Review: Yerma, Network Theatre

This translation of Feredico Garcia Lorca’s 1934 play introduces us to Yerma and Juan, who have been married for over two years. Yerma has yet to fall pregnant, which troubles her deeply, although Juan is content to farm his land without the expense of a child to feed. But Yerma herself is desperate. “Every woman has blood for four or five children,” she tells her pregnant friend, “and when they don’t have them it turns to venom.”

When Yerma meets a pagan woman who has borne eleven children – “Five of them died,” she points out, without much emotion – she asks how one manages to conceive. Is there a trick to it? “I don’t know anything,” the woman says. “I just lay on my back and sing.”

For Yerma, the lack of a child is all-consuming. Bearing children is the validation of a woman’s place in society, and of womanhood itself; to remain barren is not just a shameful curse, but a sign of failure. For the other women in the village, childbirth is a joyful event. One old woman who attempts to cure Yerma through prayer describes one of her successes: “She was able to make it back from the river with her shoes and underclothes stained in blood, but her face shining”. This is very clearly a play written by a man, in which the pain and perils of childbirth are never mentioned.

This new translation of Lorca’s play is by Michael Reilly, who also directs. It’s a decidedly literary interpretation, which frequently makes it hard for the actors to deliver the lines in a naturalistic manner. Occasionally Yerma’s soliloquies are in rhyming couplets; the action is punctuated by songs, accompanied by a recorded acoustic guitar (Reilly again) and by dance, with Marta Escudero’s choreography providing striking visual imagery. Dougal Patterson‘s soundtrack and Paul Evans‘ lighting design glueing the action together.

Yerma is played by Ece Leah Wilde, in a luminous performance that brings her character vividly to life. It’s a shame that her professionalism isn’t shared by the rest of the cast, several of them amateurs who act in their spare time. Poor delivery, lack of emotional investment and the inability to stand still when not speaking detract from what could have been a much more engrossing play. 

The set design by Helen Mason involves three triangular panel constructions that can be revolved and combined in different ways to represent the different scenes. But scene changes are clunky and awkward, the actors often struggling to align the panels smoothly.

The cast of thirteen includes several characters who appear only briefly. A scene of five women washing their clothes is particularly effective, with Lizzie Bennett’s stand-out performance holding the action together. The scenes in which Juan’s sisters come to live with them are particularly effective due to the performance of Camila Iturbe and Sarina Salamon as the silent sisters, condemning Yerma through facial expression alone.

This is an absorbing if somewhat one-dimensional play. The theme of Yerma’s isolation, her powerlessness against her domineering husband and her deep frustration are expertly expressed by Ece Leah Wilde, but her performance alone isn’t enough to carry the weakness of some of the supporting cast.

Written by: Feredico Garcia Lorca
Translated by: Michael Reilly
Directed by: Michael Reilly
Produced by: Sue Small
Set Design by: Helen Mason
Sound Design by: Dougal Patterson
Lighting Design by: Paul Evans

Yerma plays at the Network Theatre, Waterloo, until 13 July. Further information and tickets available here.