Teatro Dei Borgia presents : Inside Yerma

Half way through Gianpiero Borgia’s re-imagining of Lorca’s Yerma—a tragic piece about the obsessive longing of a childless and unhappily married woman—comes a moment so surreal that it might have appealed to the Spanish poet’s some-time lover, Salvador Dali. Four washerwomen, who have been gossiping away in Italian while the husband of the eponymous heroine translates for the audience, suddenly break into an a cappella rendition of 70s afro-pop hit 'Soul Makossa.'

It is one of few moments where Inside Yerma falls flat. And when a play has this many good ideas, it’s easy to excuse the occasional bad one. The production revolves around a simple, intriguing idea: doing away almost entirely with set and scenery, Inside Yerma instead takes place not within a landscape but a soundscape, and is probably the only ‘straight’ play at this year’s Fringe that gives a starring role to a DJ.

Performed on a bare stage with a black backdrop, the only props here are seven simple white chairs, which double up as babies, bags, umbrellas and more. The DJ supplies music and conventional sound effects, while the cast’s rhythmic stomping, clapping, clicking and chanting provide an interesting counterpoint to the dialogue.

It’s a bold concept, and for the most part it works. On several occasions the background noise drowns out the actors’ lines, a real shame since even in translation Lorca’s verse is often breathtakingly powerful. It’s also a fairly out-there experience, even for the Fringe. But when it does work, Inside Yerma offers an intriguing and pleasantly surreal reinterpretation of a familiar story.