Riots and indecent proposals: how Pirandello upended the theatrical scene
A century ago, Six Characters in Search of an Author helped a minor Italian writer and Mussolini fan to cause literary pandemonium
10 May 2021 • 5:00am
Who s in charge here?: the 2009 Bristol Old Vic production of Six Characters in Search of an Author
Credit: Bristol Old Vic
It’s mid-evening on May 10 1921, and in a dark alley behind the Teatro Valle in Rome, Luigi Pirandello is surreptitiously trying to make a getaway, his daughter Lietta by his side. The world premiere of his play Six Characters in Search of an Author (in Italian,