Six Characters in Search of an Author

Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Written by Luigi Pirandello
Characters Manager
Father
Mother
Stepdaughter
Son
Boy
Child
Date premiered 1921 (1921)
Place premiered Teatro Valle, Rome
Original language Italian
Series Each In His Own Way, Tonight We Improvise
Genre tragicomedy
Setting a theatre

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

Contents

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

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.

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.

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.

Première

The play was staged in 1921 by the Compagnia di Dario Niccomedi at the Valle di Roma to mixed results. The public split up into supporters and adversaries. The author, who was present at the presentation with his daughter Lietta, was forced almost literally to run out of the theatre through a side exit in order to avoid the crowd of enemies. This same drama, however, was a great success when presented at Milan.

Adaptations

See also

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Six Charlies in Search of An Author — is an episode of the classic radio comedy, The Goon Show. It was first broadcast on 26th December 1956.The title is a parody of the play Six Characters in Search of an Author, by Luigi Pirandello. While the plot revolves around the common… …   Wikipedia

  • Six Characters in Search of an Author — a play (1921) by Luigi Pirandello. * * * …   Universalium

  • Six Characters in Search of an Author — a play (1921) by Luigi Pirandello …   Useful english dictionary

  • Five Characters in Search of an Exit — Infobox Television episode Title = Five Characters in Search of an Exit Series = The Twilight Zone Caption =Susan Harrison as the Ballerina in Five Characters In Search Of An Exit Season = 3 Episode = 79 Airdate =December 22, 1961 Production… …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of Friends — This article is about the characters of the TV series Friends . For episodes of Friends , see List of Friends episodes. Friends cast in the first season (1994), from left to right, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay,… …   Wikipedia

  • Six degrees of separation — For other uses, see Six degrees (disambiguation). Six degrees of separation. Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a… …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of The Order of the Stick — This is a list of characters from the webcomic The Order of the Stick (OOTS). It is a comedic webcomic that celebrates and satirizes tabletop role playing games and medieval fantasy through the ongoing tale of the eponymous fellowship of… …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of Chrono Cross — The following are characters from the PlayStation game Chrono Cross .Table of contents *1 Cast creation and influences *2 Playable characters **2.1 Main characters **2.2 Acacia Dragoons **2.3 Residents of Arni **2.4 Residents of Termina **2.5… …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of the Parasite Eve series — This article details fictional characters of the Parasite Eve series of video games. Main charactersAya Brea Aya Brea was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1972. She is of mixed ethnicity: her father (name unrevealed), who is a journalist, was… …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of the Order of the Stick — This is a list of characters from the webcomic The Order of the Stick .The Order of the StickThe Order is said by Rich Burlew, the author of the strip, to be roughly 7th to 9th level (though fans have noted, based on the capabilities they have… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”