Six Characters in search of An Author

Upon the invitation of Director Daniel Ingi Petursson of Tellus Theatre, I went to the last show of "Six Characters in search of An Author" by Luigi Pirandello Sunday evening, June 24th. As soon as I received the text message from Daniel to inform me of the last show, I thought I was obliged to see it to encourage and support Tellus Theater members whom I worked with for two months in March and in April.

After the weekly Shakespeare Theater rehearsal at the Red Room Sunday afternoon, I rushed to the venue at the basement of a vegetarian restaurant on Ningpo East Road. I was delighted to see Daniel at the ticket office, I was happy being the first customer to pay for the entrance fee NT$350.

Despite the economical scale of the theater, cast, props, costumes, I enjoyed the show with two dozen guests. Most of them, I believe, were invited by Tellus members to support the actors on stage and director behind the scene. I'd like to compliment Daniel for making it happen independently with a bunch of amateur actors in such a short period of time without any financial support whatsoever.

Even most actors were playing themselves, in stead of the designated characters, the lady who played the mother of the six characters caught my attention from the beginning till the end. I would give her the award of the best supporting actress. She wore a dark mourning dress with tears in black on her face. Her facial expression, hand gestures, body language were simply awesome, on top of that her lines in English were pleasant to the ears. I love her. She must be professional, as I had never seen her during 8 rehearsals with Daniel.

It was a new experience for me to see a play at a small experimental theater in Taipei knowing all the lines in advance. In stead of being a common viewer in the audience,  I felt like being a theater critic evaluating the performance of the actors on stage as well as the knowhow of the director.

Many thanks must go to Daniel for introducing to me the basics of the theater and the famous Pirandello. I wish I could see Pirandello's commedia dell'arte at his home town in Sicily one day in the future. I wish one day I could take a role in Pirandello's six characters in search of an author no matter when and where I am. What a wishing thinking of mine!