Federico Garcia Lorca's was born at the end of 19th century. He grew up in a rural area in Southern spain. Lorca's family soon became wealthy and they moved to the city of Granada. That had a major influence on Lorca's whole persona. Lorca found himself to be homosexual, growing interest in literature and the arts. Lorca's writing is strongly influenced by the Catholic society the writer lived in and it's principles did not appeal to Lorca. Lorca was murdered at the age of 38 by Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War.
About the play
Yerma is a three act tragedy from Federico Garcia Lorca. The main character is Yerma, an isolated housewife longing to become a mother. Yerma is not a woman's name but an adjective normally referring to barren land. Yerma's problem lies not within her infertility but in her husband, Juan, who does not want children. Out of honour and loyalty towards her husband Yerma sacrifices her own happiness. Due to marital fidelity Yerma is denying her desire for Victor. Her unfulfilled longing is intensifyed by Yerma's childhood friend Maria who is constantly pregnant. Yerma focuses on themes of moral, isolation, fear, maternity, obsession, upbringing.
Washerwomen in the play
My role within the play is to develop the character of a Washerwoman. Lorca named Washerwomen a group of women gossiping about Yerma. He did not have individual names for the women merely because they represent a team that intensifies Yerma's frustration. They are a group of village women who wash other people's laundry for a living. I imagine them as very down-to-earth characters who have little or no ambition in life so they spend most of their day gossiping. They know about Yerma's problems and wonder why she hasn't got a baby with Juan. The washerwomen have also seen Yerma with Victor and are now gossiping about Yerma desiring Victor. In a way, Washerwomen are the reason Yerma killed her husband. Washerwomen made the matters worse and increased Yerma's humiliation. The chorus judges Yerma and symbolises the society back in the day when people were very traditional. Washerwomen represent the major role of a woman in 1930's Spain that is to be a child bearer and take care of the household. Yerma feels worthless considering she can't fulfil her desire to become a mother. Washerwomen also comfort Yerma saying that Juan is the one who does not live up to the expectations of society.
On the very first week of Yerma we focused on the play and the characters in it. The first class was Contact Improvisation where we rolled on each others bodies and did some contact improvisation. What is interesting is that there was always a leader and a follower. Sometimes it was chosen and the A and B changed roles but other times it was not decided but became evident naturally. We were using each other bodies to create movement material and it was all purely technical.
Then in a group we discussed the play and talked about the main themes and characters in the play. Our idea of Yerma is still very vague and we are just getting into the characters and the relationships between them. For example, we did some gestural work on the washerwomen that we modernised into office women and created a scene that was interlinked, i.e. how women get to work on a train, car, metro and how they use modern communication tools, i.e. email, phone to pass on the gossip.
On the first week we thought of a modernised Yerma and how it is related to nowadays. Nowadays there ARE women who can't get pregnant and women who do not leave an abusive relationship. Even though women have the freedom of choice the problems still exists. Also, we talked about how maternity is something deeply important to a woman and what yearning Yerma must have felt since she her desire was not fulfilled. That was also written beautifully in the play how women are hollow without a baby. I believe every woman experiences a maternal instinct at some point in their lives.
We were creating movement that was gestural and literal, also very simplistic. There was little or no structure in our work during the first week our ideas focused on the characters and the relationships between them. Washerwomen agreed from the start that they are a unit.
The Washerwomen
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