Orlando’s First Pirandello After 50 Years on Stage

Actor Silvio Orlando is performing in a production of Luigi Pirandello’s work for the first time in his career, a milestone that comes after 50 years of experience on the stage.

When addressing why he waited five decades to engage with the works of the Nobel laureate, Orlando attributed the delay to generational distrust and fear.

Reflections on Mortality and Aging

The decision to tackle Pirandello coincides with a period of deep personal reflection for Orlando regarding the end of life and the nature of existence. He has expressed a preoccupation with mortality and a desire for transcendence.

Lately I think about death, I aspire to eternity. I would like an old age like…

Silvio Orlando

In discussing his vision for his later years, Orlando specifically referenced the aging process of actor Anthony Hopkins as a model for the kind of old age he aspires to achieve.

The Literary Significance of Luigi Pirandello

The weight of Orlando’s decision is underscored by the stature of Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) in the history of global theater. A Sicilian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer, Pirandello was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934.

The Nobel Committee recognized Pirandello for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art. His body of work includes approximately 40 plays, some of which were written in Sicilian, as well as hundreds of short stories and several novels.

Pirandello’s plays were developed as reactions against the prevailing styles of naturalism and realism. To explore his philosophies, he employed metatheatricality—theater that refers to itself—and created a unique form of humor delivered through a character known as the raisonneur.

Themes of Identity and the Absurd

The difficulty and intellectual demand of Pirandello’s work, which may contribute to the fear mentioned by Orlando, lie in its exploration of complex psychological and philosophical themes. Pirandello’s “tragic farces” are widely regarded as precursors to the Theatre of the Absurd.

His most recognized play, Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), exemplifies these themes. The work follows characters in conflict over the narration of their own story, exploring the subjectivity of truth and the mechanics of staging a play. In this work, the audience is only able to assemble the full picture in the final moments, as the actors within the play are too immersed in their own subjective worlds to see the whole picture.

Other notable works by Pirandello include:

• The Late Mattia Pascal (1904)
• Henry IV (1922)
• One, No One and One Hundred Thousand (1926)

Pirandello’s writing frequently focused on subjects of insanity and humor, often examining the fragmentation of the human personality and the masks individuals wear in society. This thematic focus aligns with Orlando’s current reflections on the transition into old age and the search for eternity.