OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Micheál Mac Liammóir 

• Adapted / Translated From

  Luigi Pirandello 

• Author Notes

  Translated from Luigi Pirandello's Original Play.

• Setting

  The action takes place in a solitary villa in Umbria, Italy. Time, the present.

• Synopsis

  An exploration of how actors play a part. Four actors arrive, one of them new, to play the part of attendants to Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Unfortunately, the new one has assumed that the ruler is Henry IV of France, and so has read up and assumed the part of a French lord five centuries later. The four of them turn out to be attendants not, as initially seems, in a play about the Emperor, but to a rich Count who lapsed into madness following an injury received during a pageant in which he was playing Henry IV.

• Play Type

  Adaptation/Translation
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

• Cast Size Male

  11

• Cast Size Female

  2

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION

• Date of First Production

  April 1955

• Producer

  Produced by Edwards-Mac Liammoir Gate Theatre Productions

• Original Venue

  Gate Theatre/Amharclann an Gheata
  

SOURCE OF INFORMATION

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme.