House of Bernarda Alba: relationships between performers and audience

Performance Techniques in ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’

As a play steeped in symbolism, performers must skilfully convey the underlying messages to the audience. For instance, the use of colour in costumes (e.g., Adela’s green dress symbolising her rebellion and lust for life), props and set design (e.g., Bernarda’s cane representing her oppressive authority), and staging (e.g., the confined interiors of the house elucidating the oppressive atmosphere).
Performers should be well-versed in Spanish culture of the time to effectively represent the strict societal norms to the audience, which are fundamental to the play’s themes.
Characters’ blocking and spatial relationships on stage could be used to visually represent their relationships and power dynamics, deepening audience understanding. For example, distancing Bernarda from her daughters on stage can reflect her emotional distance, and placing her at a higher level could depict her authoritarian position.
Non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, body language, and gestures could enrich the audience’s understanding of characters’ internal conflict, oppressive environment, hidden desires, and power dynamics. For instance, Adela’s vivacious movements in contrast with Martirio’s restrained gestures.

Direct audience address used at certain crucial moments, such as María Josefa’s monologues, can create shock and engage the audience more deeply.
The performer’s ability to convey the intense emotionality of the play is vital to engage the audience at a visceral level. Effective representation of characters’ desperation, longing, repression, and rebellion should elicit empathetic responses from the audience.
Deploying dramatic irony – having the audience know more than one or more characters (e.g., Adela’s relationship with Pepe) – intensifies audience involvement as they anticipate the tragic consequences.
The build-up of sexual tension and subsequent conflicts provides an intense drama that engages the audience throughout, even though physical representations of sexuality may not be explicit.
The climactic tragic end, heightened with Adela’s passionate defiance, Martirio’s bitter disillusionment, and Bernarda’s brutal imposition of authority, would leave the audience contemplating the dire consequences of unyielding repression and societal norms.