“Electra became a war cry”: A First Glance of the Critical Responses to the Premiere of Pérez Galdós’s Play in Córdoba”

Abstract

On May 19th 1901 Pérez Galdós’ Electra was first showcased in Córdoba. It was showed for three nights in a row and Córdoba became a stage for violent confrontatios between the public and the police. Analizing
the staging of a play such as Electra and its repercutions can be an interesting way to clarify part of the social, cultural and political landscape of the city in the beginnings of the 20th century. In this article we analise how the cordobesian people responded to this singular play and what these reactions say about Córdoba society
in general. With the mere analysis of the reactions to Electra we may not be able to properly recreate the cultural and consumer habits of cordobesians. However, we believe that these controversies allow, to a certain point, to understand the context that allowed this particular phenomenon.