Rome picks Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author to relaunch the theatre where the play received a notorious reaction from audience.
Rome’s historic Teatro Valle will reopen on 16 October following a prolonged closure and an extensive restoration, the city’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri said on Thursday.
The theatre will relaunch with a production of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, the very play that received its world premiere on that same stage on 9 May 1921.
Gualtieri made the announcement at the Teatro Argentina during a press conference presenting the Teatro di Roma’s 2026–2027 season, which is titled Teatro è Vita (“Theatre is Life”).
Pirandello’s disastrous premiere
Six Characters in Search of an Author “was not the only work to premiere at the Valle” – Gualtieri acknowledged – “but on 9 May 1921, what happened there was simultaneously one of the greatest theatrical failures of its time and the first performance of a masterpiece. We liked the idea of beginning our programme with that work.”
Pirandello’s absurdist, groundbreaking play explores the blurred line between reality and fiction by presenting six unfinished dramatic characters who interrupt a theatre rehearsal, demanding that their tragic story be performed.
The unorthodox plot startled and confused the first audience in Teatro Valle, famously leading to shouts of “manicomio” (madhouse) from rioting theatregoers.
However by the end of 1921 the play was enchanting audiences and critics in Milan, leading to successful productions in London, New York, Paris, Berlin and Vienna.
Theatre history
Teatro Valle, described by the city as Europe’s oldest modern theatre, dates to 1726 and was commissioned by the Capranica family.
It was designed by the architect Tommaso Morelli, with its interior and exterior later redesigned in the 19th century by noted Italian architects including Valadier and Salvi.
Over three centuries it has hosted numerous world premieres, including Rossini’s Demetrio e Polibio in 1812.
A long road back
The former opera house near Piazza Navona closed in 2010 before being occupied for three years, from June 2011 to August 2014, over rumours that it was to be privatised.
The occupation initially drew high-profile names from Italian cinema and theatre, including Roberto Benigni, Nanni Moretti and Toni Servillo, as well as the legendary British director and playwright Peter Brook, all rallying under the slogan that the Valle was a public treasure not to be handed over to private interests.
Over time, however, the occupation deteriorated from a lively cultural space into an informal residential squat, eventually prompting the city to reclaim the building on safety grounds.
The immediate trigger for closure had been the abolition in 2010 of the ETI, the Italian Theatre Board, which had previously managed the venue’s programming.
Restoration
The city and the Teatro Stabile di Roma subsequently began a lengthy restoration – the foyer was completed in 2022, but the stage and auditorium required substantially more work.
“It has been a demanding effort, with very complex constraints” – Gualtieri said – “A gigantic commitment also from an economic point of view: €11 million drawn entirely from Rome’s own municipal resources.”
He confirmed that work was in the final stages but that there was every reason to be confident the 16 October date was achievable. “The construction site is concluding,” he said, “and we are in a position to confirm a date – and it will be an extraordinary day.”
Once restored to its former glory, Teatro Valle will become the fourth venue in the Teatro di Roma’s network, alongside Teatro Argentina, Teatro India and Teatro Torlonia.
The long-awaited reopening, after nearly two decades of disruption and delay, will mark the return of an audience to a stage that has stood at the heart of Roman theatrical life for 300 years.
