The House of Bernara Alba (La casa de Bernarda Alba) is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Along with Blood Wedding and Yerma it forms Lorca's 'Rural Trilogy'. Lorca's last play, it was completed on June 19, 1936, several months before Lorca's execution, and first performed in 1945. The play centers on the events of an Andalusian house during a period of mourning, in which the title character (age 60) wields total control over her five daughters Angustias (39 years old), Magdalena (30), Amelia (27), Martirio, (24), and Adela (20). The housekeeper (La Poncia) and Bernarda's mother (María Josefa) also live there. The deliberate exclusion of any male character from the action is highly significant as it helps to build up the high level of sexual tension that is present throughout the play. Pepe "el Romano", the love interest of Bernarda's daughters and suitor of Angustias, never actually appears on stage.