Six Characters in Search of an Author

Do the characters have free will or are they predestined? How does their nonlinear, but repeated play acting and the repetitions in theatrical rehearsals and performances inform this question?

The conversation between the play and the play-within-the-play explores the relationship between truth and identity. Are certain characters or performances truer than others? Do theatrical performances create truth despite artistic liberties?

How are authorship and the self-fashioning of one’s identity related? Is one more truthful? Use examples and quotations from the play.

Does Luigi Pirandello imagine that there is an objective truth? Are fact and truth the same? How do subjective interpretations and perspectives inform the idea of fact?

What is the role of words and writing in memory and storytelling? How do the Manager, the Father, and the Step-Daughter see this role differently?

Is the ending real on any level? Does it matter how real it is? Is it truthful?

How is memory differentiated from fact? What do the variations in both small details and large plot points suggest about memory? Does the play suggest that any character’s memory is more truthful than the other?

What role do names play in identity? Why are the characters, the actors, and the technicians not referred to by name? What effect is there when a character’s name is revealed, like the Child’s or the Mother’s?