The Theatre-in-the-Theatre Plays

Abstract

The trilogy of ‘theatre-in-the-theatre’ plays testifies to Pirandello’s continued attempts to explore the complexity of the relationship between stage and life, by destroying the naturalist convention of the fourth wall and bringing the audience face to face with the bare bones of theatrical technique. The three plays that comprise the trilogy were written at different stages in Pirandello’s career: Six Characters in Search of an Author was first performed in 1921, Each in His Own Way was first performed in Rome in 1924 and Tonight We Improvise was first performed in Germany, at Koenigsberg, in 1929, followed a year later by the first Italian production in Turin.