Message from the Italian comedian, author, theater director and composer Dario Fo

It has been celebrated for half a century now World Theater Day at 27 Of March: From the 1962 that the institution was established by the International Theater Institute, the world honors an art that looks like it, despite the problems, not to be daunted by anything. A text, an actor, a stage and light constitute the essence of theater which is enriched by sets and costumes, colors, effects and video.

Nobel laureate Dario Fo was chosen for this year's message. It's a habit, every year, a recognized personality to write the message, which is read and transmitted all over the world. They have preceded, including, Jean Cocteau, Arthur Miller, Laurence Olivier, Jean Louis Barot, Peter Brook, Pablo Neruda, Eugene Ionesco, Luchino Visconti, Martin Eslin, Iakovos Campanellis, Arian Mnuskin, Robert Lepage, Augusto Boal, Judi Dench, John Malkovich.

The message of the Italian comedian, author, theater director and composer Dario Fo is as follows:

“Many years ago, the authorities solved the problem of their tolerance towards the actors of the Commedia dell’ Arte driving them out of the country.

Today, actors and troupes have trouble finding public stages, theaters and spectators, because of the crisis.
Therefore, the rulers, they have no problem controlling those who express themselves through irony and sarcasm, since there is no room for the actors, but neither an audience to which they can address themselves.

On the contrary, during the Renaissance, in Italy, the rulers had to try hard to put the comedians in a difficult position since they were enjoyed by a large portion of the public.

It is known that the great exit of the actors of the Commedia dell’ Arte took place in the century of the Counter-Reformation, with the institutionalization of the abolition of all theaters, especially in Rome, where they were accused of desecrating the Holy City. The 1967, Pope Innocent XII, under the constant pressure of the conservative side of the bourgeoisie and the clergy, ordered the demolition of the Tordonina Theatre, which according to moralists, had featured the largest number of obscene scenes.

At the time of the Counter-Reformation, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, who operated in the north of Italy, had devoted himself to the redemption of "the children of Milan", setting for art a clear division, as the highest form of spiritual education, and the theater as the expression of obscenity and vanity. In a letter he addressed to his associates, which I quote almost verbatim, expressed his beliefs roughly as follows: “I am concerned about the elimination of the bad seed, we have made every effort to burn the texts that contain odd reasons, to obliterate them from the memory of men, and at the same time prosecute those who circulate these texts in printed form. But apparently while we were sleeping, the devil was at work with renewed zeal. What the eyes can see can be more penetrating to the soul than’ what they can read in such books! How destructive to the minds of young men and women can be verbal speech and indecent movements, than a lifeless word printed in books. For’ this is urgent to rid our cities of those who make theater, as we do with unwanted souls".

Therefore the only solution to the crisis is to hope that the great witch hunt is organized against us and especially against the young people who wish to be taught the art of the theatre.: a new dispersion of Comedians, creators of the theater, who through this restriction will create unimaginable benefits for a new representation".

Born on 24 March of 1926 _closed them 87 of years, Fo received the Nobel Prize in Literature 1997. With his work, which picks up the thread from Italian Comedy of’ until, criticizes societies, in political corruption, in the dogmatism of the church, in the bad texts of everyday life. Together with his wife, the actress Franka Rame was founded, the 1959,  the Theater Company that bears their names and started with humorous television sketches. They soon became known and so they developed, gradually a "resistance" theater, often blasphemous and mocking. At the end of the 60s they founded an acting school, were actively associated with the Communist Party of Italy and the 1970 they created the Collective Communist Theatre (La Comune Theater Collective), while also starting factory tours, parks and gyms.

Dario Fo has to his credit around 70 projects, several of which he co-signs with Rame: "The Accidental Death of an Anarchist" stands out (is being performed this year at the Alexandrakis Theater by Spyros Papadopoulos), the “I don't pay! I don't pay", which for years was uploaded by Stefanos Linaios with her Elli Fotiou at the Alpha Theater, while in the list of his plays performed in Athens is also this year's great success of "Mister Bufo", directed by Thomas Moschopoulos at the Thision Theatre.

Source : tovima.gr