Abigail Priestley

The Young Vic’s 2016 adaptation of Yerma is vastly different from the quintessentially Spanish tragedy by Federico García Lorca, so much that if it weren’t for the play’s title, one would have a hard time recognising it as an adaptation of the classic. Simon Stone has re-written Yerma for the London stage.

Lorca’s Yerma – Spanish for barren, tells the story of a married woman driven mad by her inability to conceive, which completely ruins her relationship with her husband and ultimately ruins her as a woman.

The social conventions of the period are central to the plot. Set on the brink of civil war in rural Andalusia, at a time and in a society where a woman’s sole obligation was as wife and as mother, Yerma is left inconsolable by her failed sense of duty and is blamed by other women and men for not being able to get pregnant. By the end of the play, her psychological struggle becomes so great that she strangles her husband to death.

By contrast, Stone’s ‘adaptation’ is devoid of all its Spanish character. From rural Spain to present-day London, Stone presents us with a contemporary take on Lorca’s heroine; a lifestyle blogger who seemingly has it all, but slowly falls into psychological chaos in desperate pursuit of her dead, impossible dream of having a child.

Interestingly, Stone decided to use a choral Spanish, folk-like soundtrack in between scenes as well as maintaining the play’s original Spanish title. Whilst perhaps a subtle nod at the play’s origins, this felt very out of place, having no relevance to the new contemporary setting nor the style of this adaptation.

So, why does this matter? As I see it, an adaptation must, or at least attempt to, retain the core qualities associated with the original in order to do justice to the playwright and his work. Whilst some have wondered whether Yerma is a timeless and universal tale, I would argue that it is the play’s context and societal imperatives that makes the play and its themes of frustrated motherhood so poignant.

Lorca’s work transformed him into a Spanish national icon, specifically associated with rural Andalusia and the Civil War- Yerma being the work most directly associated with his assassination in 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War. Yerma, in its original form, publicly challenges Catholicism and the strict sexual morality of Spanish society. Not only that, but Lorca’s writing style is very distinct. As a poet-dramatist, his writing is very lyrical and figurative, including song woven between the dialogue. He claimed Yerma was a ‘tragic poem divided in three acts and six scenes’.

“It’s my fate and I’m not going to pit my strength against the force of the sea.”

“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.”

To remove his work from a context which is so central to his story in an attempt to make it more accessible or to give it ‘contemporary’ flavour is to strip the play of its Spanish identity. To do this is to do a disservice to this radical playwright who sought to challenge, discomfort, and make change – defining qualities that have made Lorca and his work so significant to Spanish culture and literary heritage. Stone’s Yerma is so loosely related to Lorca’s Yerma for it to be truly considered an adaptation. Rather, Lorca’s Yerma was an inspiration for Stone’s Yerma.

Differences aside, I would strongly recommend watching the Young Vic’s version of Yerma. Whilst Stone’s new tale is very unlike its original, Billie Piper’s performance as Yerma is heart-wrenching and unmissable.