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Six Characters in Search of an Author (Italian: ) is a play by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello.
The play is a satirical tragicomedy. It was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle in Rome, to a very mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" ("Madhouse!"). Subsequently the play enjoyed a much better reception. This improved reception was helped in 1925 when, with the third edition of the play, Pirandello provided a foreword clarifying the structure and ideas contained in the play. It played in 1922 on Broadway at the Princess Theatre.
Characters :
The Father - Originally married to The Mother and insisted on The Son being sent off to live in the country. Afterwards, he hired another man who worked as a clerk for him to take The Mother away. Later, he may or may not have an affair with The Stepdaughter, until The Mother interferes. When he learns that The Mother's lover died, he brings her, The Son, The Stepdaughter, The Child, and The Boy back to live with him.
The Mother - Originally married to The Father, she is taken away by a man her husband employs. She has three children, The Boy, The Child, and The Stepdaughter with the second man and has The Son with The Father. It is mentioned that her real name is Amalia.
The Son - The son of The Father and The Mother. To make him stronger, the father has him sent off to the country to live with a wet nurse when he is a baby. Therefore, he grew up not knowing his parents and dislikes them. He also dislikes his stepfamily, not considering them a part of the family.
The Stepdaughter - The spirited daughter of The Mother and her second husband. She is employed by Madame Pace (implied to be as a prostitute) and after she is "two months an orphan", she has an incestuous relationship with The Father. It is stated that she runs away from home later in the story. According to her, she went to the author of the story constantly, trying to get him to finish the tale.
The Boy - The middle child and only son of The Mother and her second husband. He is disliked by The Stepdaughter, who thinks he is an idiot. He never speaks during the play. At the end of the play, he commits suicide by shooting himself with a revolver.
The Child - The youngest daughter of The Mother and her second husband. She is the favorite of The Stepdaughter. It is mentioned once that her name is Rosetta. She never speaks during the play. At the end of the play, she drowns in a fountain she was playing in, although The Son tries to pull her out.
Madame Pace - Employer of The Mother and (later) The Step-Daughter. She runs a brothel out of her store. She only appears for a short period of time in the play, when The Stepdaughter and The Father perform their scene in the shop together. She speaks in a comical jargon "half Italian, half Spanish".
The Company:
The Director, The Manager, Leading Lady, Leading Man, Second Lady, The Ingenue, Juvenile Lead, Other Actors and Actresses, Property Man, Prompter, Machinist, Manager's Secretary, Door-keeper, Scene-Shifters.
Plot
The play is a satirical tragicomedy. It was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle in Rome, to a very mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" ("Madhouse!"). Subsequently the play enjoyed a much better reception. This improved reception was helped in 1925 when, with the third edition of the play, Pirandello provided a foreword clarifying the structure and ideas contained in the play. It played in 1922 on Broadway at the Princess Theatre.
Characters :
The Father - Originally married to The Mother and insisted on The Son being sent off to live in the country. Afterwards, he hired another man who worked as a clerk for him to take The Mother away. Later, he may or may not have an affair with The Stepdaughter, until The Mother interferes. When he learns that The Mother's lover died, he brings her, The Son, The Stepdaughter, The Child, and The Boy back to live with him.
The Mother - Originally married to The Father, she is taken away by a man her husband employs. She has three children, The Boy, The Child, and The Stepdaughter with the second man and has The Son with The Father. It is mentioned that her real name is Amalia.
The Son - The son of The Father and The Mother. To make him stronger, the father has him sent off to the country to live with a wet nurse when he is a baby. Therefore, he grew up not knowing his parents and dislikes them. He also dislikes his stepfamily, not considering them a part of the family.
The Stepdaughter - The spirited daughter of The Mother and her second husband. She is employed by Madame Pace (implied to be as a prostitute) and after she is "two months an orphan", she has an incestuous relationship with The Father. It is stated that she runs away from home later in the story. According to her, she went to the author of the story constantly, trying to get him to finish the tale.
The Boy - The middle child and only son of The Mother and her second husband. He is disliked by The Stepdaughter, who thinks he is an idiot. He never speaks during the play. At the end of the play, he commits suicide by shooting himself with a revolver.
The Child - The youngest daughter of The Mother and her second husband. She is the favorite of The Stepdaughter. It is mentioned once that her name is Rosetta. She never speaks during the play. At the end of the play, she drowns in a fountain she was playing in, although The Son tries to pull her out.
Madame Pace - Employer of The Mother and (later) The Step-Daughter. She runs a brothel out of her store. She only appears for a short period of time in the play, when The Stepdaughter and The Father perform their scene in the shop together. She speaks in a comical jargon "half Italian, half Spanish".
The Company:
The Director, The Manager, Leading Lady, Leading Man, Second Lady, The Ingenue, Juvenile Lead, Other Actors and Actresses, Property Man, Prompter, Machinist, Manager's Secretary, Door-keeper, Scene-Shifters.
