Following Olivier Award-winning revivals of Cabaret and A Streetcar Named Desire, Rebecca Frecknall makes her directorial debut at the National Theatre with Alice Birch’s (Normal People) radical version of Federico García Lorca’s modern masterpiece, The House of Bernarda Alba. The production features composition by Agency Client Isobel Waller-bridge. Olivier Award-winner Harriet Walter (Succession) plays the formidable matriarch, guarding her reputation against the rising tide of her family’s desires in this pitch-black drama exploring the consequences of oppressing women. Forced to live under their mother’s tight grip as they mourn their father’s death, can five sisters survive when young Adela dares for passion and freedom? Check out our review round-up below.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Upcoming “Isobel Waller-Bridge’s haunting soundtrack, blending music with the daughters’ stifled cries, is superb”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ London Theatre “Harriet Walter anchors a wrenching tragedy of female oppression”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Timeout “a powerful parable about the dangers of policing female desire”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Telegraph “Harriet Walter is formidable as the icy matriarch at the centre of a play staged here as a horror show of the mind”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ WhatsOnStage “superb night of theatre, a new look at a difficult but always timely play”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Arts Desk “never has this satire on police brutality felt so bitingly relevant”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ iNews “never fails to hit the mark”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Financial Times “In a terrific ensemble, Isis Hainsworth’s mutinously sensual Adela, Rosalind Eleazar’s sad, pinched Angustias and Lizzie Annis’s desperately jealous Martirio stand out, together with Thusitha Jayasundera’s all-seeing housekeeper”
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gay Times “an impressive show, but certainly not one for the faint-hearted”
⭐⭐⭐ Broadway World “the doubly shocking denouement will live long in the memory” ⭐⭐⭐ The Guardian “Harriet Walter rules as Lorca” ⭐⭐⭐ The Independent “Harriet Walter is chillingly composed” ⭐⭐⭐ The Stage “Challenging”
Agency Client Isobel Waller-Bridge is represented by Maeve Bolger.