page_title: Benito Pérez Galdós
section_title: Return to the theatre
hierarchical_section_title: Benito Pérez Galdós / Return to the theatre
caption_attribution_description: Español: Benito Pérez Galdós.
context_page_description: Benito Pérez Galdós was a Spanish realist novelist. He was the leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Miguel de Cervantes in stature as a Spanish novelist.
  Galdós was a prolific writer, publishing 31 novels, 46 Episodios Nacionales, 23 plays, and the equivalent of 20 volumes of shorter fiction, journalism and other writings. He remains popular in Spain, and is considered as equal to Dickens, Balzac and Tolstoy. As recently as 1950, few of Galdós's works were available translated to English, although he has slowly become popular in the Anglophone world.
  While his plays are generally considered to be less successful than his novels, Realidad is important in the history of realism in the Spanish theatre.
  The Galdós museum in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria features a portrait of the writer by Joaquín Sorolla.
context_section_description: His first mature play was Realidad, an adaptation of his novel of the same name, which had been written in dialogue. Galdós was attracted to the idea of making direct contact with his public and seeing and hearing their reactions.  Rehearsals began in February 1892. The theatre was packed on the opening night and received the play enthusiastically. Galdós took about 15 curtain calls. However, although the audience reception was good, the play did not receive universal critical acclaim because of its realistic dialogue which did not accord with the general theatrical language of the time, the setting of a scene in the boudoir of a courtesan, and the un-Spanish attitude towards a wife’s adultery. The Catholic press did not attend the performance but this did not prevent them from denouncing the author as a perverse and wicked influence. The play ran for twenty nights.
  In 1901, his play Electra caused a storm of outrage and floods of equally hyperbolic enthusiasm. As in many of his works, Galdós targeted clericalism and the inhuman fanaticism and superstition that can accompany it. The performance was interrupted by audience reaction and the author had to take many curtain calls. After the third night, the conservative and clerical parties organised a demonstration outside the theatre. The police moved in and arrested two members of a workers’ organization who had reacted against the demonstration. Several people were wounded as a result of the clash and, the next day, the newspapers were divided between liberal support for the play and Catholic/conservative condemnation.  Over one hundred performances were given in Madrid alone and the play was also performed in the provinces. In 1934, 33 years later, a revival in Madrid produced much the same degree of uproar and outrage.
caption: Portrayed in his studio, by Franzen, 1901
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