Review of the Pitoёff production of Six Characters at the Théâter des Champs Elysées in 1923, Found in our files too late for entry in the table of contents.

Extract

Life goes on as before. Without any show.

Our eyes are drawn to the very back of the stage. The curtain has gone up. And the whole theatre is a vast hall where the audience is about to watch a rehearsal in progress. But a rehearsal of what? There is no play. We are about to see theatre made before our eyes. Everyone is occupied with his own trivial affairs. After a while, however, the actors come together. Then a family in mourning steps out of the Théâter des Champs Elysées’ elevator; their faces are ashen white, as if started out of dreams.

These are the Six Characters in Search of an Author. Now these Six Characters want to come alive. They want to take part in drama. They are more real than you, stage manager, or you, barn-stormers. They are real and they are about to prove it.