Pirandello and Modern Italian Writers: From Page to Stage
On Monday 1st December 2025, in the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow, we launched our hybrid panel, ‘Pirandello and Modern Italian Writers’, chaired by Dr Eanna O’ Ceallachain (Glasgow) and in collaboration with the Society for Pirandello Studies. Together with scholars in Translation Studies, Performing Arts, and Visual Culture, the panel focused on the processes, patterns, and practitioners involved when shifting their works from page to stage. We particularly welcomed submissions from scholars, early careers, translators, theatre practitioners from creative industries, and encouraged an interdisciplinary approach that intersected with broader questions around the dynamics involved in cross cultural encounters and transnational exchanges. The Society for Pirandello Studies took the occasion to open a new phase in its history. This was the first time the Society welcomed contributions not just from experts in Pirandello but also in modern Italian writers more widely. This new phase not only marked the inclusion of new authors, but also the addition of a new Chair (Enza De Francisci) and a new phase in the journal’s history. For the first time, Pirandello Studies is transitioning to an online platform based at Glasgow University. To inaugurate the digital publication of the journal, Matt Mahon from Glasgow University’s Library Services, alongside the new editors of the journal (Valeria Taddei and Angelo Mangini) and the former editor (Shirley Vinall), opened the panel by speaking more about the digital transfer. This was followed by Alessio Aletta (Cork) who spoke about performing spaciality in Sei Personaggi in cerca d’autore based on his current post-doctoral work with the Irish Research Council, and Giovanna Summerfield (Auburn) whose paper compared the reading and watching processes involved in Pirandello’s Il piacere dell’onestà. This concluded the Pirandello aspect of the panel which was then joined by a variety of other scholars working on diverse authors. These included Andrea Sartori (Nankai) who considered the afterlife of Carmelo Bene’s Nostra Signora dei Turchi (1966); Joseph Farrel (Strathclyde) who performed an excerpt of his recent Scottish translation of Dario Fo’s Mistero Buffo; and Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia) who discussed the character of Gano di Maganza in the Sarina Family’s Hand Puppet Theatre. To conclude, and as a way of drawing attention to lesser-spoken languages, such as southern Italian considered a ‘vulnerable’ language by UNESCO, Massimiliano Canzanella and Neil McClelland (PhD, Glasgow) performed a bilingual reading of Mastodascia in Neapolitan. To finish, we enjoyed a reception kindly provided by Italian Scotland. For this event, we would like to acknowledge the support from the Society for Italian Studies, the Society for Pirandello Studies, Glasgow University’s ArtsLab ‘Page to Stage’ Theme, the Glasgow-Nankai Joint Graduate School, Glasgow’s College of Arts and Humanities, Glasgow’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures, and the Stirling Maxwell Centre.