In Six Characters in Search of an Author Pirandello illustrates the point that in art there is no one reality, only perceptions. Art is one perception held by the one artist, in the case of the play, the author, who brings this perception to an audience. To animate this principal Pirandello uses many staging approaches and techniques to merge art and theater, into real life, while highlighting the shortcomings of drama/art in imitating life. I noted three such techniques while reading this play: the lines spoken by the "interesting" characters, the play structure pertaining to acts and scenes, and the play directions within the play.
To illustrate this first point we take notice of the lines the "most interesting characters" speak in the first few pages of the play. In this section these characters are pleading with the manager to take an interest in their story. However during their plea these characters fight amongst themselves, arguing their own perspective on the "drama" they "carry within" themselves. The father, who begins to tell the story
Pirandello, Luigi. Six Characters in Search of an Author. The Compact Bedford
Introduction to Drama 2nd Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Benford Books 1996.
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