Luigi Pirandello

There's no question that Luigi Pirandello was ahead of his time. Reading Six Characters in Search of an Author, I would have thought myself in the early 1950s, not 1921. 

The play is a quick read, and I'd love to see it performed: because today, when the focus is so heavily on narrative structure and meaning, it seems to me that Pirandello hit the nail right on the head. His main question was a simple one: what constitutes "reality"? 

That question is quickly complicated, of course, as Pirandello wonders through his characters whether theater is itself the ultimate reality, or whether it is by way of theatrical performance that actors aspire toward a reality that exists off the stage. 

I found this distinction an interesting one: certainly it's theme to which Pirandello returns as he questions the limits to which actors may inhabit the characters and personalities for which they assume temporary responsibility (even jurisdiction) on stage. 

I know that Pirandello won the Nobel Prize, so I'd better keep my criticism brief. That said, I wondered whether the play would have been more effective if it had been divided in three. As it is, the play is split in two: the first part introduces Pirandello's "characters"; the second uncovers their story. There are sections where the assembled troupe of actors imagine themselves playing the "characters," but I thought that might have been explored in greater detail, over a longer stretch. The end came unexpectedly to me; the violence seemed out of place. 

All of that said, I enjoyed the play and am glad that I've finally gotten around to Six Characters. I'll leave the last word for Pirandello:

"And can you object that it's only in a game that that gentleman there, who is himself, must be me, who am myself. I've caught you in a trap, do you see that?"