About the work
Federico García Lorca wrote "Yerma" in 1934 as the second part of his so-called Andalusian trilogy about women in the Spanish countryside, following "Blood Wedding" and preceding "The House of Bernarda Alba". He described the play himself as a "tragic poem"; it premiered on 29 December 1934 at the Teatro Español in Madrid, with Margarita Xirgu in the title role.
Plot
Yerma has been married for two years to the farmer Juan, whom she wed at her father's wish rather than out of love, and increasingly suffers under her childlessness. While Juan resigns himself to the situation, she searches desperately for a way out, from pilgrimages to superstitious rituals, growing inwardly closer to the shepherd Victor, her first love. When Juan finally admits he never wanted a child, Yerma strangles him in a burst of despair.
Cultural significance
Like "Blood Wedding", "Yerma" combines everyday prose with lyrical choral passages and addresses the social predicament of women in Catholic, rural Spain of the 1930s. Its German-language premiere took place at the Schauspielhaus Zürich on 15 April 1944, and the play remains among Lorca's most frequently performed works.