A Sunny Morning

A Sunny Morning

• One-act play
• Written by Spanish dramatists, Serafin Alvarez Quintero and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero
• Characters:
  • Dona Laura, about 70 years’ old lady
  • Petra, her maid
  • Don Gonzalo, about 70 years’ old man
  • Juanito, his servant
• Scene: A park in Madrid, the capital of Spain; one sunny morning

Summary:

A sunny Morning is a light comedy written by Spanish dramatists, Serafin Alvarez Quintero and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero. The play presents the reunion of two lovers now in their 70s meeting at a park who in their youth were passionate lovers but torn apart by the cruelty of fate.

The setting of the play is a sunny morning in a park in Madrid, Spain. Dona Laura, a handsome old lady of about seventy, enters the park with her maid Petra. She is happy to find her seat unoccupied. She starts to enjoy her time by feeding the pigeons the bread crumbs she has brought. Don Gonzalo, an old man of about seventy, enters the park with his servant Juanito. He is unhappy to find no bench vacant to sit on. As he walks around, he happens to scare the pigeons. Dona Laura becomes angry and shouts at Don Gonzalo, and the two people enter into a verbal fight. Don Gonzalo goes away to find some bench to sit, but still no bench is vacant, and so returns reluctantly to sit at the other end of the bench where Dona Laura is sitting. The two old people again quarrel, but soon enter in a friendly chat over a pinch of snuff that Don Gonzalo offers Dona Laura. When Don Gonzalo says that he is a native of Valencia, Dona Laura is concerned and says that she also lived in a villa nearby Valencia. They both pursue the conversation, and soon it becomes clear that they are the past young lovers who were separated by fate. But they both hide their identity and pretend to be someone else. Dona Laura pretends to be a friend of the beloved girl and Don Gonzalo pretends to be a cousin of the lover boy. They even fake the death of each of the young lovers. Interestingly, they both become aware of each other’s pretension and yet, none of them speaks it out. Neither of them dares reveal their true identity as they think that they have already grown old and ugly. However, by this time they have already become friends, and they part promising to meet again the next morning.