Out of the Wings

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O locura o santidad (1877), José Echegaray y Eizaguirre

Titles
English title: Madman or Saint
Date written: 1877
First production date: 1877
Keywords: family > parents and children, family, love > relationships, love, identity > class/social standing, morality > honour, morality, Social > Hierarchy
Genre and type: melodrama
Pitch

What does an honest man do when he learns a secret that will destroy everything he has? Is it admirable or simply madness to tell the truth? In Madman or Saint, Don Lorenzo learns that – no matter how honest you are – if the world chooses to believe you are mad, the truth counts for nothing.

Synopsis

Don Lorenzo lives in a lavish house with his wife Angela and his daughter Inés. When he was a young man, Lorenzo suffered from a nervous illness after the death of his beloved mother. E... (Read more...)

Sources

At the start of the play Lorenzo reads from Chapter 74 of Part Two of Don Quijote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes. This is the ending of Cervantes’ novel, during which Don Quijote... (Read more...)

Critical response

O locura o santidad (Madman or Saint) was one of Echegaray’s most popular plays, alongside El gran galeoto (The Great Galeoto). Shortly after its first publication in 1877, it was perf... (Read more...)

Editions
  • Echegaray, José. 1901. O locura o santidad. Boston, D. C. Heath & Company

  • Echegaray, José. 1964. O locura o santidad. In Teatro escogido, pp. 373-444. Madrid, Aguilar. Available online... (Read more...)

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 1 March 2011.

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