Dario Fo

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Lore & Background

Fo was born at Sangiano, in Lombardy's Province of Varese, near Lake Maggiore. His father was a station master and socialist who acted in amateur theatre; his mother wrote a book of reminiscences. Fo learned storytelling from his maternal grandfather and local fishers and glassblowers. During World War II, he was drafted into Mussolini's fascist army but later claimed he helped his father smuggle refugees and Allied soldiers to Switzerland. His statements about wartime activities were denied by partisans and fascist comrades, and a 1979 court sentence contradicted his account. After the war, he studied at the Brera Academy and Politecnico di Milano but left before final examinations, then became involved in small theatres and improvised monologues. In the 1950s, Fo began collaborating with Franco Parenti on variety shows, and in 1951 performed a controversial radio series that was cancelled. He co-wrote and performed in revues, and in 1953 began songwriting with Fiorenzo Carpi. He married Franca Rame in 1954; they had a son, Jacopo. Fo's work of the 1960s–1980s criticized assassinations, corruption, organized crime, racism, Roman Catholic theology, and war. In the 1990s–2000s, he lampooned Forza Italia and Silvio Berlusconi; in the 2010s, he targeted banks during the European sovereign-debt crisis and became the main ideologue of the Five Star Movement.

Reader's Guide

Dario Fo's significance lies in his fusion of political satire with traditional Italian performance forms, particularly commedia dell'arte and medieval giullari. His plays, translated into 30 languages and performed worldwide, often used improvisation to critique authority. His solo work Mistero Buffo, performed over 30 years across multiple continents, was denounced by a cardinal as blasphemous. The title of his play Can't Pay? Won't Pay? entered the English language. The 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature recognized him as a major figure in 20th-century world theatre, with the Swedish Academy praising his emulation of medieval jesters in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden. Fo owned and operated a theatre company and was an atheist. His legacy includes influencing the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and maintaining a controversial, politically engaged theatrical tradition.

Did You Know?

• Fo's radio series Poer nano was cancelled after scandalised authorities objected to his adult fairy tales, including a version of Hamlet where the title character kills his father to continue an affair with his mother.
• The Swedish Academy praised Fo as a writer 'who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.'
• Fo's solo piece Mistero Buffo was denounced by Cardinal Ugo Poletti as 'the most blasphemous show in the history of television.'
• Fo's father, a socialist station master, is thought to have helped smuggle Jewish scientists to safety in Switzerland during World War II.
• Fo's play Can't Pay? Won't Pay? has a title that passed into the English language, and the play is described as capturing 'something universal in actions and reactions of the working class.'