Six Characters in Search of an Author

Luigi Pirandello, what an interesting fellow.  Writing novels, short stories and plays.  Six Characters in Search of an Author  is the first in a trilogy of plays that question reality.  It was first performed in Rome in 1922 where a riot insued threatening Pirandello and his daughter.  A year later, in London, he had good reviews.  With the world views shifting due to WWI, machines and Fruedian theories, this play about a play changed what audiences were used to.  When audiences came to a show they expected to see the curtain is down awaiting the start of the play.  In Pirandello's play the curtain is up with an empty stage ready for rehearsal.  Director and actors interacting like there is no audience.  A family of "characters"  show up and want to have their story told.  The madness these characters feel, each one with different perceptions of reality, dramatizes drama and people didn't know what to do with it.  In 1925, Pirandello directed the original non-translated Italian version in London, and even though the audience didn't understand it's language,  It was a sold out show everynight.