Six Characters in Search of an Author

Six Characters in Search of an Author (Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore)

    Author: Luigi Pirandello

    First Performance: 1921, Rome

    Published: 1921; rev. 1925

    First English Translation: 1922

    Genre: Drama without acts (but 2 ‘interruptions’); Italian prose

    Setting: Stage of an Italian repertory company, 1920s

    Cast: 10m, 7f, 2 children (1m, 1f), extras

An irascible Producer and his company of actors gradually assemble on stage to begin rehearsing Pirandello's Rules of the Game, which the actors find ridiculous. Suddenly from the auditorium appear six ‘Characters’ (Father, Mother, Stepdaughter, Son, Boy, and Little Girl). Their author created them but failed to put them in a work of art; so they are now searching for an author to complete the process. The initially sceptical...

[The entire page is 540 words long]

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