Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936). Italian dramatist and novelist, known for his symbolical and psychological dramas and satires. His influence is particularly powerful on the Theatre of the Absurd. His plays include Right You Are - If You Think So, Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), Henry IV (1922), Each in His Own Way (1924), Lazarus (1929), Tonight We Improvise (1930), No One Knows How (1934) and The Mountain Giants (1937). In 1925 Pirandello established his own company at the Teatro Odescalchi, Rome. In 1934 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Tom Stoppard's work includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, After Magritte, Dirty Linen, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, the trilogy The Coast of Utopia, Rock 'n' Roll, The Hard Problem and Leopoldstadt. His radio plays include If You're Glad I'll Be Frank, Albert's Bridge, Where Are They Now?, Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died, In the Native State and Darkside (incorporating Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon). Television work includes Professional Foul, Squaring the Circle and Parade's End. Film credits include Empire of the Sun, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which he also directed, Shakespeare in Love, Enigma and Anna Karenina.
