Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, first performed in 1921, is a groundbreaking play that shattered the boundaries of theatre.
It begins with a theatre company rehearsing, when suddenly six mysterious figures walk onto the stage. They claim to be unfinished characters, abandoned by their author, and they demand that their tragic story be brought to life.
What follows is a dizzying mix of reality and illusion, as actors and characters clash over whose truth should be told. Is theatre an imitation of life, or can it capture something more real than reality itself?
Pirandello’s play is funny, unsettling, and deeply philosophical. It asks: who controls our stories — the author, the actor, or the characters themselves?
A century later, Six Characters in Search of an Author still feels radical — a play about theatre itself, and the blurred lines between art and life.