Plot
Act I
The play begins with an acting company preparing to rehearse a play, incidentally one of Pirandello's own (The Rules of the Game). As the rehearsal is about to begin the play is unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of six strange people. The Director of the play, furious at the interruption, demands an explanation. The Father reveals themselves as unfinished characters in search of an author to finish their story. The Director initially believes them to be mad, but as they begin to argue amongst themselves and reveal details of their story he begins to listen. While he isn't an author, the Director agrees to stage their story despite the disbelief amongst the jeering actors..
Act II
Act II
After a 20 minute break the Characters and the Company return to the stage to act out some of the story so far. They begin to act out the scene between the Stepdaughter and the Father in Madame Pace's shop, which the Director decides to call Scene I. The Characters are very particular about the setting, wanting everything to be as realistic as possible. The Director asks the Actors to observe the scene for he intends for them to act it out later. This sparks the first argument between the Director and the Characters over the acting of the play, with the Characters assuming that they would be acting it out seeing as they are the Characters already. The Director moves the play on anyway, but the Stepdaughter has more problems with the accuracy of the setting, saying she doesn't recognize the scene. Just as the Director is about to begin the scene once more he realizes that Madame Pace is not with them. The Actors watch in disbelief as The Father lures her to the stage by hanging their coats and hats on racks, "attracted by the very articles of her trade".
The scene begins between Madame Pace and the Stepdaughter, with Madame Pace exhorting The Step-Daughter, telling her she must work harder herself to save the Mother's job. The Mother protests at having to watch the scene, but she is restrained. After the Father and Stepdaughter act half of the scene the Director stops them so that the Actors may act out what they have just done. The Characters break into laughter as the Actors try to imitate them. They continue but The Step-Daughter cannot contain her laughter as the Actors use the wrong tones of voice and gestures. The Father begins another argument with the Director over the realism of the Actors compared to the Characters themselves. The Director allows the Characters to act out the rest of the scene and have the rehearsals later.
This time the Stepdaughter explains the rest of the scene during an argument with the Director over the truth on stage. The scene culminates in an embrace between the Father and the Stepdaughter which is realistically broken up by the distressed Mother. The line between reality and acting is blurred as the scene closes with the Director pleased with the first act.
Act III
The final act of the play begins in the garden. It was revealed that there was much arguing amongst the family members as The Father sent for The Mother, The Stepdaughter, The Child, The Boy, and The Son to come back and stay with him. The Son reveals that he hates the family for sending him away and does not consider The Stepdaughter or the others a part of his family. The scene ends with The Child drowning in a fountain and The Boy committing suicide with a revolver. The final lines end with The Director confused over whether it was real or not, concluding that whether it was real or not he lost a whole day over it.
Analysis :
According to Professor Grant L. Voth of Monterey Peninsula College, Pirandello was part of a movement in the early 20th century called theatricalism or anti-illusionism. The theatricalists rejected realist drama and substituted the dreamlike, the expressive, and the symbolic. The theatricalists disapproved of realism because it had abandoned the defining tools of drama, such as poetry, interaction between actors and audience, soliloquies, asides and bare stages. They thought realism could not depict the inner life of human beings.
source: wikipedia.org
The scene begins between Madame Pace and the Stepdaughter, with Madame Pace exhorting The Step-Daughter, telling her she must work harder herself to save the Mother's job. The Mother protests at having to watch the scene, but she is restrained. After the Father and Stepdaughter act half of the scene the Director stops them so that the Actors may act out what they have just done. The Characters break into laughter as the Actors try to imitate them. They continue but The Step-Daughter cannot contain her laughter as the Actors use the wrong tones of voice and gestures. The Father begins another argument with the Director over the realism of the Actors compared to the Characters themselves. The Director allows the Characters to act out the rest of the scene and have the rehearsals later.
This time the Stepdaughter explains the rest of the scene during an argument with the Director over the truth on stage. The scene culminates in an embrace between the Father and the Stepdaughter which is realistically broken up by the distressed Mother. The line between reality and acting is blurred as the scene closes with the Director pleased with the first act.
Act III
The final act of the play begins in the garden. It was revealed that there was much arguing amongst the family members as The Father sent for The Mother, The Stepdaughter, The Child, The Boy, and The Son to come back and stay with him. The Son reveals that he hates the family for sending him away and does not consider The Stepdaughter or the others a part of his family. The scene ends with The Child drowning in a fountain and The Boy committing suicide with a revolver. The final lines end with The Director confused over whether it was real or not, concluding that whether it was real or not he lost a whole day over it.
Analysis :
According to Professor Grant L. Voth of Monterey Peninsula College, Pirandello was part of a movement in the early 20th century called theatricalism or anti-illusionism. The theatricalists rejected realist drama and substituted the dreamlike, the expressive, and the symbolic. The theatricalists disapproved of realism because it had abandoned the defining tools of drama, such as poetry, interaction between actors and audience, soliloquies, asides and bare stages. They thought realism could not depict the inner life of human beings.
source: wikipedia.org