Yerma

by Federico Garcia Lorca

Yerma had 2 performances about 24 years ago (between the 11th of October 2000 and the 21st of October 2000) at Riverside Arts Centre

The second of Lorca's rural trilogy (the other two being Blood Wedding and The House of Bernarda Alba), Yerma is the tragedy of a woman trapped in a loveless, childless marriage to the farmer Juan who takes more interest in his fields than the child his wife longs for. Trapped too, by social attitudes and conventions, Yerma is prevented from responding to another man, Victor, by taking him as her lover. The desperation she experiences is so strong she totall ensures her empty future by murdering her husband.

"Yerma" is not a real name, but a word usually applied to ther land meaning empty/barren/bare. It describes the physical and emotional emptiness of this woman. Contrasting with this is the hope and fertility of other relationships and the expectations of Spanish rural sociaty at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Lorca's work is full of passion, movement, music and strong visual images. This production will require 'ensemble' approach dealing with these in a physical sense using space, colour and image.

Apart from Yerma, ther are at least eight other speaking roles for women, which includes a 'chorus' and ranges from 'girls' to mature women. The two male roles, Juan and Victor and in the 30/40 age range.