Così è (se vi pare)...
Right you are (if you think so)...
Luigi Pirandello
(1917)
Plot summery:
We begin our mysterious tale in the home of Signora Amalia, the most important and wealthy woman in the surrounding tiny Italian village. Along with her excitable, but sweet daughter, Dina, she is entertaining guests: the delightfully silly Signora Sirelli and her bored, long-suffering husband, and Signora Cini, a pious gossip-lover. The conversation soon turns to the arrival of a new family in the village, the Ponzas, whose strange behaviour has caused a stir amongst the local bourgeoisie. Amalia explains that Signor Ponza apparently lives with his wife, but nobody has ever seen her as she never leaves the house. Not only that, but his wife’s mother, Signora Frola, is supposedly banned from visiting her daughter. Laudisi, Amalia’s eccentric brother, who has been sitting in the corner during this conversation, excitedly points out that they are all mad to be gossiping like this. He explains, using the Sirellis as an example, that truth is subjective and so we cannot believe everything that we see and hear. Laudisi deplores the others’ insistence on finding out the truth about the Ponzas, because, for him, the truth does not exist. The rest of the company are not convinced. Amalia then announces that when she and Dina went to visit the Ponzas, they were not let inside the house, and were rudely told to leave. Amalia’s husband, Agazzi, was outraged by this, and has decided to call the village’s ‘prefetto’ (the local judge) to resolve this matter. Agazzi returns to the house and informs the others that Signora Frola will soon be coming to visit. When she arrives, she seems nervous and is constantly contradicting herself. After trying to pretend that she sees her daughter every day (a statement which the group soon disprove), she eventually cracks and says that her and her daughter have an agreement to not see each other, in order to keep Signor Ponza happy. Everyone finds this very suspicious, except Laudisi, who finds the whole thing hilarious. As soon as Signora Frola has left, the butler enters and announces the arrival of Signor Ponza. His strange visit, he says, is to tell everybody the truth about his family. The others are suspicious of him at first, given Signora Frola’s slightly cruel portrayal of his character, but suddenly change their minds when he announces two very important and surprising facts. Firstly, Signora Frola is mad. Secondly, her daughter is dead – the woman he is currently married to is his second wife. To pacify Signora Frola, who went mad over her daughter’s death, the couple pretend that Signora Ponza is in fact her daughter. The group are left stunned, but are interrupted once again by Signora Frola! Extremely panicked, she implores everybody to believe that she is not mad and her daughter is not dead. She explains her story: when Signor Ponza and her daughter got married, he acted so erratically and passionately that her daughter almost became mentally ill. While Signora Ponza was secretly in hospital trying to recover, her husband was so angry that he believed her to be dead. Thus once she came back, recovered, he no longer believed that she was his wife. Signora Frola and her daughter decided to fake a second marriage, and so Signora Ponza pretends to be her husband’s new second wife, although she is really his first. This, says Signora Frola, is their tragedy: she has to pretend to be mad, and her daughter has to pretend to be someone else. Laudisi triumphantly declares that all this proves that there is no truth, and later
dreams of dancing with Signora Frola.
Interval
The scene opens with Agazzi and Signor Sirelli determinedly trying to find out the truth about the Ponza family. Laudisi frustratedly tries to explain to them that there is no truth, and they cannot see this because they are living as phantoms, trapped inside a world they have created through their senses. Objectively, there is no truth, everybody creates their own impression of reality. Agazzi dismisses this idea, and explains to everybody that he has arranged for Signora Frola and Signor Ponza to stand trial in his very drawing room, so that the truth about them can finally be discovered. Everyone leaves excitedly
to prepare for the trial. Laudisi is left, half-asleep in his chair. When he wakes up, he finds that a mirror has appeared in the room and, going to it, sees his phantom on the other side. He tries to trick it into not copying his movements, but cannot. Eventually, his phantom disappears and Laudisi is left confused. At this moment,
the butler enters telling him that Signora Sirelli and Signora Cini have returned. Laudisi jokingly tells him that he should have told them that no-one was home, because the Laudisi that they know and the Laudisi that he really is are two very different people. The butler doesn’t understand, but eventually
goes to get them anyway. Finally, the trial is ready. The old, confused ‘prefetto’ doesn’t quite know what’s going on, and keeps telling everyone to be quiet. Signor Ponza enters and is furious that he is being put on trial, but the arrival of his mother-in-law calms him down. Suddenly, the butler announces that the mysterious Signora Ponza has arrived, to much excitement from the others. When she enters, both Signor Ponza and Signora Frola greet her, but using different names! The crowd cannot understand how Signora Ponza can be two different people: is she Lina or Giulia? She explains that she is both the daughter of Signora Frola and the second wife of Signor Ponza, but this does not satisfy her audience. Frustratedly, she explains that their incessant search for truth is ridiculous. Her last enigmatic statement is that she is nobody –
just whoever the others want to believe that she is. After a stunned silence, Laudisi triumphantly jumps up, claiming that they finally have their truth – and it is that there is no truth at all!
Original English version: http://www.pirandelloweb.com/english/right_you_are/right_you_are_cover.htm
