The Stage

The House of Bernarda Alba

Published Monday 21 September 2009 at 11:15 by Thom Dibdin

Rona Munro’s new version of the House of Bernarda Alba for the National Theatre of Scotland is powerfully told under John Tiffany’s concise direction. She updates Lorca’s original to contemporary Glasgow and sets Bernarda’s house in the heart of gangland culture.

It is a vicious and compelling shift, which maintains the original’s claustrophobia and sense of transgression while making it easily accessible to a modern audience. More to the point, it speaks with a popular voice of important contemporary issues.

Only in the final moments does Tiffany blink - when the poetry of escape and her love for gangster Peter Romanov doesn’t quite fit on the lips of Vanessa Johnson’s Adie. While his use of non-physical violence between the sisters could be sharper.

Elsewhere, however, Tiffany ensures a complete coherence to the update, with Siobhan Redmond’s vicious, powerful and multifaceted Bernarda orchestrating her daughters’ lives as she responds to the gunning down of her gangland boss husband, repositioning her family within the powerful politics over which she knows she has little control.

Laura Hopkins’ box design provides an easy shorthand for the Alba’s gaudily decorated council estate home above the bar which Myra McFadyen’s Penny runs for them. Around it, the rain constantly falls. Hopkins’ use of designer bling quickly sets the family’s social status, both within their own community and the society at large.

Assured performances all round from the 12-strong cast make this supremely watchable stuff. Louise Ludgate’s slobbish Marty and Julie Wilson Nimmo’s comprehending older half-sister Agnes are particularly strong, while Una McLean brings coherence to the potentially distancing role of Bernarda’s mother, Mary.