“I admire your actors. That gentleman there and that lady. But. Well. The truth is they’re certainly not us.” What could possibly happen when the characters of a play confront the actors portraying them? Luigi Pirandello’s answer to this question is a critique on the actor’s identity and the consequences of misrepresentation. These tensions underscore the conflicts in Pirandello’s, Six Characters in Search of an Author. In the play, while the Actors interpret the Characters’ drama, the Characters suddenly interrupt the scene and say that the Actors do not embody them in any way. Hence, the Actors’ portrayal of their drama may result to a misrepresentation of the Characters’ identities. This further manifests the larger theme of the play—the distinction between illusion and reality. Six Characters in Search of an Author invites the audience to witness a rehearsal process, and takes the audience on a journey of evaluating his/her perception of reality. Six Characters in Searc...

Luigi Pirandello’s masterpiece, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and its Filipino Translation by Rody Vera, Anim na Tauhang Naghahanap ng May-Akda is set to open Dulaang UP’s 43rd Theatre Season. Professor Emeritus Tony Mabesa, Founding Artistic Director of Dulaang UP, will direct this seminal work of Modern theater. Six Characters in Search of an Author begins with a company rehearsing a play by Pirandello when suddenly, a Family dressed in mourning appears and claims that they are Characters in need of an author to finish writing their story. As the family shares their drama to the company, the director contemplates and eventually decides to stage it. What follows is a series of re-enactments and argumentations between the Company and the Characters. As the audience ponders on a rehearsal process, the play asks—how, despite opposing viewpoints, can the truth be discerned? Six Characters in Search of an Author tackles the wider theme of illusion and reality. Joining To...