TEHRAN – “The House of Bernarda Alba”, a firm favorite with Iranian directors, is drawing Iranian theatergoers to the main hall of Azadi Tower, one of Tehran’s nostalgic sites. 

Federico Garcia Lorca’s famous play is being directed by Danial Arbabi, who enjoys renowned director Qotbeddin Sadeqi’s company as assistant director in this production.

The three-act tragedy was published in 1936 as “La Casa de Bernarda Alba: drama de mujeres en los pueblos de Espana” (subtitled “Drama of Women in the Villages of Spain”). It constitutes the third play of Lorca’s dramatic trilogy which also includes “Blood Wedding” and “Yerma”, and it was first produced in Buenos Aires in 1945.

The play tells the story of a repressive and domineering widow who forces her five unmarried daughters to remain in mourning for their father, sequestered with her on the family estate, for eight years. Frustrated and angry, the women respond in their individual ways to their mother’s cruelty, and the play ends in violence.

There are at least two Persian translations of the play, one by prominent Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlu and another by veteran translator Najaf Daryabandari.

The play has also been staged by many Iranian directors, one of which is Ali Rafiei whose performance was selected as the best play of the year by the Critic and Theatrical Writers Society of the Iranian Theater Forum in 2019.

His skills in staging “The House of Bernarda Alba” were portrayed in the documentary “Behind the Walls of This House” directed by Leila Jafari.

Earlier in January, director Mahtab Golkar’s troupe performed the play based on a Persian translation by Najaf Daryabandari at Tehran’s Da Theater.

Arash Amiri directed “The House of Bernarda Alba” at Tehran’s Erfan Hall in December 2022.

Photo: A poster for “The House of Bernarda Alba”. (Tiwall/Aida Azimi)

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