Relationships

Yerma and John

It is initially supportive, but then the relationship crumbles with the obsession of Yerma's fertility, and John's unbothered nature, forcing John to increasingly become distant, becoming frustrated with the spiral she went down, but is seen as betrayal through the perspective that he is unwilling to try harder. Yerma's obsession eventually leads to John wishing she got closure, like finding out he or she is infertile, just to get his wife back. The obsession completely consumed every part of her life, from family, to partners, to friends and work. Both end up descending into disloyal episodes, John's not being shown, so is depicted as insignificant towards the end, whereas Yerma's disloyalty was portrayed with a confused mindset from Yerma's point of view, showing the affect of her obsession on her sanity.

Yerma and Mary

The relationship is distanced and strained with a passive aggressive tone in conversations, whilst being emotionally cold from the side of Mary. Mary offers realism from a very traditional sense of thinking, showing tension between the characters. Because of this Yerma resents her whilst also fearing becoming like her. Mary is a conserved character, even scared or disgusted by even physical touch with Yerma, which feeds into the problem of Yerma's mental health, with her blaming herself after ruling out any possibility John was infertile. Mary as a mother figure wasn't enough of a mother figure to Yerma, not providing the mental support a family member should've done, this highlights the total need of support people need in keeping a healthy mental health.

Yerma and Helen

In the introduction of Helen, their relationship seemed very close and sisterly, even when Yerma and John looked after Helen's baby, but they start to distance when Helen does not appreciate the ability of being able to conceive. This is also highlighted with the second pregnancy, creating jealousy for Yerma, also emphasising the randomness of fertility, causing a toxic relationship through the alienation of Yerma's feelings. The blog fed into the deterioration of their relationship, as she had a "a wave of relief" after finding out Helen miscarried. Miscarriage and the isolation of Helen's feelings also showed how severely Yerma had fallen, as something as destructive as a miscarriage was undermined and almost forgotten about.

Form and Style

• minimal set, creating emphasis on the character's emotions, as well as when there is set, for example, with the baby scene, the audience is immediately drawn to the symbolism of what their life could be.
• the dialogue is hyper naturalistic, despite being in a very non-naturalistic staging, creating the atmosphere that this actually happens in real life, and should be a more prominent topic to be spoken about
• time moves chronologically, as the story spans over years, with short scenes 
• the glass box set, making the atmosphere very alienated and almost imprisoned, creating a sense that Yerma is imprisoned by her biology and, ultimately something that cannot be changed.
• the changes between scenes, this included the non-English singing, which got more and more chaotic as the play went on, reflecting Yerma's mental state.

Details of production

• Performed on 31st August 2017 at the Young Vic in London.
• Directed by Simon Stone
• Her: Billie Piper
• John: Brendan Cowell
• Mary: Charlotte Randle
• Helen: Maureen Beattie
• Des: Thalissa Teixeira 

Director's intentions

• Stone wanted to appeal more to the audience of today, so he set the play in contemporary London, this worked well with the intention of showing the modern problem of infertility
• This aligns well with another one of his intentions being universalising the experience, this was done by simply naming the protagonist 'Her' emphasising that she was a representation of what any woman could go through
• Stone also explores the societal expectations of women to start a family at the age of around 27, which is how old Yerma is around in the play
• Stone wanted to create a sense of intimacy and an uncomfortable immersion, this effect being created by the hyperrealism in the set and performance skills
• Traditional gender roles are also challenged within Yerma as the importance of child bearing women are accentuated and the ability of conceiving, gender roles are also reversed from the stereotype, as when Yerma loses her job, they then lose their house as that source of income is vital to their mortgage payments. This puts importance on the wife in the relationship, also achieving Stone's intention on showing the worth of women
• There is a focus on internal conflict, as shown by the moment where Helen realises how badly Yerma has fallen in her mental health. This is also conveyed through her exhaustion trying to conform to societal expectations
• Stone also uses the complexity of the story using ambiguity, making the audience think, also creating a longer lasting effect on the audience