With you Bread and Onions

With you Bread and Onions (Contigo Pan y Cebolla) is a theatrical work by Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza that premiered in Mexico in 1833. Written in prose, the piece stands out for its moralizing message but is delivered with a touch of grace and humor, making it an enjoyable experience for the audience. The play also represents a key point in the transition between Neoclassicism and Romanticism in Hispano-American literature.
Gorostiza’s style in With you Bread and Onions shows an interesting transition between Neoclassicism and Romanticism. There is adherence to certain classical conventions, but also a gradual break towards new forms of expression, reflecting the flexibility and dynamism of his pen. Additionally, his approach to the theatrical arts is innovative, offering a breath of fresh air to the theater landscape of his time.
One of the most notable virtues of the play is its ability to convey a moral message in a way that is accessible and entertaining for the audience. Instead of adopting a preachy tone, Gorostiza uses humor and grace to capture the attention of viewers, allowing the moral message to flow organically through the narrative.
Gorostiza is not just a playwright but also an innovator in the performing arts. His influence goes beyond the text, introducing innovations that enrich the theatrical experience as a whole. “Contigo Pan y Cebolla” is no exception to this, offering a complete spectacle that challenges and expands the theatrical conventions of his time.
With you Bread and Onions is a play that not only delights but also educates, offering a rich blend of humor, grace, and moral depth. Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza demonstrates his skill as a playwright and innovator in the performing arts with this piece, which is also situated at a critical moment of transition between two major literary currents. It is a work that deserves to be revisited and enjoyed, both for its content and for its historical and artistic context.

Act One

The scene takes place in Madrid; the first three acts in a well-furnished, though somewhat old-fashioned, room of the house that Don Pedro inhabits, and the last act in a very miserable room and where there will be only a bad bed, two or three old straw chairs, an iron brazier etc.

Scene I

Doña Matilde and Bruno

Doña Matilde: Bruno!

Bruno: Jesus, miss, have you already gotten up?

Doña Matilde: Yes, I haven’t been able to close my eyes all night.

Bruno: You will have been reading until three or four, as usual…

Doña Matilde: It’s not that…

Bruno: The heat will have been taken away from his head…

Doña Matilde: I repeat that…

Bruno: And with hot hooves you don’t fall asleep no matter how many turns you give in bed.

Doña Matilde: But man, you’re there chatting without knowing…

Bruno: So I don’t know what I’m saying? And in encountering any of you with a book of history or happened, of those who have the red lining, you must no longer know how to leave it by the hand until you hurry if Don Fulano, the one with the sleeping eyes and frizzy hair, is the son or not of his father, and if he marries or does not marry the young blond girl who dies for her pieces, and that she is at least niece of the Papamoscas de Burgos: all lies.

Doña Matilde: Are you done?

Bruno: No ma’am, because it’s very bad, very bad to read in bed…

Doña Matilde: Squeeze! And no one has come?

Bruno: Nobody… ah, yes, the water carrier came with his esportilla and…

Doña Matilde: What do I have to do with the water carrier or its portilla?

Bruno: Did you expect another visit at seven in the morning?

Doña Matilde: No… Yes… God help me, how miserable I am! (Sitting.)

Fragment of the work

This edition includes introductory texts by José María Roa Bárcena and Mariano José de Larra.