“Six characters in search of the author” Pirandello in brief


Actors come to the theater for a rehearsal. The Premier, as always, is late. Premier is dissatisfied with the fact that he needs to wear a chef’s hat during the play. The director exclaims in his heart: “… what do you want from me, if France has long ceased to supply us with good comedies and we are forced to put the comedies of this Pirandello, who understand – you need to eat a pud of salt and who, as if on purpose, does everything to and actors, and critics, and the spectator spat? ” Suddenly, a theater doorman appears in the hall, followed by six characters led by the Father, who explains that they came to the theater in search of the author. They invite the Director of the theater to become his new play. Life is full of such absurdities, which do not need credibility, because they are truth, and to create the illusion of truth, as is customary in the theater, is pure madness.

Interrupting each other, the characters try to explain what’s

wrong. The father married the Mother, but soon began to notice that she was not indifferent to his secretary. He gave them both money so that they could leave his house and live together. The son, who at that time was two years old, he sent to the village, where he hired his wet nurse. But Father did not lose sight of his wife’s new family until she left town. The Mother gave birth to three more children: the stepdaughter, the boy and the girl, whom the legitimate Son despises for being illegal. After the death of her roommate, Mother and children returned to their hometown and began sewing to earn some money. But it turned out that the mistress of the fashion shop, Madame Pace, gives her orders only to force the stepdaughter to engage in prostitution: she says that Mother spoiled the cloth and deducts from her salary, so the stepdaughter, to cover the deductions, secretly from the mother is selling herself. A stepdaughter accuses the Son, then the Father, they are justified. Mother suffers and wants to reconcile all. The father says that in each of the participants in the drama there is not only one but a multitude
of appearances, in each one the ability to be alone with one another, and conversations about the integrity of the person – nonsense, is hidden. The son, whom the stepdaughter considers guilty in everything, says that he is a dramatistically “unrealized” character, and asks to leave him alone. The characters quarrel, and the Director believes that only the author can restore order. He is ready to advise them to turn to a certain playwright, but Father suggests that the Director himself become an author – it’s so simple, the characters are already here, right in front of him. Mother suffers and wants to reconcile all. The father says that in each of the participants in the drama there is not only one but a multitude of appearances, in each one the ability to be alone with one another, and conversations about the integrity of the person – nonsense, is hidden. The son, whom the stepdaughter considers guilty in everything, says that he is a dramatistically “unrealized” character, and asks to leave him alone. The characters quarrel, and the Director believes that only the author can restore order. He is ready to advise them to turn to a certain playwright, but Father suggests that the Director himself become an author – it’s so simple, the characters are already here, right in front of him. Mother suffers and wants to reconcile all. The father says that in each of the participants in the drama there is not only one but a multitude of appearances, in each one the ability to be alone with one another, and conversations about the integrity of the person – nonsense, is hidden. The son, whom the stepdaughter considers guilty in everything, says that he is a dramatistically “unrealized” character, and asks to leave him alone. The characters quarrel, and the Director believes that only the author can restore order. He is ready to advise them to turn to a certain playwright, but Father suggests that the Director himself become an author – it’s so simple, the characters are already here, right in front of him. conversations about the integrity of the person – nonsense. The son, whom the stepdaughter considers guilty in everything, says that he is a dramatistically “unrealized” character, and asks to leave him alone. The characters quarrel, and the Director believes that only the author can restore order. He is ready to advise them to turn to a certain playwright, but Father suggests that the Director himself become an author – it’s so simple, the characters are already here, right in front of him. conversations about the integrity of the person – nonsense. The son, whom the stepdaughter considers guilty in everything, says that he is a dramatistically “unrealized” character, and asks to leave him alone. The characters quarrel, and the Director believes that only the author can restore order. He is ready to advise them to turn to a certain playwright, but Father suggests that the Director himself become an author – it’s so simple, the characters are already here, right in front of him.

The director agrees, and on the stage set the scenery depicting a room in the institution of Madame Pacet. The director suggests that the characters conduct a rehearsal in order to show the actors how to play. But the characters want to speak to the public themselves, such; what they are. The director explains to them that this is impossible, on the stage they will be played by actors: the stepdaughter – the prime minister, the father – the prime minister, etc. In the meantime, the characters will play the drama before the actors who will be the spectators. The director wants to see the first scene: the stepdaughter’s conversation with Madame Pace. But Madame Pache among the characters who came to the theater, no. Father believes that if the scene is prepared properly, it can attract Madame Pace, and she will appear. When hangers and hats are hanging on the stage, Madame Pace, a fat muger in a fiery red wig with a fan in one hand and a cigarette in the other, appears indeed. Actors at the sight of her horrified and scatter, but the Father does not understand why in the name of “vulgar verisimilitude” it is necessary to kill this “miracle of reality, which is brought to life by the most scenic situation.” Madame Pace, in a mixture of Italian and Spanish, explains to Padchicze that her mother’s work is worthless, and if the stepdaughter wants Madame Pache to continue to help their family, she must decide to sacrifice herself. Upon hearing this, Mother screams at Madame Pace, yanks the wig from her head and throws it to the floor. Hardly reassuring everyone, the Director asks Father to play the continuation of this scene. The father enters, gets acquainted with the stepdaughter, asks her if she has been in the institution of Madame Pace for a long time. He offers her a nice hat as a gift. When the stepdaughter turns his attention to the fact that she is in mourning, he asks her to quickly take off her dress. Premier and Premier try to repeat this scene. The father and the stepdaughter are completely unrecognizable in their performance, everything is much smoother, outwardly more beautiful, the whole scene goes to the accompaniment of the voice of Souffler. Characters play the actors. The director decides in the future not to let the characters to the rehearsals, but while he asks them to perform the rest of the scenes. The director wants to remove the Father’s reply, where he asks the stepdaughter to quickly take off his mourning dress: this cynicism will lead the public into indignation. The stepdaughter objects that this is true, but the Director believes that in the theater the truth is good only up to a certain limit. The stepdaughter embraces the Father, but suddenly a Mother bursts into the room, who tears the Father from the Father with a cry: “Unhappy, because this is my daughter!” The actors and director are excited about the scene, the characters are sure that the main thing is, that this is exactly what happened in reality. The director believes that the first action will be successful.

