One Play in Search of a Plot

Although it took some for me to come to this conclusion, I have decided Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters… absolutely genius in its message, possibly more so than any other play we have read this semester, and yet tragically flawed in its ability to maintain a meaningful series of coherent events. Lacking in the concise details of Ibsen’s realism or Bertrand’s extravagance, Pirandello uses his stage directions to meld the audience into the play, meanwhile employing the action and dialogue to disturb the distinction between characters and the actors playing them. The Father’s repeated self-absorbed, philosophical rants are a constant reminder of the absurd brilliance of the play itself, while the Stepdaughter’s vivacious and vain attitude seems to demonstrate Pirandello’s self-assured confidence, despite the multiple jabs at himself (a humbling humor that did not fail to amuse me). The “real” people, not unlike the Characters, had easily recognizable flaws, although they lack the extravagance and are certainly more real in that aspect. The Director’s character might have been developed a bit more, but his believability was slightly refreshing amidst the constantly colorful cast of Characters. Admittedly, I spent the majority of the play questioning the plot and why anything was (or more accurately wasn’t) happening, and even the ending, while tragic, was neither surprising nor riveting. I believe that Pirandello might have truly recognized the flaws in his own work, and that is why he chose to force the audience into the play itself, as to keep the people focused in on what might otherwise seem like a nebulous and chaotic joke instead of the truly unique and superb composition and contemplation of life and the psyche that Six Characters… is.