The House of Bernarda Alba

Bernarda Alba - Gillian Smithies

(60) Obsessed by class superiority and good breeding, she would sacrifice each of her five daughters to preserve her family’s good name. With her iron dignity and some money she is a powerful force in the village. Ramrod rigid herself, she expects everyone to be the same. She is domineering, brutal and utterly self-certain with a cold smile that never leaves her face. She expects to command and to be obeyed. Everyone is expected to confirm with her suppression of the “undesirable”.

Poncia - Jill Payne

(60) A peasant servant, whose down to earth common sense is at the core of Bernarda’s mad household. Poncia is the daughter of a woman who ended up in the whorehouse. After thirty years of being Bernarda’s servant, nurse and spy she knows most of her secrets and will do anything to stop them leaking out. Her loyalty is a matter of self-preservation to stop her ending up where her mother did. She is the one in the household who doesn’t belong – Bernarda’s informant but not her confidante. Poncia has all the cunning, envy, hypocrisy and resentment of a woman who serves another. She is as much a match for Bernarda as any woman could be and pushes things further with her than anyone else dares.

Servant - Faith Powell

Like Poncia, one of the local peasants but without Poncia’s brains or abilities. She is a menial, working her fingers to the bone for scant reward. She is strong enough to be employed to act as the mad old granny’s gaoler and prevent her from escaping. There is a kind of class camaraderie between her and Poncia but there is no doubt who is boss.

Maria Josefa - Jane Walters

(80) Bernarda’s mad old mother and a dire warning to the unmarried girls of their potential fate. She is locked out of sight of the local villagers and has the intermittent shrewdness of the insane. She delivers some accurate observations wrapped up in her other ramblings. Despite her advancing years she is remarkably crafty and physically strong. The raving mad head of a rebellious family.

Angustias - Jan Tromans

(39) Is the only daughter of Bernarda’s first husband, who has died thirty years previously. A constant butt of her half-sisters, who are openly hostile to her. She is a lonely, sickly, slightly pathetic spinster, who has inherited money which gives her a chance to escape the house to marry Pepe, even though she knows he would prefer a prettier bride. Her sisters envy and resent her situation. In the end, Augustias is thwarted of her one chance of escape. The play is as much her tragedy as it is that of her youngest sister, Adela.

Magdalena - Nancy Lund

(30) Should have been an heiress herself and is the only daughter her father loved. She has to swallow the bitter pill that her own father, who she loved, has left everything to his predecessor’s child, Augustius. Resentful and angry, she is somewhat cynical, defiant and sour-tongued but also sensitive, artistic, intelligent and beautiful.

Amelia - Michelle Blake

(27) A still, placid centre at the heart of this dysfunctional family. She is the least troubled, most natural and contented of the sisters. She is closest to Martirio, constantly swapping village gossip. Emotionally, she is the most immature, squirming with embarrassment at the thought of being touched by a man.

Martirio - Lisette Henry

(24) Has a hump back, poor health and is on medication. She is agonised and frustrated because she feels great love (or desire) for Pepe. Her mother has prevented her from marrying a previous suitor who had admired her. She can be acid tongued, bitter and cunning and may have some of the seeds of madness that flow from her locked-up grandmother.

Adela - Charlotte Newton John

(20) The ardent, free-spirited youngest daughter, intolerably confined in the stifling house. With the birth of her desire for Pepe, she is utterly desperate to escape the unbearable confines of the house. Bernarda is closest to Adela and has brief moments of tenderness with her. But Adela has exuberance, exultation and ecstasy which none of the other sisters have. Adela’s transgressions with Pepe eventually bring about the tragedy of her death but they also bring her briefly but triumphantly to life.

Director - Judith Dolley

Stage Manager - Liz Thomas

Set Design and Construction - John Godliman

Lighting - Bill Payne

Sound - Mark Humble

Sound - Ian Santry

Movement - Carolyn Floyd