“A Sunny Morning” is a light hearted comic play written by Spanish brothers, Serafin and Joaquin
Alvarez Quintero. The play is set in a park in the city of Madrid in Spain, and details the delightful
comedy of the chance meeting of two aged lovers, Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo. At the heart of the
play, is the bittersweet irony of life itself. The two were in love when they were young. Fate didn’t
bind them together and they never saw each other again until one sunny morning in a park many
decades later.
Laura who was called the silver maiden is now of 70 years, she is sitting on a bench and feeding the
pigeons as she does daily. Gonzalo and his servant come there and interrupt her routine; Gonzalo
scares away the birds that Laura was feeding and thus annoys her. Both start conversing with each
other in bitter, sarcastic tones. Then Gonzalo takes out some snuff and offers it to Laura, she takes it
and both of them sneeze three times alternately. This rather humorous act gives the reader the
impression that perhaps there is some connection between the two characters. Their bitterness
towards each other slowly washes away and is replaced by a friendly conversation as their identities
are revealed and their story unfolds. The first hint we receive about Laura and Gonzalo’s shared past
is when Laura reads aloud from Gonzalo’s book pretending to have keen eyesight. The truth is that
she knows every word by heart. Their familiarity of the same book gives the idea of their familiarity
with each other. It is ironical when Gonzalo reads the lines from the book “20 years past he returns”
and Laura completes the lines with “and each beholding the other exclaims that, can it be that it is
he? Heavens! Is it she?” because these fictional lines actually comment on the present situation
between the duo that has met after many years. Even though the two of them don’t want to admit
the truth, these lines reveal their identities to us. Even though they construct elaborate lies to
conceal each other’s’ true identity. We know that they are aware of who the other person is.
Towards the end of the play, we realize why both of them kept their identity a secret. Sometimes, it
is better to preserve the past that was glorious instead of embracing the bitter truth of present-day
reality. Gonzalo feels that he looks grotesque and Laura too feels that she is too old. She also
comments that if only Gonzalo knew what dreams would come to, he wouldn’t go on praising Laura
as if she were some vision in a beautiful dream. There is irony in the lines where she says, “Here are
you and I complete strangers, met by chance, discussing the romance of old friends of long ago!”
Since the writes are stating something that is opposite of the reality. We can understand why
Gonzalo and Laura create flamboyant lives for each other in their stories. Each tries to outdo the
other knowing fully well that they are all lies. Perhaps they do so because there is great enjoyment in
imagination and creative story telling where they can make an appearance as great people with
extraordinary lives. In stories and films, we hear about a lover dying for his beloved. In youth, we
also have these fake romantic dreams but the truth is that reality is nothing but ordinary. People
move on after a tragic love affair. Gonzalo and Laura also are just the same and yet a part of them
wanted to hold on those dreams of youth. Gonzalo wanted Laura to remember him as a gallant
horseman and not as a gouty old man. Laura also wanted Gonzalo to remember her as the silver
maiden and not as a grey-haired old woman of 70. They wanted to preserve the pristine images of
each other in their memories untouched by age. It seems foolish to us but it is a sweet, simple and
humble dream of old people.
Gonzalo and Laura leave the park with a smile, rejuvenated after their meeting. The act of both of
them bending down to pick up flowers is a reminder of their shared past. They promise to meet
again. Their feelings at the end of the play are completely different from what they felt for each
other in the beginning.