Witty diplomat-dramatist
Gaspar's ambition was to be a dramatist. His parents had been actors and his love of the theatre started at an early age - his first play was performed in Valencia, with his mother in the lead role, when he was only 15 years old.
Gaspar wrote light comedies in verse (zarzuelas) which nearly always appealed to the public eager for entertainment but it is with his serious plays that he hoped to change the course of Spanish drama. He was responsible for introducing a theatre of social realism in Spain - plays, written in prose, which covered topics such as women's education and adultery - topics which, for the most part, shocked the audiences of the day and were in complete contrast to the sentimental and melodramatic post-romantic plays still in vogue.
When he was 23, he married Enriqueta Battles y Bertran de Lis. It was difficult for him to make a living from his writings and by the time he had two children he needed a regular income and so joined the consular service. His postings took him to France, Greece, China, Macau and back to France. He was always open to new cultures, learning the language of each country he visited - he even went so far as to start translating Don Quixote into Chinese.
He was witty, inventive, generous, lively and undoubtedly a man of great charisma and personal charm. At the end of his three year posting to Athens, he was so well liked that a petition, signed by 150 eminent Athenians, was published in "L'Independence Hellenique" urging the Minister for Foreign Affairs to allow Gaspar to stay on.
Christine Buchanan, great granddaughter of Enrique Gaspar
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