Dario Fo

Dario Fo
Born	24 March 1926 (1926-03-24) Sangiano, Varese, Italy
Occupation	Playwright
Nationality	Italian
Genres	Drama
Notable award(s)	Nobel Prize in Literature 1997
Influences Bertholt Brecht, Antonio Gramsci

Dario Fo (born 24 March 1926) is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress Franca Rame. He was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature, with the committee highlighting him as a writer "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".

His works are characterised by criticisms of — among others — organized crime, political corruption, political murders, Catholic policy on abortion and conflict in the Middle East. His plays often depend on improvisation, commedia dell'arte style. His plays — especially Mistero Buffo — have been translated to 30 languages and when they are performed outside Italy, they are often modified to reflect local political and other issues. Fo encourages directors and translators to modify his plays as they see fit, as he finds this in accordance to the commedia dell'arte tradition of on-stage improvisation.^{[citation needed]}

Biography

Early years

Fo was born in Sangiano, in the province of Varese, near the eastern shore of Lago Maggiore. His father, Felice, was a stationmaster for the Italian state railway, and the family frequently moved when Felice was transferred to new postings. Felice was also an amateur actor and a socialist. Fo learned storytelling from his maternal grandfather and Lombard fishers and glassblowers.

In 1940, Fo moved to Milan to study architecture at the Brera Academy, but World War II intervened. His family was active in the anti-fascist Resistance and reputedly he helped his father to smuggle refugees and Allied soldiers to Switzerland. His father helped smuggle Jewish scientists to safety in Switzerland. Near the end of the war, Fo was a volunteer in the paratroopers of the Republic of Salò. Fo escaped Mussolini's conscription and hid in an attic.

After the war Fo continued his architectural studies in Milan. Initially he commuted from Lago Maggiore, but soon his family moved to Milan. There Fo became involved in the piccoli teatri (small theatres) movement, in which he began to present improvised monologues. In 1950 he began to work for Franco Parenti's theatre company, and gradually abandoned his work as an assistant architect.

Franca Rame

In 1951 Fo met Franca Rame, daughter of a theatrical family, when they were working in the revue Sette giorni a Milano, and they eventually became engaged. In 1951 he was invited to perform a radio play Cocorico on RAI (Italian national radio). He made 18 satirical monologues where he adapted biblical tales as political satire. Scandalized authorities cancelled the show. In 1953, Fo wrote and directed a satirical play Il dito nell'occhio. After initial success both government and Church authorities censored his work and the theater company had trouble finding theaters in which to perform it. Rame and Fo were married on 24 June 1954. They had a son, Jacopo (born 31 March 1955), who also became a writer.

In 1955, Fo and Rame worked in movie production in Rome. Fo became a screenwriter and worked for many productions, including those of Dino De Laurentiis. Rame worked in Teatro Stabile of Bolzano. In 1956 Fo and Rame were together in the Carlo Lizzani's film Lo svitato. Other movies followed. In 1959, the couple returned to Milan and founded the Compagnia Dario Fo-Franca Rame. Fo wrote scripts, acted, directed, and designed costumes and stage paraphernalia. Rame took care of the administration. The company débuted in Piccolo Teatro and then initiated its first annual nationwide tour.^{[citation needed]}

1960s (Rise to success)

In 1960, Fo and Rame gained national recognition with Gli arcangeli non giocano a flipper (Archangels Don't Play Pinball) in Milan's Teatro Odeon. Other successes followed. In 1961 Fo's plays began to play in Sweden and Poland.

