Dario Fo

Dario Fo (born March 24, 1926), is an Italian satirist playwright, theater director and composer. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. He uses methods of commedia dell'arte and works closely with his wife Franca Rame.

Related Topics:
March 24 - 1926 - Italian - Satirist - Playwright - Theater director - Composer - Nobel Prize for Literature - Commedia dell'arte - Franca Rame

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Dario Fo was born on March 26 1926 in San Giano, in the Italian province of Varese, near the eastern shore of Lago Maggiore. His father Felice was a station master 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. Dario learned storytelling from his maternal grandfather and Lombard fishers and glassblowers.

Related Topics:
San Giano - Varese - Lago Maggiore - Lombard - Glassblowers

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In 1940 Fo moved to Milan to study in architecture at the Brera Art Academy, but World War II intervened. His family was active in anti-fascist resistance and reputedly he helped his father to smuggle refugees and Allied soldiers to Switzerland. Near the end of the war Fo was conscripted into the army of the Republic of Salò, but he escaped and managed to hide for the remainder of the war.

Related Topics:
Milan - Architecture - Brera Art Academy - World War II - Anti-fascist - Refugee - Switzerland - Republic of Salò

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

Related Topics:
Monologue - 1950 - Franco Parenti

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In 1951 Dario Fo met Franca Rame, daughter of a theatrical family, when they were working in the production of revue Sette giorni a Milano. After a slow start, they became engaged. In the same year he was invited to perform a radio play Cocorico in RAI, Italian national radio. He made 18 satirical monologues where he varied biblical tales to make them political satire. Scandalized authorities cancelled the show.

Related Topics:
1951 - Radio play - RAI

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In 1953 he wrote and directed a satirical play Il dito nell'occhio. After initial success both government and church authorities censured him and the theater company had trouble finding theater in which to perform it. Public did appreciate the show.

Related Topics:
1953 - Satirical - Government - Church - Theater company

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Franca Rame and Dario Fo were married in June 24, 1954. Fo worked in the Piccolo Teatro in Milan but his satires suffered more censure although they remained popular.

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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. Their son Jacopo was born on March 31. 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.

Related Topics:
1955 - Rome - Screenwriter - Dino De Laurentiis - Carlo Lizzani

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In 1959 Fo and Rame returned to Milan and founded the Compagnia Dario Fo-Franca Rame theater company. Fo wrote scripts, acted, directed ,and designed costumes and stage paraphernalia. Rame took care of the administrative jobs. The company débuted in Piccolo Teatro and them left for the first of its annual tours all over the Italy. In 1960 they gained national recognition with 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.

Related Topics:
1959 - Costumes - 1960 - Teatro Odeon - 1961 - Sweden - Poland

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In 1962 Fo wrote and directed a game show Canzonissima for RAI. Fo used the show to depict lives of commoners and it become a success. However, an episode about a journalist who was killed by Mafia annoyed politicians and Fo and Rame received death threats and were placed under police protection. They left the show when RAI made more cuts to the program. The Italian Actor's Union told its members to refuse to became their replacements. Fo and Rame were effectively banned from RAI for the next 15 years. They continued their work in Teatro Odeon.

Related Topics:
1962 - Game show - Journalist - Mafia

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In 1962 their play about Christopher Columbus annoyed right wing groups and caused violent attacks. On this occasion it was the Italian Communist Party which provided the couple with bodyguards.

Related Topics:
1962 - Christopher Columbus - Right wing - Italian Communist Party

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La Signorina è da buttare (1967) made topical comments on the Vietnam War, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The US government saw it as being disrespectful to President Johnson, and Fo was denied a US visa for years afterwards under the McCarran-Walter Act.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - Lee Harvey Oswald - Assassination - John F. Kennedy - US government - President Johnson - Visa - McCarran-Walter Act

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Fo gained international fame with Archangels Don't Play Pinball when it was performed in Zagreb (then in Yugoslavia).

