Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fois an Italian actor-playwright, comedian, singer, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, painter and political campaigner of the italian extremist left-wing, recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. "Arguably the most widely performed contemporary playwright in world theatre", much of his dramatic work depends on improvisation and comprises the recovery of "illegitimate" forms of theatre, such as those performed by giullari and, more famously, the ancient Italian style of commedia dell'arte...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth24 March 1926
CountryItaly
Scandals are the fertilizer of Western democracy.
Health and an able body are two jewels.
Nothing is thought rare Which is not new and follow'd, yet we know That what was worne some twenty yeare agoe, Comes into grace againe.
We thought the church had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics... but instead there is a terrible resurgence. These are ugly signs for freedom of expression.
We are stark naught all, bad's the best of us.
Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible.
Real socialism is inside man. It wasn't born with Marx. It was in the communes of Italy in the Middle Ages. You can't say it is finished.
It is hard for power to enjoy or incorporate humour and satire in its system of control.
All forms of power - even based on the consensus of the democratic system - react when they are being attacked, or when those who exercise power become a target.
When I was a boy, unconsciously, spontaneously I learned the art of telling ironic stories.
Every time you touch those who have power over the media, they seek to stop you.
Every artistic expression is either influenced by or adds something to politics.
It is from him, from Beolco Ruzzante, that I've learned to free myself from conventional literary writing and to express myself with words that you can chew, with unusual sounds, with various techniques of rhythm and breathing, even with the rambling nonsense-speech of the 'grammelot.'
It is extremely dangerous to talk about limits or borders. It is vital, instead, that we remain completely open, that we are always involved, and that we aim to contribute personally in social events.