Approach to Lorca’s theatrical work through Social Network Theory: The House of Bernarda Alba

The House of Bernarda Alba by García Lorca has been the object of numerous philological studies in recent decades. The poet’s last work is undoubtedly a classic piece of theatre. Current digital research, both in textual marking as well as the application of Social Network Theory to drama texts, allows us to study this work quantitatively and graphically and to compare this research with the previous critical and philological studies. By marking Lorca’s theatrical work in XML-TEI language and utilising the output from programs such as Ghepi, we can see how the dramatic universe is organised as a social network that the poet wanted to express on stage. Verifying the agreement on certain aspects between the traditional studies and digital analysis and the divergence on other aspects, especially those referring to the role of women in the work, demonstrates that there are new ways of interpreting Lorca’s theatrical work as it is intended to be shown.