What imprisons the characters of Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba is the stultifying Spanish heat and an equally unrelenting brand of Catholicism. What confines the sisters in Yusra Warsama’s new play, a free adaptation of the Lorca, is the fear of urban violence and the expectations of Islam.
The switch from Andalucía to Moss Side might sound like a stretch, but in Warsama’s hands as writer and director, it makes a lot of sense. Her all-female household lives somewhere near Manchester’s Great Western Street, next door to their dress shop and within earshot of every passing man and his every misogynistic remark. Their front room, with the plastic still on the sofa and one armchair significantly empty, feels like a refuge from danger.
Fear is not the only thing constraining them. They are also in mourning and, a fortnight after the death of her husband, Udgoon (Marcia Mantack) is asserting her matriarchal authority. She is austere and intolerant, infuriating the daughters she seeks to protect. This is not without reason; Udgoon’s experiences as a child in Somalia and as an immigrant to the UK have taught her to retreat into extreme caution.
That is little comfort to the politically sussed Aalyah (Cora Kirk) or her younger sister Suhela (Xsara-Sheneille), both trapped by frustrated sexual energy. Even big sister Mariam (Sara Abanur) is starting to question her mother’s tyranny, despite the promise of escape through marriage. It would take a lot to shake the loyalty of their housekeeper (Flo Wilson), but she also has her doubts. There is only so much pressure they can bear before somebody cracks.
Warsama’s production is commendably ambitious, even if it has more ideas than it knows what to do with as it lurches from the domestic to the poetic and switches again into abstract movement. What is good for colour and variety also disrupts the story’s momentum, making the tragedy seem less inevitable. But the live score by Tom Leah, with its beats, loops and harmonics, is excellent and the performances by a tightly focused ensemble are punchy, vigorous and messily alive.
• At Home, Manchester, until 6 April.
