Italy's cultural, political and religious establishment gasped when, in 1997, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to controversial playwright Dario Fo. As the Swedish Academy's official citation cogently stated, Fo "emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".
He certainly does. Echoing the role ascribed to him, Fo provocatively titled his Nobel Lecture, "Against Jesters Who Defame and Insult". His title parodied an absurd law issued in 1221 in Sicily by Emperor Frederick II, which allowed anyone to commit violence against jesters without incurring punishment or sanction. Even though this charter for po-facedness is no longer in use, Fo has run risks in his personal and artistic life.
Joseph Farrell documents the "thick and thin" of Fo's life and career in Dario Fo & Franca Rame: Harlequins of Revolution. This is the first full biography of Fo and Rame, his companion "in life and in art". Together, the couple have performed in many types of venue: theatres, occupied factories, university sit-ins, city parks, and even in prisons and deconsecrated churches. Together, they have had to endure abuse and attacks for their radical political views and their "solidarity with the humble and the defeated". Rame was even subjected to a brutal rape, allegedly with the tacit support of Italy's police force.
Farrell's biography fully and convincingly achieves its stated threefold objectives of chronicling what its subjects have done and what has been done to them, of documenting their theatrical achievement and theories, and of sketching Italy's political scenario during times of great instability and un- certainty.
Given Fo's and Rame's involvement in Italian politics, and the profoundly political matrix of their theatre, the last aim is both vital and unavoidable. Farrell has all the qualifications to write the biography of a man representative of Italian theatre and politics. He is an expert on Italian politics and a well-known theatre critic, who has also translated Fo's work into English.
Farrell covers Fo's life from his early days on Lake Maggiore, where he was born on March 24th 1926, to his post-Nobel "new enthusiasms". Rame's own life and work are consistently interwoven with her husband's. The narrative is seamless and provides a clever balance of biographical facts, political analysis and dramatic criticism. The "whisper of gossip" and the "scream of scandal" that are expected to spice a biography contribute to the accurate reconstruction of historical events.
When dealing with controversial incidents in Fo's and Rame's lives, Farrell's account is never partial, even though his evident admiration for his subjects could have easily led him to take their side. Certain incidents, among many intriguing and dramatic ones, are unforgettable. Fo's unequivocal commitment to risotto as well as revolution is a significant example of the complex, often contradictory scenario framing his life. The same can be said of his work. His unique theatrical technique is based on a marriage of tradition (that of village storytellers and commedia dell'arte) and a content taken from the contemporary scene (even from that morning's headlines).
The biography ends with a turn up for the books, intelligently offered by Farrell as one of the many unpredictable twists in Fo's life and art. The Catholic Church, so long the butt of his satirical wit, offered "miraculous absolution" to the man once seen as an "evil clown". Accused by many of having been as blasphemous as ever in his most recent work, The Holy Jester Francis, Fo found himself in the embarrassing position of being defended by L'Avvenire, Italy's leading Catholic newspaper.
This biography, widely researched and elegantly writ- ten, is also enriched by a comprehensive list of primary and secondary sources.
It is a pity that an otherwise handsomely produced book (the red and yellow "harlequin" cover is appropriately Fo- esque) has neither photographs nor illustrations. Considering that Fo's work is meant to be seen rather than read, more pictures would have given the reader a glimpse of this modern Italian jester in action. Still, this is merely a quibble. Joseph Farrell's biography is highly recommended.
Marco Sonzogni teaches Italian at University College Dublin and at the Italian Cultural Institute. He is a translator and the current editor of Translation Ireland