It was adapted into a movie in 1987 and into an English-language Made-for-TV Movie in 1991.
The characters are:
- Bernarda Alba - rules her household with an iron fist and a wooden cane but turns a blind eye to the "storm" in every room within the house.
- Angustias - the eldest daughter, who inherited a substantial amount of money from her father, Bernarda's first husband.
- Magdelena and Amelia - the two middle daughters
- Martirio - the second youngest daughter, who is afraid of men and considers herself very ugly. She is secretly in love with Pepe El Romano.
- Adela - the youngest daughter, who carries on a secret affair with Pepe El Romano and longs to be free from Bernarda's control
- Maria Josefa - Bernarda's senile mother, who is usually locked upstairs in the house.
- La Poncia - the knowledgeable maid of the Albas, who has worked for Bernarda for 30 years. She advises Bernarda and the daughters but her good advice is not always heeded.
- Pepe El Romano - the never-seen suitor of Angustias. He has an affair with Adela.
This play provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Bernarda herself isn't a pleasant parent. She does have the excuse of Maria Josefa being quite similar when she grew up, but if anything has been worse.
- The Cassandra: Poncia constantly tells Bernarda that something bad will eventually happen with her daugthers, but she just ignores her. Come to the end of the play, both her and Martirio's actions cause Adela to kill herself.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Calling the old woman out, rather, in the climax of the play by Adela.
- Chromosome Casting: A female example.
- Driven by Envy: Martirio's antagonistic actions against Angustias and Adela are because she has a crush on Pepe as well, and the former is getting married with him and the latter is having an affair with him.
- Driven to Suicide: Adela, when she thinks that Pepe is dead.
- Evil Is Petty: Bernada's following of tradition at everybody's expense drives her into this.
- Evil Matriarch: Bernarda fits this to a tee.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry - Mainly between Martirio and Adela. Martirio also has one with Angustias due to her being engaged to Pepe.
- Hate Sink: Bernarda has no positive traits and fuels the suffering of the other characters.
- Jerkass: Bernarda and Martirio later on.
- Karma Houdini: Bernada gets literally no punishment for her crimes, beyond having a cane snapped. It's infuriating to say the least.
- Kick the Dog: Bernarda has many. Notably forcibly wiping the makeup off of Angustias, cruelly locking up Maria Josefa and cheering when the town attacks a local girl for killing the baby she had out of wedlock. The film version even has her join the mob and participate in the violence directly.
- Meaningful Name: Pretty much everyone:
- Ethimologicallly, "Bernarda" means with the strenght of a bear. Her last name, "Alba", is related to her obsession of making her family seem as "normal" as possible.
- "Adela" can be translated as "with a noble spirit"
- "Martirio" is a litteral translated to "martyrdom", which is fitting because of how hateful and unsensitive she is.
- "Angustias" is translated to "anguish". She is ugly, old, negative and Pepe is only going to marry her for her money.
- "Magdalena" is someone who tends to cry, which is a direct reference to Mary Magdalene, a bible character who brusts out in tears in sad situations.
- "Amelia", fitting for her name, is energetic.
- "Poncia" is a reference to the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea Pontius Pilate, which is fitting considering she is the one who actually cares about what the girls go through instead of Bernarda.
- Parental Substitute: Poncia is more of a mother to the girls than Bernarda herself.
