Dario Fo : revolutionary theatre / Tom Behan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Behan, Tom, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater--Italy--History--20th century.

Theater.

Experimental theater--Italy--History--20th century.

Experimental theater.

Fo, Dario--Criticism and interpretation.

Fo, Dario.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For three decades Dario Fo has been the world's most performed living playwright and Europe's leading radical dramatist. He was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 71 for his contributions as a writer, actor and mime artist over half a century. A controversial figure, he has also been a communist for most of his life.In the first political biography of Dario Fo, Tom Behan traces Fo's life and work from his beginnings in cabaret and mime in postwar Italy and his early writings for television and radio, to the development of his political ideas and the influence of his plays both inside and outside Italy. Behan broadens his study to examine the importance of Fo's theatre and explores the relationship between mass leftwing movements and Fo's activities as playwright and performer. To illustrate these links, Behan makes a detailed analysis of the key themes in Fo's plays - state repression in The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, rebellion in Can't Pay, Won't Pay, the tragedy of leftwing terrorism in Trumpets and Raspberries, and the anti-Clerical satire of Mistero Buffo .

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgements

Brief Chronology

Introduction

1. The Bourgeois Period

Challenges to the System

On the Wavelength of Lies

Back to the Theatre

The Break with the Bourgeoisie

2. The Revolutionary Period

A New Audience

The Politics of New Scene

The Break with Reformism

The Commune

The Gathering Storm

Chile: The End of the Parliamentary Road to Socialism

Palazzina Liberty

3. Accidental Death of an Anarchist

The Strategy of Tension

The Genesis of the Play

Smashing the State

Attempted Obliteration of an Anarchist

The Frame-up of the Anarchist's Friends

Conclusion

4. Can't Pay? Won't Pay!

Upturns, Downturns and Autoriduzioni

Life Imitates Art

The Continued Success of the Play

5. Mistero Buffo

Mistero Buffo in History and in Theory

Mistero Buffo in Practice

The Vatican's Response to Mistero Buffo

On Writing and Performing

Breaking the Fourth Wall

The Power of Laughter

6. The Downturn Period

Left-wing Terrorism and Trumpets and Raspberries

Maoism and Marxism

Exit Stage Left?

The End of the Regime

Dario Fo, Nobel Prizewinner - A Mistero Buffo?

Appendix A: Fo's Theatrical Coup

Success

Appendix B: An 'Intervention Show' in Brescia

Appendix C: A Telegram to The Commune

Notes

Chapter 1 The Bourgeois Period

Chapter 2 The Revolutionary Period

Chapter 3 Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Chapter 4 Can't Pay? Won't Pay!

Chapter 5 Mistero Buffo

Chapter 6 The Downturn Period

Appendix B: An Intervention Show in Brescia

Index

A Poke in the Eye 8

Accidental Death of an Anarchist

3

40

Agnelli, G. 85

All Home, Bed and Church

92

113.

Archangels Don't Play Pinball 11-12

ARCI 19

Berlinguer, E. 28

Big Pantomime with Flags and Puppets 27

Brecht, B. 3

Calabresi, L.

67-69

159n

Can't Pay? Won't Pay!

87-94

Canzonissima 15-18

Case del popolo 27-28

Censorship during the 1950s and1960s 2

Fabulatori 5

Fanfani Kidnapped 59

FIAT car company

13

35

Fo, D.

'bourgeois period' 11-14

'intervention' shows 61-62

'intervention' shows 146-149

adolescence 6-7

anti Stalinism 9-10

anti Stalinism 109

arrest in 1973 2

attitude to theatrical language and writing 11

break with commercial theatre in 3

collective influence on writing 3

collective influence on writing 13

historical research for plays 20

historical research for plays 45

Nobel prizewinner 2

Nobel prizewinner 76-77

on the 'fourth wall' 106-109

performances in support of industrial disputes 3

performances in support of industrial disputes 92

popularity 1

popularity 55-56

relationship to Italian communist party [PCI] 3

relationship to Italian communist party [PCI] 52-53

return to commercial theatre in the 1980s 3

support for Mao's China 34

support for Mao's China 126-127

Francesca's Abduction 133-134

Free Marino! Marino is innocent!

1

76-82

Giullari 22

Gramsci, A. 7

Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man 19-20

Knock! Knock! Who's there? The Police! 49

Lenin, V. 30

Lotta Continua [LC]

43-44

53

Mao Zedung 34

Marino, L. 76-81

Marx, K. 7

Mayakovsky, V. 109

Mistero Buffo 1

Mum's Marijuana is the Best 59-61

New Scene theatre company

27-32

37-38

Open Couple 111

48-49

84

PCI

6.

accusations of terrorism against Fo and Rame 121-123

end of party, 1989-91 130-131

its 'historic compromise' 53

postwar dispute over The Polytechnic magazine 6-7

relationship with Fo during [ 70] 30-32

support for the Soviet Union 33-34

People's War in Chile

51-55

143-145

Piazza Fontana bombing

57

74

Pinelli, G. 66-75

Rame, F.

family history 11

kidnapping 2

membership of PCI 32

monologue performances 51

monologue performances 111

work with Soccorso Rosso 48-50

work with Soccorso Rosso 119

Red Brigades and left-wing terrorism 50

Ricordi, N.

19

37

Sciotto, P. 26

Shakespeare, W. 97

Sofri, A. 76

Tale of a Tiger 92

Thatcher, M. 3

The 'third act'

25

39-40

The Commune theatre collective and national organization

40-44

social composition during the [ 41

Tie Me Up and I'll Still Smash Everything 38-40

Trumpets and Raspberries

113

119-123

United We Stand! All Together Now! Hang On, Isn't That the Boss? 44-48

Valpreda, P. 57

Vatican 2.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781849645072

1849645078

9780585427645

058542764X

OCLC:

923330254