A Sunny Morning by Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero (Summary Analysis and Dramatic Techniques)- Grade 11

It's a one-act comedy.

About the Play

A Sunny Morning is a light comedy that narrates 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 this play is a sunny morning in Madrid, Spain on a bench in the park.

Spanish                                    English

Senor/Don:                               Mr. / Sir

Senora/Dona:                           Mrs. /Madam

Hola:                                        Hello

Adios:                                      Good Bye

Characters in the Play

DONA LAURA

PETRA, her maid

DON GONZALO

English: Grade 11 303

JUANITO, his servant

 

Scene (Setting)

A sunny morning at a park in Madrid, the capital of Spain

The background is a park of the capital city of Spain and the specific time is a beautiful sunny morning. This brings a romantic tone in the play.

 

A Short Introduction of the play- A Sunny Morning

“A Sunny Morning” is a one-act play by Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero, brothers and celebrated Spanish playwrights of the early twentieth century.  The play depicts the story of two aged lovers, Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo, who are in their 70s. They happen to see each other at a park in Madrid, which is the capital city of Spain. As their conversation starts with a discussion, they recall their romantic past.

The Beginning of the play

The one-act play A Sunny Morning begins with a meeting of the main characters, Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura. They were once lovers who accidentally lose one another when they were in their youth. In the beginning, Dona Laura does not like Don Gonzalez's behavior as he scares all the birds that fly away, who was feeding bread crumbs to them. In anger, she bombards attacking words to him. By this time, they are unknown to each other. When he is about to read the book, he shares a pinch of snuff and the situation becomes easier between these two chief characters.

The Main Plot of "A Sunny Morning"

As Don Gonzalo starts to read some impressive lines from the book "Twenty Years Pass. He Returns.', the interesting move comes in the play. The lines were so relatable in the life of Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo. When they come to the topic of their flashback, they happen to identify each other, but they keep their identity unrevealed.   Don Gonzalo says it's about his cousin whereas Dona Laura says that her friend told about Dona Laura's love story.  

 

Dona Laura was in her beautiful youth, who was known as 'The Silver Maiden' in the locality of Maricela, Valencia. An energetic youth Gonzalo would pass by on horseback every morning through the same place, who would toss up a bouquet of flowers to her balcony. The scene would repeat every morning. Likewise, while returning, Dona Laura would toss down a bouquet of flowers in rerun to Don Gonzalo. They were glad about it. Meanwhile, a merchant appeared in the scene, to which the parents of Laura wanted to get her married. They became ready for a duel at the seashore and the merchant was badly wounded by Gonzalo. Fearing the possible consequences, Gonzalo ran away from the town without giving any notice to Laura. She waited for him for several months; neither had she received any news about him nor any letters. One day, with quickening steps, wend her way toward the beach, the beach where Gonzalo had risked his life. She wrote his name on the sand and then sat down upon a rock, her gaze fixed upon the horizon. The waves murmured their eternal threnody and slowly crept up to the rock where she sat. The tide rose with a boom and swept her out to sea.

 

Don Gonzalo’s had his own story after fleeing away from the town. He went to Seville and Madrid after the duel. He had loved Laura deeply. He wrote Laura many letters, some of them in verse. But certainly, they were seized by her parents, for she never replied at all. Gonzalo then, in despair, believing his love lost to him forever, joined the army, went to Africa, and there, in a trench, met a glorious death.

 

Ending

After three months, Don Gonzalo ran off to Paris with a ballet dancer, married, and settled down. It is the same story Laura has. She got married and settled down after two years. Due to fate, these two lovers were estranged; however, they still have those romantic feelings of love which they shared during their youths. It is already 50 years that they have met in a park, they disclosed their intense romantic affair as a beautiful memory. At last, knowing about each other, they do not reveal the reality but promise to meet again with the same feeling, which they has lost five decades ago.  

 

Title and Theme Connection

The title 'A Sunny Morning' seems very suitable with the theme of the play. The chief characters are in their 70s of life, but their feelings after recalling all their past, they promise to meet each other every sunny morning. It was the sunny morning, which made it possible for their emotional reunion, which has got a vague meaning, and in this sense, the title of the play seems directly relatable with the theme.

 

Styles and Techniques (Dramatic Feature)

Narration Technique

Inside the play, both protagonists narrate their old romance. The audiences know that they are known to each other for a long time, just from the narration.

Exposition (Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo, ex lovers, meet each other in a park at their old age), Climax (Both realize that they were young lovers but pretend not to know each other) and Resolution (They preferred not to disclose their identity and prefer to meet as a friend because they both are married and it's a story a long time ago)

Flashback Technique

Beginning from the present, going to the past and back to the present (Sitting in a park, they revisit their past, how beautiful were the moments in their youth, how the duel changed their story and destroyed their dreams to be together and finally, they are there in a park being indifferent to each other).

'ASIDE’

Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero have used a unique dramatic technique 'ASIDE'. By this, the audience can hear the intention or thought of the protagonists in a short speech but is inaudible to other characters on the stage.

Use of Realism

The natural setting has been used in the play, which depicts a park in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The exaggeration has been limited that has made the play easy to perceive to the audience. The reality side is clear and there is less use of emotional language. They became so practical at last that they did not reveal their reality thinking that they have their own lives and it is not fruitful to disclose.

Local color, costumes, and respective use of language (senor/senora- Sir/Madam)

 

What right does Dona Laura claims to have to criticize Don Gonzalo?

She claims that she has a neighbor's right to do so.