning; The Eleventh Minute Immigration Stories The Interview; City of Victory; Promenade Rock; One Night in Winter; Mr Acoustic Tries to Fall in Love; On the Rob.
Adela
Hara graduated from LAMDA in 2009.
Theatre includes: Britannicus (Wilton’s Music Hall); Pericles (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Uncle Vanya (Arcola Theatre / Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now (Arcola Theatre / Clean Break); Tales Of The Harrow Road (Soho Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe / tour).
Television includes: Holby City.
Writer
Federico García Lorca is regarded as one of Spain’s most treasured writers, establishing popularity in his home country when he became director of La Barraca, a touring theatre company founded by the new Republican government in 1932 as a student outreach project. During this time Lorca wrote his now most prominent plays, The House of Bernarda Alba, Blood Wedding (which was staged at the Almeida Theatre in 2005 starring Gael Garcia Bernal) and Yerma, all exploring the social conventions of rural Spanish society. In his early years Lorca developed significant relationships with leading members of Spain’s avant-garde, including Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel, publishing poetry collections such as Canciones (Songs) and Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads). In 1936, Francisco Franco's military insurrection led to the Civil War in Spain. When rebel troops occupied Granada, Lorca went into hiding at the home of a friend. He was found and arrested on 16 August, two days later he was executed.
Adaptor
Emily is Artistic Director of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, United States. In 1994 under Emily’s lead the McCarter Theatre was awarded the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Most recently, she directed the world premiere of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself & I and the world premiere of Sarah Treem’s The How and the Why. Emily has also written a number of successful plays, including Execution of Justice, Still Life (receiving 6 Obie Awards) and her latest play Mrs Packard, which was the recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award. Emily’s translations include versions of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull all of which she has directed. This season Emily is scheduled to direct the world premieres of Phaedra Backwards by Marina Carr and The Convert by Danai Gurira at the McCarter Theatre and A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Princeton University.
Director
Bijan is an Associate Director at the National Theatre where his production of Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen is currently running. Other productions at the National Theatre include Greenlandand Our Class, for which he was nominated for Best Director at the 2010 Olivier Awards. His production of Gone Too Far! at the Royal Court won the 2008 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. He was awarded the James Menzies-Kitchin Memorial Trust Award for Young Directors in 2003 and the John S Cohen Bursary at the National Theatre Studio from April 2004 – April 2005. He was Artistic Director of ATC from 2007 - 2010.
Theatre includes: Moonlight (Donmar Warehouse); The Typist (Sky Arts/ATC); Eurydice; The Brothers Size (ATC / Young Vic Theatre); Ghosts Or Those Who Return (ATC / Arcola Theatre); Tarantula In Petrol Blue (Aldeburgh); Other Hands; Flush (Soho Theatre); Party Time / One For The Road (BAC); Have I None (Southwark Playhouse).
Designer
For the National Theatre productions include: The Cherry Orchard; Greenland; Men Should Weep; The White Guard; Our Class; Mrs Affleck; Women of Troy; Philistines; The Life of Galileo; The President of an Empty Room; A Streetcar Named Desire (Olivier Award); Dealer’s Choice; Fix Up; Elmina’s Kitchen (also filmed by the BBC and transferred to the Garrick Theatre); Baby Doll (Evening Standard Award for Best Stage Designer).
Other theatre includes: Moonlight; Dimetos; The Family Reunion; After Miss Julie (Donmar Warehouse); Haunted Child; Kin (Royal Court); Fool for Love (Apollo Theatre); The Postman Always Rings Twice (West Yorkshire Playhouse / West End); Dance of Death I and II (The Royal Dramaten Theatre, Stockholm); As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe / Tokyo Globe).
Opera includes: Brief Encounter; Tosca (Houston Grand Opera).
Film work includes: Swansong.
Future projects: The Comedy of Errors (National Theatre); Private Lives (West End).
Lighting
Theatre includes: A Woman Killed With Kindness; Greenland; Beauty and the Beast; Hamlet; The Cat in the Hat; Pains of Youth; Our Class; Women of Troy (co-designed) (National Theatre); The Homecoming; King Lear; A Winter’s Tale; Merchant of Venice (RSC); Moonlight; Polar Bears (Donmar); Red Bud; Aunt Dan and Lemon; The Pride; Gone Too Far (Royal Court); How Much is Your Iron?; The Jewish Wife; Been So Long (also Edinburgh / Latitude Festival) (Young Vic); The Soldier’s Soldier’s Tale (Old Vic); Into The Woods (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Painkiller (Belfast, Lyric); The Little Dog Laughed; Three Days of Rain; The Lover; The Collection; Pinter’s People; Dickens Unplugged (West End); Spyski!; The Birthday Party (Lyric Hammersmith); Silence and Water (Filter Project / RSC / Lyric Hammersmith).
Dance includes: Pleasure’s Progress (ROH2 / tour); Cheek To Cheek (London Coliseum); Clara / Howl; Libera Me; Between The Clock and the Bed (Bern Ballett); Lay Me Down Safe; Tenderhook; Sorry For The Missiles! (Scottish Dance).
Opera includes: The Return of Ulysses (English National Opera); Recital I; Down By The Greenwood Side; Into The Little Hill; Street Scene; Seven Angels; The Lion’s Head (Opera Group).
Sound
For the Almeida: The Knot of the Heart; Through a Glass Darkly.
