Oct 95 min read

Melissa Jones and Frantic Muse Productions Present All-Female Cast in The House of Bernarda Alba

Actress and Producer Melissa Jones is the founder of theatre company Frantic Muse Productions. Her debut theatre production, The House of Bernarda Alba, which will be performed at Flow Studios in Camperdown from 2-17 November, is directed by theatre veteran Kim Hardwick and features an all-female cast of 10 for a short, sharp run.

First-time producer Melissa Jones is excited to bring her debut offering to Camperdown. We discussed the forthcoming production with Melissa (but skirted around the Spanish Inquisition!).

All-women's cast of The House Of Bernarda Alba — Linda Nicholls-Gidley, Carmen Lysiak, Teodora Matovic, Romney Hamilton, Sarah Chadwick, Estelle Davis, Melissa Jones (Producer), Jo Booth, Brea Macey, Lucinda Jurd and Lucy Lock. Photo: Holly Mae Steane Price

First-time producer Melissa Jones is excited to bring her debut offering to Camperdown. We discussed the forthcoming production with Melissa (but skirted around the Spanish Inquisition!).

In what era is The House of Bernarda Alba set and how have you gone about creating the setting at Flow Studios?

“Flow Studios feels like it was made for The House of Bernarda Alba. Director Kim Hardwick has a distinct vision for the play, and I know I am in remarkable hands with her at the helm.

“She definitely won’t be setting the piece in a certain time or culture. While there may be a nod to its Spanish provenience, I doubt we’ll see flamenco dancers or castanets! There will be music in this production and Rowan Yeomans and Elke Rea (both sound designers) have set the piece against a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack."

“To be born a woman is the worst punishment in the world” is the play’s title phrase. What is the context and its relationship to the story.

“During the playwright’s (Federico García Lorca) lifetime in early 20th-century Spain, gender roles were rigidly defined. Society placed men in positions of power while women were often relegated to domestic spheres. This strict division limited opportunities for personal expression and independence.

“Presumably he wrote Bernarda to represent Franco in the underlying simmer to the Spanish Civil War. As we delve into Lorca’s world, we uncover not just stories but also powerful commentaries on society itself - whispers from history that still echo today.

“I am so excited for this production, there is such a buzz about it! Lorca's epic masterpiece of tyrannical oppression, sexual tension and desire asks the question: under their mother's suffocating control and in the midst of grief for their late father, will the five Alba sisters be able to endure if Adela rebels for love and independence?”

10 actors are involved

“There are 10 cast members who play 10 characters. Any other characters will be voiced off-stage or depicted through alternative theatre tropes. We have secured the most amazingly talented cast to depict Lorca’s all-female characters who navigate a world that demands conformity, sacrificing their desires for the sake of family honour and tradition, all of which are tyrannically enforced by the matriarch of the Alba family.

“Bernarda (who will be played by veteran of film, theatre and TV, Sarah Chadwick) embodies authoritarian control over her daughters’ lives by suppressing their individuality. Her oppressive reign highlights the struggle against patriarchal dominance.”

Frantic Muse Productions endeavour to give a greater voice for female creatives. Does this mean you work primarily (exclusively?) with female scriptwriters and directors, and are all your principle actors women?

“Frantic Muse is all-inclusive but it did come about to create more opportunities for female creatives because quite frankly, we are an over-subscribed bunch. I think I created her (Frantic Muse) because I got tired of seeing an 85% male-identifying casting call most days. I birthed her out of the frustration of feeling there was a lack of opportunities for women of a certain age.”

Frantic Muse is an unusual name, it sounds like the title of an Alfred Hitchcock film. What was the inspiration?

“Funny you should ask that, I relaunched the branding for her (Frantic Muse) early last year and kicked off with a Hitchcock-inspired photoshoot. The name came about because I am always frantically trying to put art on, or busy writing, collaborating, performing or learning lines - as the founder of Frantic Muse the name came about quite organically.”

What other creative pursuits is Frantic Muse currently working on?

“I have a million things in the pipeline, some of which are in pre-production and some which are at the idea stage. I have a vision to bring the story of the ‘Centaur’ to film. It’s a story few Australians are aware of. My great Uncle Andrew (Dick) Gunning perished on it along with hundreds of other medical and army personnel in the second world war, he was 22.

“It was controversial at the time because the Centaur was an Australian hospital ship (and clearly marked as such) and yet the Japanese torpedoed it under the cover of darkness (at 4.10am) without warning, off the coast of Brisbane. My Aunty Mary (Dick’s niece) has kept all his letters he had sent home to his mother days before he died, his words hold such hope for the future – it’s heartbreaking to read them.

“She recently handed everything over to me. So, I guess it’s a little promise I’ve made to her and an Uncle I’ve never met to honour his memory. It’s an ambitious idea, and we’d need a bucket load of funding for this one obviously, it’s not an ‘overnight’ kind of project – but I think there would be an audience for this.”

three ladies in corsets — Melissa Jones (centre) with actresses from Frantic Muse hamming it up during a photo shoot.

Any film or television work in the pipeline?

“Frantic Muse has three short films in the can – one is fully completed - ‘Chambers’ which I have collaborated with an amazing writer and director by the name of Matt Charleston on. The other two, ‘The Sapling’ is in post-production and ‘The Art of Diplomacy’ is in pre-production. The latter two are collaborations with film-maker and director Kacey Baker of whom I am a huge fan.

“I’ve also written a 6-part TV series titled ‘A Second Spring’ that I am working on finding a home – I have two female producers onboard who are guiding me, one of which is fellow actor and friend Angel Cecil. A proof of concept is due to be filmed in quarter one next year; again Kacey has signed on for this.

“It’s about a typical Australian couple, busy embarking on the journey of mid-life. Together they are navigating self-empowerment, second chances, infidelity, mid-life sexual awakenings and ... the BIG M! It’s a candidly refreshing deep dive into the dynamics of marriage, friendship circles and the people we inherit when we break up. A splice of married life through a forthright, hilarious and honest lens.”