SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR

Londen: Methuen, 1993. Originally published in Italian in 1921 as 'Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore'. Translated and introduced by John Linstrum. The photograph on the front cover shows a scene from Zeffirelli's Production of 'Six characters'. 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.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. 64 pag.. 2nd edition. Paperback. Fine copy.. sm8vo.