Theatre includes: Ivan and the Dogs (ATC / Soho Theatre); Greenland; England (National Theatre); Kursk; War Music; The Watery Part of the World; Going Dark (Sound&Fury); A Prayer for My Daughter (Young Vic); Fall (RSC / Traverse); Slippage (Rambert Dance Company); Othello; The Turn of the Screw; Uncle Vanya (Bristol Old Vic); Peter Pan; Happy Days; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dundee Rep); Coriolanus; The Changeling; The Taming of the Shrew; Julius Caesar; The Tempest; Uncle Vanya (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory).
Film includes: Max; Shadow of the Vampire; Manolete; Tomorrow La Scala; Four Last Songs; Twockers.
Television includes: Any Human Heart; Criminal Justice; Dead Set; David Attenborough’s Darwin and the Tree of Life; Sahara; The Spectre of Hope; Witness; Real Lives; The Spying Game; Wildlife on One; The Ghosts of Rwanda; The Natural World; David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals; Horizon; The Iron Duke.
Radio includes: Between the Ears.
Audio artwork and installations include: Suburban Counterpoint: Music for Seven Ice Cream Vans (LIFT / NNF10); Sky Orchestra (Fierce Festival / RSC Complete Works Festival / Sydney Festival / international tour); Dream Director (ICA / Arnolfini / tour); Listening Posts (permanent installation Cork Harbour); Paradise Omeros (Julian Isaac, Tate Modern). Dan has also produced string arrangements for Massive Attack and Alpha / Jarvis Cocker.
Dan co-directed Kursk at The Young Vic for Sound&Fury for which he is co-artistic director.
Casting
Alastair is the Deputy Head of Casting at the National Theatre.
Theatre includes: One Man Two Guvnors (Adelphi); Death and the Maiden (Harold Pinter); Juno and the Paycock (Abbey Theatre / National Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndhams); War Horse (New London); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time; Detroit; She Stoops to Conquer; Collaborators; The Kitchen; One Man Two Guvnors; The Cherry Orchard; Rocket to the Moon; Season’s Greetings; Men Should Weep; Hamlet; Earthquakes in London; Danton’s Death; After the Dance; Women Beware Women; Really Old Like 45; Our Class; The Power of Yes; England People Very Nice; Harper Regan; The Revenger’s Tragedy; War Horse; St Joan; Chatroom / Citizenship (National Theatre).
Film includes: Wall; Cubs (nominated for BAFTA Best Short Film).
Dialect
For the Almeida: Reasons To Be Pretty;A Delicate Balance; Becky Shaw;Rope;Parlour Song; In a Dark Dark House;Nocturne;The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Cloud Nine; Awake and Sing!; Big White Fog; There Came a Gypsy Riding; Tom and Viv; An Earthly Paradise; The Late Henry Moss; ID; The Mercy Seat; Camera Obscura; The Shape of Things.
Theatre includes: Absent Friends (Pinter);Saved (Lyric Hammersmith); Death and The Maiden (Pinter); Inadmissable Evidence; Anna Christie; Spelling Bee; Passion; Serenading Louie; A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse); The Faith Machine; Chicken Soup With Barley; Clybourne Park; Tusk,Tusk; Wig Out!; The Pride; (Royal Court); Blood and Gifts (National Theatre); Flare Path; All My Sons; Legally Blonde; The Little Dog Laughed; Spring Awakening; A View from the Bridge; Shadowlands; Boeing, Boeing (West End); Noughts and Crosses; The Crucible (RSC); Piaf; Frost/Nixon (Donmar West End).
Television includes: Endeavour;Little Cracker; Titanic; The Café; The Slap;Downton Abbey;Any Human Heart;Small Island; Margaret; A Short Stay in Switzerland; The Curse of Steptoe; Sincerely Yours; Fantabuloso; The Deal; Blackpool; Pierrepoint.
Film includes: My Week With Marilyn; Wreckers; Tamara Drewe; Special Relationship; Nowhere Boy; The Queen; Cheri; The Damned United; Frost/Nixon; The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas; Infamous; Dirty Pretty Things; Ladies in Lavender; The Importance of Being Earnest; Elizabeth.
Assistant Director
Monica studied Theatre Direction at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona.
As a Director: The Polygraph (Teatre Scanner, Barcelona); Far Away (University production, Barcelona).
As an Assistant Director: El Asesor (for Sergi Calleja); Nit de Radio Dos Punt Zero (Sala FlyHard, Barcelona), Greenland (Rehearsal Room Assistant, National Theatre); Fora de Joc (also Stage Manager, Teatre Capitol / Festival Grec de Barcelona); Agost (August, Osage County); El Ball (Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Barcelona).
As a translator: Black Snow (Teatre Ovidi Montllor, Barcelona).
"The production is a marvel of carefully built-up, beautifully lit atmosphere."
The Independent
Running time is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes. There will be no interval.
Latecomers may not be admitted; likewise if you leave the auditorium during the performance you may not be able to return.
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Jane Bertish
Pandora Colin
Jasmina Daniel
Amanda Hale
Seline Hizli
Sarah Solemani
Mia Soteriou
Badria Timimi
Hara Yannas
Writer Federico García Lorca
Adaptor Emily Mann
Director Bijan Sheibani
Design Bunny Christie
Lighting Jon Clark
Sound Dan Jones
Casting Alastair Coomer
Movement Aline David
Fight Director Kate Waters
Dialect Coach Penny Dyer
Assistant Director Monica Bofill