Details

Yerma is a humble peasant woman, who longs for a child. In her village all her friends are raising families, but she remains childless. She tries to be light-hearted and believes that she and her husband will soon be blessed with a baby. As long as her condition, or lack of it, is temporary, she endures it and seeks to remedy it! Gradually Yerma's deep love for her husband turns to disbelief and then hate as she discovers he does not want a child. However, her own pride and honour forbid her to take pleasure or revenge with another man. Overcome with desire and frustration Yerma is driven to the ultimate crime of passion.... Lorca's story with all the simplicity, imagery and human emotion of the original, relocated to rural Northern Nigeria. Yerma is a humble peasant woman, who longs for a child. In her village all her friends are raising families, but she remains childless. Yerma's love for her husband turns to disbelief and then hate, as she discovers he has no wish for fatherhood. Trapped by her pride and an honour, that forbids her taking revenge with another man, she is driven to commit the fatal crime of passion...This colourful production is set in Africa, where Lorca's classic tale is given particular relevance by the writer Biyi Bandele. A Nigerian poet with a unique sense of theatricality and wit, Biyi adapted Oroonoko for the RSC in 1999 and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart in 1997/98.

Creatives/Company

Author: Frederico Garcia Lorca
Company(s): Chipping Norton Theatre, Fifth Amendment
Adapted by: Biyi Bandele
Director: Chuck Mike
Design: Niki Turner
Music: Juwon Ogungbe