STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Bernarda Alba’ Comes With Verve but Lacks Understanding, Pathos

Pioneering psychoanalyst Carl Jung once wrote that sons and daughters must eventually revolt against their parents if they are to become autonomous adults.

In “The House of Bernarda Alba,” Federico Garcia Lorca’s claustrophobic tale of an aging widow and the daughters she dominates, there is a real need for revolution. Bernarda’s daughters, living in a fog of corrupting power, sexual repression and cloistered emotions, need to overthrow their mother, at least figuratively, to get on with their lives.

Lorca doesn’t make it easy. His lyrical drama--built, in texture and form, on the ideal of Greek tragedy--lets the daughters simmer in this bitter stew while the audience is asked to consider the limits of familial bonds, the charged vitality of male-female relationships and the liberating nature of eroticism. Even the denouement, with Bernarda howling against fate and the man who has disrupted her home, finds her in control while her daughters’ resentment grows.

At Cal State Fullerton, director Ziad Hamzeh realizes that this adds up to tension and more tension, and he works it for all he can. With an array of hyper-performances, his production does come away with a certain untempered, superficial verve. But that is not nearly enough to satisfy Lorca’s needs.

What this treatment doesn’t have is a layering of personality and pathos, or a complete understanding of the super-realism that marks much of Lorca’s writing, including “Bernarda Alba.” Without these elements, the play loses much of its evocative tone and the characters’ frustration becomes unconvincing.

Much of the problem comes down to the acting. As with so many young performers, there is energy aplenty, but often the portrayals don’t go beyond that obvious thrust. We can tell that all these maturing girls are desperate for love, sex and freedom, but the actresses’ presentation doesn’t help us comprehend why.

For one thing, Hamzeh should have asked for more distinction in the individual approaches. Almost all of the portrayals seem cut from the same overly colorful cloth; it is difficult to see where one daughter ends and the next begins. Lorca’s writing gives the necessary distinctions and should be studied more closely.

The production does score points on the technical side, though. Eugene MacDonald’s minimalist set imbues everything with an appropriately trapped feeling and the colors (mourning blacks and the bone whites of Spain) are correct. Gail Lennox’s depressively dark costumes also work well, and Abel Zeballos’ makeup, so crucial with this cast of mostly young women, is effective.

‘THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA’

A Cal State Fullerton production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s drama. Directed by Ziad Hamzeh. With Carol Van Natta, Tiffanie Noelle Smith, Renee Simoneau, Giselle Rubino, Anne James, LaAnn Slough, Signe O’Rourke, Heidi C. Frembling, Rosemary Petersen, Laura Berkley, Julie Thompson, Kathie Kennings, Sylvia Hunter, Jeani Finnerty, Llana Rogel and Samantha L. Hadfield. Set by Eugene MacDonald. Lighting by Patty Takahashi. Costumes by Gail Lennox. Makeup by Abel Zeballos. Music and sound by Michael Coleman and John R. Fisher. Plays Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. at the campus’s Arena Theater, Fullerton. Tickets: $3 and $4. (714) 773-3371.