Six Characters in Search of an Author·ess
In Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), we find two opposing groups: theatre practitioners skilled in dramatic invention, and “born characters” shamelessly offering up their private lives for further dramatization. The ensuing clashes between identity and appropriation, interpretation and experience, between reality and fiction, find an unprecedented resonance a century later. In this original text, Catherine Bourgeois tackles these questions and contradictions head-on. What is acting: an imaginative or naturalistic gesture? What is character: a conscious construction or truthful testimonial? What are we allowed to play? And yes, who has the right to play and who remains excluded from the game?
Our Six Characters in Search of an Author·ess offers an unsettling stroll along the thin line between freedom of creation and social demands, presenting a (woke) boxing match between adversarial ethical questions. Sophistry, ad hominem arguments, shifting positions, and dubious shortcuts to be expected.
The development of this new piece is supported by the National Arts Centre and the FTA’s Breathing Space.
Photo: Mikaël Theimer
Text Catherine Bourgeois
Writing Collaborator Pénélope Bourque
Dramaturg Sara Fauteux
Performance Edon Descollines, Jean-François Huppé, Hubert Lemire, Michael Nimbley, Audrey Talbot, Anne Tremblay
