Soon to reach Welsh National Opera’s stage is Osvaldo Golijov’s twice-grammy-winning opera, Ainadamar, a spine-tingling spectacle of singing, flamenco, dancing, and poetry. While the opera recounts the murder of the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, it is told through the eyes of his long-time artistic collaborator and friend, the actress Margarita Xirgu. In celebration of Ainadamar’s first performance in Wales, we look back on her life and the legacy she left behind.
Margarita Xirgu was born in 1888 in Barcelona, capital of the Catalonian region of Spain. During her lifetime she became a major figure in the history of Spanish-language theatre. She has regularly been portrayed in history as a muse for many male dramatists, but in reality, Margarita was so much more than merely an inspiration to playwrights, and worked as an actress, a director, manager, and producer in her own right. Beginning her career in the amateur theatres of Barcelona, she promoted the work of Catalan playwrights and acted in the regional Catalan language. Later in 1910, she caused outrage and scandal in her sexually conspicuous depiction of the title role of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, with costumes that exposed her midriff.
When Margarita met the young Federico García Lorca in the Summer of 1926, she was already a huge star and a leading celebrity of her day. Lorca shared his play Mariana Pineda with her, hoping that she might stage it, a historical dramatisation of the revolutionary martyr that promoted rebellion against dictatorial authority. The following year, Margarita produced the play and played the title role herself, demonstrating her courageous daring in defying the Spanish dictatorship of the time that forbade works that could be interpreted as a criticism of the regime. From then on, Margarita and Lorca became firm friends, and began a collaborative artistic relationship that resulted in Lorca’s five plays The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife, Yerma, Blood Wedding, Doña Rosita the Spinster, and his most famous and enduring work, The House of Bernarda Alba. All five works featured courageous and fiercely independent female characters, brought to life with the encouragement and support of Margarita.
However, her collaboration with Lorca was not to last. In wake of the Spanish Civil War that broke out in 1936, Margarita fled into exile with her theatre company to Latin America, while Lorca stayed behind in Spain. He was soon murdered by the Spanish Falange. Despite her grief at the loss of her homeland and dear friend, Margarita didn’t shy away from the theatre, and instead ploughed ahead and continued to act throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Margarita was essential during this time in consolidating Lorca’s plays in the dramatic repertoire, where in Spain they could no longer be performed due to their prohibition. She died in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1969.
To see Margarita immortalised on stage, experience the spellbinding world of Ainadamar, performing in Cardiff, Llandudno, Bristol, Plymouth, Birmingham, Milton Keynes and Southampton from 9 September to 22 November 2023.