Written in 1934, Yerma is the second of Lorca’s trilogy of rural tragedies, along with Bodas de Sangre and La Casa de Bernarda Alba. Set in a remote village in Andalusia, the drama portrays an infertile young woman whose obsession with having a child leads her to indulge in pagan fertility rites, in the face of her husband’s indifference and the stifling social environment of the village. Her desperation slowly escalates until it finally explodes in a violent dénouement. This is one of Lorca’s most passionate plays, presented here in a new translation.

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