TAPAS & THEATRE
Spanish Trip Review
On Thursday 16 March, fourteen Spanish students and two Spanish teachers watched a production of Lorca’s play La Casa de Bernarda Alba at the Cervantes Theatre in London.
We travelled by coach to a traditional Spanish restaurant in Southwark to get a flavour of the Spanish cuisine. The tapas were delivered in small dishes, and we each took what we wanted from these miniscule plates. Despite it being a new experience for me, I very much enjoyed taking small samples of everything. My favourite dish was definitely the chorizo a la parrilla, but I also loved the albóndigas, the patatas bravas, and I was relieved to discover pimiento de padrón was not that spicy at all.
Afterwards, we went to the theatre where we waited a short while before watching the play. Whilst the auditorium itself was much smaller compared to most theatres, this helped bring the play to life as the stage was inches away from the seats, thus the play literally unfolded before our eyes. The actresses (all characters on stage were female) conveyed the anger, tension and passion felt in the play. The play began with two actresses screaming – which, I admit, had an unsettling dramatic impact. Shortly afterwards, we heard the voice of the actress playing Bernarda for the first time – most were taken aback at how deep it was, a reflection of how Bernarda takes on traditionally masculine characteristics. I remember seeing key moments on the stage that we had studied in class, such as the dramatic moment when a fan is thrown to the floor and of course, the drama of the tragic outcome at the end of the play.
The play was performed entirely in Spanish, which presented some difficulties. Naturally the greatest challenge of all was understanding everything being said in Spanish. As the play progressed we tuned in our listening ear and were able to relate the unfolding plot on the stage to our work in the classroom.
On the whole, it was an excellent production. I thoroughly enjoyed it all and we now have a consolidated awareness of themes and characters of Lorca’s masterpiece, set in a village of Andalusia in the 1930s.
Malcolm, Lower Sixth Form