In 1962, Fo wrote and directed a game show, Canzonissima, for RAI. He used the show to depict the lives of ordinary people and it was a great success. However, an episode about a journalist who was killed by the Mafia led to Fo and Rame receiving death threats and being placed under police protection. They left the show when RAI made more cuts to the program. The Italian Actors' Union told its members not to replace the couple in their roles. Fo and Rame were effectively banned from RAI for the next 15 years. They continued their work in Teatro Odeon.^{[citation needed]}

In 1962, Fo's play about Christopher Columbus, entitled Isabella, Three Tall Ships, and a Con Man, was subject to violent attacks by fascist groups in Rome. The Italian Communist Party provided security for Fo and Rame. Fo recounted this event in the prologue of Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas. La Signora è da buttare (1967) made topical comments on the Vietnam War, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The U.S. government consistently denied Fo a visa to enter the U.S. for many years under the now defunct McCarran-Walter Act.^{[citation needed]}

Nonetheless, he gained international fame with Archangels Don't Play Pinball, when it was performed in Zagreb. In 1968, Fo and Rame founded Associazione Nuova Scena theatre collective with movable stages, which toured throughout Italy. In Milan, an abandoned factory was converted into a theatre and became the home of another new stage company, Il Capannone di Via Colletta. The collective had links to the Italian Communist Party, but Fo openly criticised the Party's methods and policies in his plays. Soon the Party's press opposed him as much as the Catholic Church, and many performances were cancelled. Fo had never been a Communist Party member but the conflict made Rame resign her Party membership.^{[citation needed]}

Fo withdrew all rights to perform his plays in Czechoslovakia in protest after Warsaw Pact forces crushed the Prague Spring in 1968, and refused to accept cuts demanded by Soviet censors. Productions of his plays in the Eastern Bloc ended. In 1969, he presented for the first time Mistero Buffo ("Comic Mystery"), a play of monologues based on a mix of medieval plays and topical issues. It was popular, and ran for 5000 performances, some even in sports arenas.^{[citation needed]}

1970s

Dario Fo in Cesena (in 2008)

In 1970, Fo and Rame left Associazione Nuova Scena due to political differences. They began their third theatre group, Collettivo Teatrale La Comune. It produced plays based on improvisation about contemporary issues. Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970) criticized abuse of forces of law and order; he wrote it after a terrorist attack on the Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Milan. Fedayin (1971) was about a volatile situation in Palestine and performers included genuine PLO members. From 1971-85, the group donated part of its income to support strikes of Italian labor organizations. In 1973 the company moved to Rossini Cinema in Milan.

When Fo criticized police in one of his plays, police raids and censorship increased. On 8 March, a fascist group, reportedly commissioned by high ranking officials in Milan's Carabinieri, the Italian federal police, kidnapped Franca Rame, torturing and raping her. Rame returned to the stage two months later with new anti-fascist monologues.

Later in that year, the company occupied an abandoned market building in Central Milan and dubbed it the Palazzina Liberty. They opened in September with Guerra di popolo in Cile, about a rebellion against Chilean military government. It was written because of the deposing and assassination of Salvador Allende. Fo was arrested when he tried to prevent police from stopping the play. The 1974 play, Can't Pay? Won't Pay!, was a farce about the self-reduction movement where women (and men) would take what they wanted from markets, only paying what they could afford. In 1975, Fo wrote Fanfani rapito in support of a referendum for the legalization of abortion. Fo was nominated for the Nobel Prize for the first time.

In 1976, the new director of RAI2, Massimo Fichera, invited Fo to create a new programme, Il teatro di Dario (Dario's Theatre). However, when the second edition of Mistero Buffo' was shown on Italian television in 1977, the Vatican described it as "blasphemous", prompting complaints from Italian right-wingers. Rame, however, was awarded an IDI prize for Best Television Actress. In 1978, Fo made the third version of Mistero Buffo. He also rewrote and directed La storia di un soldato (Story of a Soldier), based on an opera by Igor Stravinsky. It was a success. Later he adapted operas from Gioacchino Rossini. He also wrote a play about the murder of Aldo Moro, but it has never been performed in public.^{[citation needed]}

1980s

In 1980, Fo and his family founded a retreat, the Libera Università di Alcatraz, in the hills near Gubbio and Perugia. They bought the valley bit by bit. The retreat is currently run by Fo and Rame's son, Jacopo Fo.