Related Topics:
Zagreb - Yugoslavia

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In 1968 Fo and Rame founded Associazione Nuova Scena theater collective with movable stages. It toured in Italy. In Milan, it turned an abandoned factory into a theater. It became a home of another new company, Il Capannone di Via Colletta. The collective had links to the Italian Communist Party, but Fo openly criticized also their methods and policies in his plays. Soon the communist press disliked him as much as the did Catholic one, and many openings were cancelled. Fo had never been a member but the conflict made Rame resign her membership of the party.

Related Topics:
1968 - Catholic

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Dario Fo withdrew all rights to perform his plays in Czechoslovakia after the Warsaw Pact forces crushed Prague Spring in 1968 as a protest and refused to accept cuts demanded by Soviet censors. Productions of his plays in the Eastern Block ended.

Related Topics:
Prague Spring - 1968 - Eastern Block

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In 1969 Fo presented for the first time Mistero Buffo (Comic Mystery), a play of monologues based on the mix of medieval plays and topical issues. It was popular and had 5000 performances even in sports arenas.

Related Topics:
1969 - Medieval

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However, in 1970 Fo and Rame left Nuova Scena due to political differences. They began their third theater group, Colletivo Teatrale La Comune. It produced plays based on improvisation about contemporary issues with lots of revisions. 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 to 1985, the group donated part of its income to support strikes of Italian labor organizations.

Related Topics:
1970 - Accidental Death of an Anarchist - Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura - Palestine - PLO

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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 March 8, a fascist group kidnapped Franca Rame and tortured and raped her. Rame returned to the stage after two months with new anti-fascist monologues.

Related Topics:
1973 - Rossini Cinema

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

Related Topics:
Salvador Allende - 1974 - 1975 - Referendum - Abortion - China - Nobel prize

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In 1976 a new RAI director invited Fo to do a new program, Il teatro di Dario (Dario's Theater). However, when Mistero Buffo's second version was presented in the TV in 1977, the Vatican described it as "blasphemous" and Italian right-wingers complained. Regardless, Franca Rame received an IDI prize for the best TV actress.

Related Topics:
1976 - 1977 - Vatican

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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 Igor Stravinsky's opera. It was a success. Later he had also adapted operas from Rossini. He also wrote a play about the murder of Aldo Moro, but it has not been performed publicly.

Related Topics:
1978 - Igor Stravinsky - Rossini - Aldo Moro

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In 1980 Fo and family founded a retreat the Libera Università di Alcatraz in the hills near Gubbio and Perugia. They bought the valley bit by bit. It is currently run by Jacopo Fo.

Related Topics:
1980 - Gubbio - Perugia

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

Related Topics:
1981 - America Repertory Theater - United States Department of State - 1984 - 1985 - Harvard University - New Haven University Repertory Theater - Kennedy Center - Baltimore - Theater of Nations - Joyce Theater

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Despite the acclaim, there were still trouble. In 1983 Italian censors rated Coppia Aperta forbidden to anyone under 18. During a performance in Argentina, a saboteur threw a tear gas grenade and the further performances were disturbed by youths who threw stones on the windows. Catholics picketed the performance with large religious pictures.

Related Topics:
1983 - Argentina - Tear gas - Grenade

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In 1989 he wrote Lettera dalla Cina in protest of the Tiananmen Massacre. In the same year he was the first Italian to stage a play in the Comédie Française.

Related Topics:
1989 - Tiananmen Massacre - Comédie Française

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In 1981 Fo received a Sonning Award from Copenhagen University, 1985 a Premio Eduardo Award and in 1986 the Obie Award in New York and in 1987 Agro Dolce Prize. In October 9, 1997 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Related Topics:
1981 - Sonning Award - Copenhagen University - 1985 - Premio Eduardo Award - 1986 - Obie Award - 1987 - Agro Dolce Prize - 1997 - Nobel Prize for Literature

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In July 17, 1995, Fo suffered a stroke and lost most of his sight and his wife took his place in productions for a time. Fo was fortunate and almost recovered within a year.

Related Topics:
1995 - Stroke

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In his works Dario Fo has criticized – among others - Catholic policy on abortion, political murders, organized crime, political corruption and middle-east crisis. 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.

Related Topics:
Abortion - Organized crime - Political corruption - Middle-east crisis

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