On Tuesday the 16th of January, our Year Thirteen Spanish class took a short trip to the Cervantes Theatre, a charming gem hidden behind a row of quaint café shops near Southwark. Quite different in size from the John Jenkins Hall, this small, homely theatre has a lovely, welcoming atmosphere that makes it stand out.

We were there to see a play, La Casa de Bernarda Alba, one of the best renowned dramas of the celebrated Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, which he completed only two months before his assassination in 1936 at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The play follows Bernarda Alba, a newly widowed mother of five daughters, who rules the household with an unwavering iron fist and mandates that her daughters observe eight years of solemn mourning. Tensions rise as the girls grow restless, and the eldest sister's engagement to the mysterious Pepe el Romano, who never appears on stage, introducing many themes of jealousy, freedom, and gender into the play.

We had studied the work in class at the end of Year Twelve, but seeing it live in the cosy ambience of a theatre with fewer than 100 seats, the actors mere feet away, provided an unforgettable immersive experience in which the characters and drama came to life. Nonetheless, having studied it beforehand made it much easier to follow the quickly-moving plot as the actors spoke only in rapid bursts of Spanish.

We left the theatre feeling very satisfied and would wholeheartedly recommend this theatrical experience to anyone with an interest in Hispanic culture or a desire to see the brilliant work of these actors at an affordable price. The Cervantes theatre, though modest, proved great stories can be told in the most intimate settings, leaving a lasting impression on all fortunate enough to witness its charm.

Shuayb and Joseph, Year Thirteen