Tamasha returns to Hampstead with a passionate interpretation of Federico García Lorca's masterpiece The House of Bernarda Alba
Bilquis Bibi rules over her household with a rod of iron and a stifling love which cages her five daughters. Like butterflies forever cocooned, they long to shimmer and show their true colours.
When her second husband dies suddenly, Bilquis agrees for eldest girl Abida to become engaged to her nephew Pappo. He brings with him the hope of love and the American dream.
Bilquis turns a blind eye to the illicit nightly visits Pappo pays to his fiancée's balcony. But what will happen when she realises that more than one daughter is staying awake for him?
Following its sell-out production of A Fine Balance in 2006, Tamasha returns to Hampstead Theatre with a passionate interpretation of Federico García Lorca's masterpiece, The House of Bernarda Alba. Set in Pakistan's fertile Punjab region, it tells a personal yet subtly political story of small town lives with global ties.
Ila Arun plays the domineering matriarch Bilquis, leading an all-female cast of nine. A singer and an actress, Ila recently starred in Bollywood blockbuster Jodhaa Akbar and hit TV show Fame Gurukul, and will soon appear as Mrs Khan No. 1 in West is West, BBC Films' forthcoming sequel to East is East.
The House of Bilquis Bibi
 |
2.2 (5) |  |
0.0 (0) |
| Venue | Hampstead Theatre (click for full venue information) |
General
| Genres | 21st Century |
| Opening | 22 July 2010 |
| Closing / Booking until | 14 August 2010 |
| Production website | http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/page/3031/The+House+of+Bilquis+Bibi/91 |
Cast & Creatives
- Author/Writer Sudha Bhuchar, adapted from Lorca
- Director Kristine Landon-Smith
Editor reviews
Average editor rating from: 5 user(s)
Inept
| Rating: | 2.0 |
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Show Review
| Review |
It’s probably a nifty idea to transpose The House of Bernarda Alba, Lorca’s fine drama of female oppression, to modern-day Pakistan. I say “probably” because this staging of Sudha Bhuchar’s adaptation is so inept it’s hard to see or hear what is happening. One might have thought director Kristine Landon-Smith, who founded British-Asian company Tamasha with Bhuchar 21 years ago, would have learned that allowing a significant part of the action to unfold at the back of the stage behind a wall wasn’t the brightest idea. Likewise, positioning a sofa so that all we can see are the backs of the actresses’ heads. The projection is poor and the blocking hapless and sometimes we fear this all-female cast will collectively run out of energy before they reach the end of a scene. |
| Written by | Fiona Mountford |
| Full review | http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-23862485-a-plot-lost-in-the-dark-in-the-house-of-bilquis-bibi.do |
Baffling
| Rating: | 1.0 |
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Show Review
| Review | The terrifying entrapment of the Lorca has been turned into a dotty household where droopy girls inexplicably jump to the orders of a petty tyrant. |
| Written by | Jermey Kingston |
| Full review | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/theatre/article2665175.ece |
Merely worthy
| Rating: | 3.0 |
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Show Review
| Review | Kristine Landon-Smith’s production strikes all the right faithful, tasteful notes, but ultimately it brings nothing new to Lorca, to Tamasha nor to British-Asian drama. It is, I’m afraid, merely worthy |
| Written by | Ian Shuttleworth |
| Full review | http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fc122284-9998-11df-a852-00144feab49a.html |
Misfires on just about every level
| Rating: | 2.0 |
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Show Review
| Review | Transposing plays from one culture to another is always tricky. But this version of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, which transfers the action from prewar Spain to modern Pakistan, misfires on just about every level. Sudha Bhuchar's text flattens out Lorca's original and Kristine Landon-Smith's joint Tamasha-Harrogate Theatre production is so poorly articulated as to be at times barely comprehensible. |
| Written by | Michael Billington |
| Full review | http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jul/27/house-bilquis-bibi-theatre-review |
Lacks nuance and depth
| Rating: | 3.0 |
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Show Review
| Review |
Tamasha, the company that last year transplanted 'Brontë to Bollywood' with Wuthering Heights, is now celebrating its 21st anniversary by taking Lorca to Pakistan. On paper it seems a good fit, and writer Sudha Bhuchar (who adapted A Fine Balance at Hampstead four years ago) is at pains to point out the parallels between 1930s Andalusia and contemporary Punjab, particularly in terms of religious suppression. However, in action the transposition is untidy, and Bhuchar's text lacks the nuance and depth of Lorca's original, even if it remains narratively faithful with the matriarch Bilquis imposing a strict period of mourning on her five desperate daughters. |
| Written by | Theo Bosanquet |
| Full review | http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8831280241984/The+House+of+Bilquis+Bibi.html |
User reviews
There are no user reviews for this listing.
To write a review please register or login.
To write a review please register or login.
Powered by JReviews
