The following essay contains Orazio Costa's comments regarding the attitudes seen in the play: "In fact, one is suggested here, which I attempted to realize scenically: analogous to the prying attitude of the provincial society gathered in a typical drawing-room, and facing a group of shy and secret creatures who refuse the principle of "sociability."

[Introduction]

Ever since 1945, many of Orazio Costa's productions have stood out as landmarks in the development of the Italian theatre.

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that he has staged a good many of Pirandello's plays and even staged some of them several times over. A fascinating experience for such a recognized "perfectionist"!

One of Orazio Costa's most characteristic features is the combination of extreme rigour in the analysis of the text the sure sign of the philologist with a constant, but never completely fulfilled aspiration towards the highest summits of spirituality. And...