The Mother [with a cry of terror runs over in that direction together with several of the ACTORS amid general confusion ]. My son! My son! [Then amid the cries and exclamations one hears her voice. ] Help! Help!

The Manager [pushing the ACTORS aside while THEY lift up the BOY and carry him off. ] Is he really wounded?

Some Actors. He's dead! Dead!

Other Actors. No, no, it's only make believe, it's only pretence!

The Father [with a terrible cry ]. Pretence? Reality, sir, reality!

The Manager. Pretence? Reality? To hell with it all! Never in my life has such a thing happened to me. I've lost a whole day over these people, a whole day!

[Luigi Pirandello received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934. He died in 1936, before he was to play the Author in a Hollywood film version of this play. For a page in Italian with a short biography and links to the original of this play along with others, please see]