On stage there is a new decoration: a corner of the garden with a small pool. On one side of the stage sit actors, on the other – characters. The director announces the beginning of the second action. The stepdaughter tells us that the whole family, contrary to the Son’s will, moved to the Father’s house. Mother explains that she tried with all her might to reconcile the stepdaughter with the Son, but without success. Father enters into a dispute with the Director about illusion and reality. The skill of the actors is to create the illusion of reality, while the characters have their own, another reality, the character always has his own life, marked by characteristic features, with one inherent trait, he is more real than the ordinary person, especially the actor, who can often be ” nobody “. The reality of people changes, and they themselves change, while the reality of the characters does not change and they themselves do not change. When the character was born, he immediately receives independence, even from the author, and sometimes it happens to acquire value, which the author did not even dream about! The father complains that the author’s fantasy produced them into the light, and then refused them in a place under the sun – they are trying to stand up for themselves. They asked the author many times to take up the pen, but without success, and they went to the theater themselves. The director continues to dispose of the decorations. A stepchild is hampered by the Son. He is ready to leave the stage and tries to leave, but he does not succeed, as if some mysterious force keeps him on the stage. Seeing this, the stepdaughter begins to laugh uncontrollably. The son has to stay, but he does not want to take part in the action. A girl is playing by the pool. The boy hides behind the trees, squeezing a revolver in his hand. The mother enters the Son’s room, wants to talk to him, but he does not want to listen to her. The father tries to make him listen to the Mother, but the Son resists, the fight between the Son and the Father is tied, Mother tries to separate them, after all the Son throws the Father on the floor. The son does not want to be disgraced in public. He says that by refusing to play, he only does the will of someone who does not want to bring them on stage. The director asks the Son to simply tell him personally what happened. The son says that, passing through the garden, he saw the Girl in the pool, rushed to her, but suddenly stopped when he saw the Boy who looked at his drowned sister with insane eyes. When the Son comes to this story to this place, a shot is heard from behind the trees where the Boy was hiding. The boy is taken backstage. in the end the Son throws the Father on the floor. The son does not want to be disgraced in public. He says that by refusing to play, he only does the will of someone who does not want to bring them on stage. The director asks the Son to simply tell him personally what happened. The son says that, passing through the garden, he saw the Girl in the pool, rushed to her, but suddenly stopped when he saw the Boy who looked at his drowned sister with insane eyes. When the Son comes to this story to this place, a shot is heard from behind the trees where the Boy was hiding. The boy is taken backstage. in the end the Son throws the Father on the floor. The son does not want to be disgraced in public. He says that by refusing to play, he only does the will of someone who does not want to bring them on stage. The director asks the Son to simply tell him personally what happened. The son says that, passing through the garden, he saw the Girl in the pool, rushed to her, but suddenly stopped when he saw the Boy who looked at his drowned sister with insane eyes. When the Son comes to this story to this place, a shot is heard from behind the trees where the Boy was hiding. The boy is taken backstage. but suddenly stopped when he saw the Boy, who looked at his drowned sister with insane eyes. When the Son comes to this story to this place, a shot is heard from behind the trees where the Boy was hiding. The boy is taken backstage. but suddenly stopped when he saw the Boy, who looked at his drowned sister with insane eyes. When the Son comes to this story to this place, a shot is heard from behind the trees where the Boy was hiding. The boy is taken backstage.

The actors return to the stage. Some say that the Boy really died, others are convinced that this is only a game. The father screams: “What kind of game is it, the very reality, gentlemen, the very reality!” The director gets angry, sends everyone to hell and asks for a light.

The stage and the hall are lit up with a bright light. Director annoyed: in vain lost all day. To start rehearsal too late. Actors diverge until evening. The director instructs the illuminator to extinguish the light. The theater plunges into darkness, then in the depths of the scene, as if by the oversight of the illuminator, a green light illuminates. There are huge shadows of characters, except for the Boy and the Girl. At the sight of them, the Director escapes from the scene in horror. Only characters remain on the scene.


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“Six characters in search of the author” Pirandello in brief