Theatre
Contigo pan y cebolla
Not translated into English
Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza · 1833
Opening lines
Doña Matilde
¡Bruno!
Bruno!
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
Madrid. Matilde, seventeen, daughter of don Pedro, lives in the comfort of her father's house and feeds on sentimental novels. Eduardo, a well-born and wealthy young man, loves her, and her father consents; but it is precisely because nothing stands in the way of this marriage that Matilde turns away from it: she dreams of a poor and thwarted love. Eduardo understands, pretends to have been disinherited and asks don Pedro to show him deep contempt.
Context
Written in London, where its author represented Mexico, the play was printed in 1833 in England and in Spain. It was first staged at the Teatro del Príncipe in Madrid in July 1833, then performed in December at the Teatro Principal in Mexico City, in the author's presence. Larra reviews it in La Revista Española. Critics read in it a satire of sentimental novels and of nascent Romanticism, in the line of the neoclassical comedy of manners.
Who it is for
Four acts in prose, easy to read, with a simple plot; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
The comedy that made its author's name, which has remained in the repertoire and was adapted as a musical comedy in Mexico.
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