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THE GREAT GALEOTO AND
FOLLY OR SAINTLINESS
INTRODUCTION[1]
The Spanish theatre has for so long been out of fashionthat a revived interest in it would carry us into a sortof renaissance. It is not virgin soil, like the drama ofthe north which has so lately caught the ear of Europe.This, perhaps, accounts for its lack of distinctive originality.For even in Echegaray's notable plays, strongand original as they are, there is an unmistakable ringof the past. We feel it is more a revival than a youthfuloutburst, with all the promise of novelty. True, itis dominated by the modern need and its restlesssearching note; it must prove its mission as somethingmore than the mere desire to divert. Not even asermon could be more remote than this theatre fromthe old comedy of manners, of loose morals anddiverting intrigue, all weighing as lightly on thedramatist's conscience as on the audience's. And itmay be questioned if Echegara