In 1981, Cambridge's American Repertory Theater invited Fo to perform in the Italian Theatre Festival in New York. The United States Department of State initially refused to grant Fo a visa but agreed to issue a six-day visa in 1984 after various U.S. writers protested the ruling. In 1985, he received another visa and performed at Harvard University, Repertory Theater, the Yale Repertory Theater, Washington's Kennedy Center, Baltimore's Theatre of Nations and New York's Joyce Theatre.

Despite the acclaim, Fo continued to experience problems. In 1983, Italian censors rated Coppia Aperta forbidden to anyone under the age of 18. During a performance in Argentina, a saboteur threw a tear gas grenade, and performances were disturbed by youths who threw stones at the windows. Catholics picketed the performance with large religious pictures.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989 Fo wrote Lettera dalla Cina to protest the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Awards

Theatre awards

In 1981, Fo received a Sonning Prize from Copenhagen University; in 1985 a Premio Eduardo Award; in 1986 the Obie Award in New York; in 1987 the Agro Dolce Prize.

1990s (Nobel Prize for Literature)

On 17 July 1995, Fo suffered a stroke and lost most of his sight; Rame subsequently took his place in productions for awhile. He recovered almost fully within a year.

On 9 October 1997, he was announced as that year's Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (in Belgium).

Politics

2000s (Fo's bid for mayor of Milan)

In 2006, Fo made an attempt to run for mayor of Milan, the most economically important city of Italy, finishing second in the primary election held by the centre-left The Union. Fo, who received more than 20% of the vote, was supported by the Communist Refoundation Party.

Rame elected senator

Franca Rame was elected as senator for the Italy of Values party in the 2006 Italian general election held from 9-10 April 2006. As of 2010, Fo and Rame are independent members of the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC – Partito della Rifondazione Comunista).

Dario Fo remains an active participant and campaigner on various political, social and cultural issues.

9/11

Fo questioned the official accounts of the September 11 attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings in the film Zero.

Selected works

Note: These are the English names of the works.

• Archangels Don't Play Pinball (1959)
• He Had Two Pistols with White and Black Eyes (1960)
• He Who Steals a Foot is Lucky in Love (1961)
• Isabella, Three Tall Ships, and a Con Man (1963)
• Mistero Buffo (Comic Mystery, 1969)
• The Worker Knows 300 Words, the Boss 1000, That's Why He's the Boss (1969)
• Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970)
• Fedayin (1971)
• We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! (Non Si Paga! Non Si Paga!) (aka Can't Pay? Won't Pay!) (1974)
• Mama's Marijuana is the Best (1976)
• All House, Bed, and Church (1977)
• The Tale of a Tiger (1978)
• Trumpets and Raspberries (1981)
• The Open Couple (1983)
• Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman (1984)
• One was Nude and One wore Tails (1985)
• Abducting Diana (1986) – Adapted to English in 1996 by Stephen Stenning
• The Tricks of the Trade (Manuale minimo dell'attore) [1987] (1991)
• The Zeedonk and the Shoe (1988)
• The Pope and the Witch (1989)
• A Woman Alone (1991)
• Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas (1992)
• The Devil with Boobs (1997)
• The First Miracle of the Infant Jesus
• Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo
• About Face
• The Virtuous Burglar
• Francis The Holy Jester (2009)

English translations

A number of Fo's plays have been translated into the English language, including Abducting Diana and St Francis – The Holy Jester which is on a 2009 tour of southern England. St Francis- The Holy Jester was published by Beautiful Books Limited (UK) in May 2009.

External links

• Official website of Dario Fo's candidacy as Mayor of Milan (Italian)
• Official website of the documentary about Dario Fo's candidacy as Mayor of Milan
• Nobel laureate page
• Biography
• Peace Mom by Dario Fo (performed in London, in December 2005)
• Restart by Komedy Kollective
• Mario Pirovano website, performing Fo's work
• Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, presenting premiere of Francis the Holy Jester