A Sense of Wanting

Subject: A Meditation of Yerma

I waited this long to write my meditation on Yerma this week, because I wanted to see how my classmates responded to the play. Personally, I was extremely critical of it, however I thought maybe I was being too harsh about it all. Apparently I wasn't though. It seems fair to say that all of us saw something lacking in the performance. I went to see the Saturday production, which started shaky and generally remained shaky throughout. I had two major problems with the production: the acting and the singing.

In my eyes, Yerma was almost a psuedo-musical and, as we agreed in class, music was a key element of the production; it could make or break it. The composition of the music was well done - especially incorporating the folk twang and acoustic guitar - however the vocals were what threw me off so much. I couldn't understand why the actors chose to use traditional choral voices, rather than rougher, country-like voices; they seemed almost too trained for their characters. Christina Cornevin, the actress who played Delores, mastered her voice the best, I believe. Though she by no means hit all her necessary notes, she did not strain to sound perfect. Her voice fit her character beautifully. However, over all, the actors were not able to reach notes and seemed to break character when singing.

This was also portrayed in Yerma's facial expressions while she sang. There was one emotion that, though fitting for the character, was constant on her face. It seemed as if Ellen knew she needed to have emotion during the songs and knew the words to sing, however she never put the two together. Sometimes her hand gestures were fitting, - cradling an invisible baby in her arms was very effective - but overall I was disappointed with Yerma. I identified with her so much more in the book. I found myself pitying Juan and wishing a better life for him rather than Yerma, a thought never conceived while reading the text.

This fact was mainly due to Juan's acting and ability to truly take on his character. Renay really impressed me, and both Renay and Ellen's ability to scream so close to one another comfortably was no less than admirable. In my opinion, the performance I saw was carried on Renay's nervous but well acted shoulders.

(Author's Note: Please forgive my lack of technical terms when it comes to the vocals. I know little about music other than what my ear tells me.)