LU SANTO JULLÀRE DARIO FO

Rebellato, Dan. 'Lu Santo Julláre Dario Fo.' In Research Papers on Dario Fo and Franca Rame, edited by Ed Emery. London: Red Notes, 2002: 161-74.

My essay 'Lu Santo Jullàre Dario Fo' introduces and discusses Fo's work in the 1990s an era in Italian politics which, one might think, was made for Fo's brand of wild satire. It saw the tangentopoli scandals, in which the systematic use bribery in political and commercial life was revealed, a whole raft of Italian politicians in prison, the collapse of the great post-war political parties and the rise of eccentric and alarming new parties like Forza Italia, the Lega Nord, and The National Alliance, accusations of Mafia involvement and murder aimed at former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, and the flight to Tunisia amid corruption allegations of another, Bettino Craxi.

In fact, Fo's work in the decade, while powerful and inventive in many ways, is uneven. I suggest that this is not a sign of Fo's fading powers but rather of a changing political landscape, far harder to reproduce theatrically. I note the growth in environmental concerns in his work and also his adoption of utopian imagery, some of it with a religious edge.

The title comes from Lu Santo Jullàre Francesco, Fo's late-nineties monologue about the radical life of St Francis of Assisi.

The collection seems to be long out of print and unobtainable, so you can read my essay here.​

I also translated one of Fo's mid-90s plays, Zitti! Stiamo Precipitando!​ as We All Fall Down​ (lit. Quiet! We're Falling!) for a production by my students at Royal Holloway and you can read my translation here.