The House of Bernarda Alba

The House of Bernarda Alba was Garcia Lorca's last play, completed on 19 June 1936, two months before his assassination during the Spanish Civil War.

[2][3] The play centers on the events of a house in Andalusia during a period of mourning, in which Bernarda Alba (aged 60) wields total control over her five daughters Angustias (39 years old), Magdalena (30), Amelia (27), Martirio (24), and Adela (20).

The deliberate exclusion of any male character from the action helps build up the high level of sexual tension that is present throughout the play.

Upon her second husband's death, domineering matriarch Bernarda Alba imposes an eight-year mourning period on her household in accordance with her family tradition.

Her sisters are jealous, believing it unfair that plain, sickly Angustias should receive both the majority of the inheritance and the freedom to marry and escape their suffocating home.

Youngest sister Adela, stricken with sudden spirit and jubilation after her father's funeral, defies her mother's orders and dons a green dress instead of remaining in mourning black.

Appalled that Angustias would defy her orders to remain in a state of mourning, Bernarda violently scrubs the makeup off her face.

Adela shows the most horror when the family hears the latest gossip about how the townspeople recently tortured a young woman who had delivered and killed an illegitimate baby.

The closing lines of the play show Bernarda characteristically preoccupied with the family's reputation, not registering that Adela and Pepe had an affair due to her moral code.