About the Playwrights: The Alvarez Quintero Brothers
Serafin (1871-1938) and Joaquin (1873-1944) Alvarez Quintero were Spanish brothers who wrote plays together. They were known as the "Golden Boys of Madrid Theatre".
- Together they wrote about 200 plays.
- Their plays show the life, manners and speech of the people of Andalusia in southern Spain.
- Their popular comedies helped revive Spanish theatre. Some well-known plays: The Flowers, The Merry Heart, One Hundred Years Ago, The Galley Slave and Apple of His Eye.
About the play. A Sunny Morning is a short one-act comedy. It is set on a sunny autumn morning in a quiet corner of a park in Madrid.
[Exam Tip] — The textbook prints the surname as "Quinter"; the correct spelling is Quintero. In answers, write both first names: Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero.
Characters and Setting
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Dona Laura | a handsome, white-haired lady of about seventy, bright-eyed and sharp-witted |
| Petra | her maid, who likes to chat with the park guard |
| Don Gonzalo | an old gentleman of seventy, gouty (suffering from inflamed joints) and impatient |
| Juanito | his servant, who flirts with the nursemaids |
Setting: a retired (quiet) corner of a park in Madrid, on a sunny autumn morning. There is a bench on the right.
"Don" means sir and "Dona" means madam; "senora" is the Spanish word for madam or Mrs.
Summary, Part 1: A Quarrel on the Bench
- Dona Laura comes to her usual bench, leaning on her maid Petra. She sends Petra off to chat with the park guard and feeds the pigeons with breadcrumbs, talking to them fondly.
- Don Gonzalo arrives with his servant Juanito. He wants a bench to himself, but "his" bench is occupied by three priests. While looking for a seat he walks through the pigeons and scares them away.
- Laura scolds him. He replies rudely: "What do I care about the birds?" She calls him ill-natured; he calls her a "senile old lady" who should be home knitting.
- With no other seat free, Gonzalo is forced to sit at the far end of Laura's bench. They exchange sharp, witty remarks - about using a handkerchief as a shoe brush, about his many glasses ("I thought you were taking out a telescope"), and about hunting ("kill time - that is all you kill").
Summary, Part 2: Snuff, Poetry and a Shared Past
- Gonzalo offers Laura a pinch of snuff. Both sneeze exactly three times. Laura says aside: "The snuff has made peace between us."
- Gonzalo reads poems by Campoamor. Laura reads one aloud without glasses - "Twenty years pass. He returns. And each, beholding the other, exclaims - Can it be that this is he? Heavens, is it she?" - because she knows every word by heart.
- Gonzalo says he was a friend of the poets Espronceda, Zorrilla, Becquer and Campoamor, and that he grew up in Valencia.
- Laura mentions a villa near Valencia, among lemon and orange trees, called Maricela. Gonzalo is startled: there lived the most beautiful woman he ever saw - Laura Llorente, known as "The Silver Maiden".
- Each now secretly recognises the other, but neither admits it. Laura says Laura Llorente was her "best friend"; Gonzalo says the lover was "his cousin".
- Together they recall the old romance: every morning the young horseman tossed a bouquet up to her balcony, and every afternoon she tossed one back. Her parents wanted her to marry a merchant. One night the merchant insulted the lover; there was a duel at sunrise on the beach, the merchant was badly wounded, and the young man had to hide and then flee.
Summary, Part 3: Two Romantic Lies and a Hopeful Parting
Gonzalo's invented story. His "cousin" went to Seville and Madrid, wrote Laura many letters (which her parents must have intercepted), then in despair joined the army, went to Africa, and died a glorious death in a trench, grasping the flag of Spain and whispering Laura's name. The truth (aside): in three months he ran off to Paris with a ballet dancer.
Laura's invented story. Her "friend" waited for a year for a letter that never came. One evening she walked to the beach where he had fought, wrote his name on the sand, sat on a rock, and was swept out to sea by the rising tide. The truth (aside): she married two years later.
Each thinks, aside, that the other "lies worse than I do".
The parting. They agree to meet again tomorrow "if it is a sunny morning"; Gonzalo promises to sit on her bench and bring crumbs for the birds. Each decides not to reveal their identity: they are old and changed now, and it is better to be remembered as the black-eyed girl at the window and the gallant horseman tossing flowers.
As Laura leaves, a few violets fall. Gonzalo, trembling, stoops to pick them up; Laura turns and sees him. Aside, she says "Yes, it is he!" and he says "It is she, and no mistake." They wave farewell, quoting the poem: "Can it be that this is he?" - "Heavens, is it she?"
Central Idea
A Sunny Morning is a gentle comedy about love, memory and old age.
- Two former lovers meet by chance after many years (both are now about seventy), begin as quarrelling strangers, and end as friends.
- They recognise each other but choose to hide their identities and invent romantic stories of their past - to protect their pride and to keep the beautiful memory of their youth alive.
- The play is rich in dramatic irony: the audience soon knows who they are, while each thinks the other does not.
[Exam Tip] — 2025 asked (4 marks) about the imaginary stories both characters narrated. Give both lies and both truths: Gonzalo "died in Africa" but ran off to Paris with a ballet dancer; Laura "drowned in the sea" but married two years later.