Comprehension check: It is always a good idea to start each session with a check of purely linguistic comprehension of the assigned readings. Students should be encouraged to read the text portions assigned for home with a dictionary, and make note of the passages whose meaning they have difficulties understanding. At the beginning of the class, students discuss in small groups the passages they have marked and try to help each other with comprehension, then the instructor solves any remaining doubts (the instructor should of course always monitor the small groups discussions).
From the literary to the theatrical creation: Students are encouraged to reflect on the process of creating a play. Additional materials on the history of the play and on Pirandello’s rewriting of his short stories may be distributed; the instructor should keep in mind that the goal is to provide the student with the necessary contextual information, no less but no more either, so that they can build their own analysis of the topic at hand (for example, a topic one might want to discuss when teaching this play regards the funding of the arts during Fascism, but this would require a separate additional session). Students are ask to reflect on what we mean by “author”, on how reception and transmission affect a literary work, and on how theatre complicates this discourse. In order to facilitate the students’ engagement with the discussion, students may be asked to imagine how they would go about writing a play, and then to imagine seeing their play interpreted in a way that is very different from what they had envisioned. To deepen the conversation on this topic, an excerpt from Pirandello’s Illustratori, Attori e Traduttori could help frame reading and writing as interpretational processes. After this discussion, students are directed to look again at Hinkfuss’s initial statements and select one line or sentence that they find particularly interesting or puzzling; they share the lines in small groups and try to analyze them, and then report to the class. Throughout these activities, it is crucial that the discussion stems from the students themselves, and that they are given enough time to process and express their own ideas; this is again why small groups are helpful, as they create a situation in which it is far less likely that the instructor does all the intellectual work and the students are merely passive recipients, which unfortunately still happens in many classrooms and which is pedagogically counterproductive.
Engaging in prediction: In preparation to the following session, students are asked to imagine how the action will unfold. In small groups, they prepare a plot outline and then improvise its performance. The purpose is to foster the students’ imagination and interest in the text, as engaging in prediction stimulates the students’ attention and involvement. This activity also allows them to experiment first hand with the concepts of “canovaccio” and “recitare a soggetto.” After the practical activity, the instructor leads a discussion on what just happened, linking students’ reflections to Pirandello’s text, and possibly introducing the students to the history of Commedia dell’Arte with a few additional materials.
by Anna Santucci (PhD Candidate, Brown University)