The Portrayal of Family and Self-reflexivity in Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author

Luigi Pirandello’s play, Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921, Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore) portrays numerous significant and functional characteristics of metatheatre, a concept coined by Lionel Abel. By drawing on such metatheatrical features and the play within a play technique, Pirandello’s play presents six characters that are in search of an author. This study will, therefore, explain the concept of metatheatre and present a critical analysis of the play, Six Characters as a self-reflexive play. In this critical engagement with the text through specific references from the play and relevant secondary sources, important themes in the play such as reality and illusion, life, art, and the representation of the family in the play will be analysed. This analysis will ultimately demonstrate that Pirandello presents six characters that are self-conscious of their position as dramatic characters that manage to act out their roles, which actually reveal the family relationships between the characters.