Intertwined with other complex images and themes, Bernarda's house serves on a number of levels as the central image in The House of Bernarda Alba.

In order to arrive at an understanding of the complex images and themes in Federico Garcia Lorca's last play, The House of Bernarda Alba, one must start with the title. Lorca did not call his play Bernarda Alba, or even The Family of Bernarda Alba. (The latter would have been especially appropriate given that, like many of the great tragedies of classical Greece, the play focuses on a lineage and the impact of characters' actions on subsequent generations.) The title, The House of Bernarda Alba, draws attention both to Bernarda's "house" in the sense of her household or lineage, and to the physical space of the house itself, which serves as the central image of the play.

From his experience directing a...