"Casa Bernardei Alba" by Federico García Lorca – returns to the stage of the Constanța theater after 50 years.

The preview of the play "Casa Bernardei Alba" by Federico García Lorca, directed by Diana Mititelu, was scheduled at the State Theatre of Constanța on April 26 and 27, at 19:00.

This production marks the return of the play to the Constanța Theatre in 2024, exactly 50 years after its premiere at the Constanța Drama and Comedy Theatre (as it was called back then) on July 12, 1974.

It is the same theatre in Constanța, and this premiere, exactly 50 years after the previous production, is one of those "serendipities," the happy coincidences that the living and truly profound art of theatre always provides.

The 2024 production of "Casa Bernardei Alba" is signed by director Diana Mititelu, who also did the sound design. The set design was created by Alexandra Budianu, and the lighting design by Cristian Niculescu.

The cast includes: Luiza Martinescu as Bernarda Alba, Laura Iordan as La Poncia, Mirela Pană as Maria Josefa, Alina Manțu as Angustias, Cristiana Luca as Magdalena, Otilia Nicoară as Amelia, Mihaela Velicu as Martirio, and Ecaterina Lupu as Adela.

The 1974 production was directed by Anca Ovanez-Doroșenco, with set design by George Doroșenco. The cast included: Marcela Sassu as Bernarda, Iolanda Copăceanu-Mugur/ Cristina Minculescu as Maria Josefa, Zoe Caraman-Ștefan as Angustias, Valentina Șambra as Magdalena, Ana Mirena as Amelia, Agatha Nicolau as Martirio, Aurora Simionică as Adela, and Valentina Bucur as La Poncia.

Bernarda Alba has decreed that reputation must be defended at all costs, even at the expense of the happiness of the eight women confined within the walls. The barred windows only allow the illusion of freedom, and money is at the base of the planned marriage between the most desired young man in the village and the oldest of the sisters. And if love has arisen in other hearts, it is merely a symptom of freedom, which must be killed at its inception in the concentration camp created over centuries of female oppression through patriarchal traditions.

"Casa Bernardei Alba" is the last of the tragedies that commentators include in what they call Federico García Lorca's "rural trilogy," alongside "Blood Wedding" and "Yerma."

Born in 1898 and executed in 1936 at the age of 38, Lorca was the most important poet, novelist, and playwright of 20th-century Spain. His work still influences many artists worldwide, speaking to the essence of the human condition.

Although he focused on theatre, being a playwright, director, and leader of the student theatre group La Barraca, funded by the republican Spanish government, he never stopped writing poetry. His works recurrently explore the indestructible link between love and death.

Additionally, the texts of Federico García Lorca show a constant interest in Moorish influences, an essential component of his Andalusian identity as a poet.

He was writing "Casa Bernardei Alba" in the summer of 1936 when the Spanish Civil War broke out. He refused to take refuge in Colombia or Mexico and chose to spend his summer at his home in Granada. He was arrested by the nationalist authorities following an anonymous denunciation and was executed without trial, with his remains never found.

Diana Mititelu graduated in Theatre Direction in 2015, with her bachelor’s show "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams, which is still in the repertoire of the State Theatre of Constanța. She continued her master's studies in Theatre Direction at the National University of Theatre and Cinematographic Arts (UNATC) in Bucharest (under the guidance of Prof. Alexandru Darie and Asist. Prof. Vladimir Anton). Her dissertation show, "The Tragedy of Man" by Imre Madách, was a success and was picked up, as part of the 9G program, by the National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale" in Bucharest.

For "Backyard Games" by Edna Mazya, which premiered at the State Theatre of Constanța, Diana Mititelu won the UNITER Award for Debut in 2021. Since then, Diana Mititelu has directed the plays "Doubt" by John Patrick Shanley, at the State Theatre of Constanța, "Measure for Measure" by William Shakespeare, at the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, and "Anatomy of a Suicide" by Alice Birch, at the "Andrei Mureșanu" Theatre in Sfântu Gheorghe.

Alexandra Budianu is a visual artist and set designer, a graduate of the "George Enescu" University of Arts in Iași and holds a Master's degree in Set Design from the National University of Theatre and Cinematographic Arts "I.L. Caragiale" in Bucharest. She uses different techniques in site-specific works inspired by the history and nature of the space used, relational art, and works inspired by her own interactions with people and the surrounding environment.

In set design, she works on dramatic theatre, experimental theatre, and puppet theatre. She has created set designs and collaborated on performances staged in alternative spaces, private theatres, and state theatres, such as: the National Theatre "Marin Sorescu" in Craiova, the Youth Theatre in Piatra Neamț, the National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale", the Art Theatre and the New Theatre in Bucharest, the "Radu Stanca" Theatre, the "Gong" Theatre and the BIS Theatre in Sibiu, the "Andrei Mureșanu" Theatre in Sfântu Gheorghe, the "Prichindel" Theatre in Alba Iulia, "Moving Homes" in Timișoara, the "Luceafărul" Theatre in Iași, the "Gulliver" Theatre in Galați, the Reactor Creative and Experimental Space in Cluj-Napoca.

The play "Alice in Wonderland", directed by Ana Crăciun Lambru, for which she created the costumes and puppets, has been nominated for the UNITER Awards 2024 in the category of "Best Puppet Theatre Production."