García Lorca

Opera’s flashy ‘Ainadamar,’ centered on the execution of Federico Garcia Lorca.

The opera, one of this century’s most gratifying, portrays the 1936 political execution of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca during the Spanish Civil War through the final minutes of actress Margarita Xirgu’s life.

The ground is breathing fire, we’re told, in “The House of Bernarda Alba,” the Spanish classic by Federico García Lorca that opened Tuesday at the National Theater in London in a ferocious new version by Alice Birch.

Poetic in ways that are vividly theatrical, this drama comes to us through an imagination shaped by the legacies of Federico García Lorca and María Irene Fornés.

For three years, a team of archaeologists has been digging in the ravine where Ms. Raya’s and Mr. Gómez’s grandfathers were buried along with about 280 other victims, including possibly the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.