Italy to mark Dario Fo centenary with events and new postage stamp.
Italy’s culture ministry will mark the centenary of the birth of Dario Fo, the internationally celebrated Nobel prize-winning playwright, actor and director, with a special event in Rome on 24 March.
The Teatro Sistina will host the event, which is described as a celebration rather than a commemoration, in honour of Fo who died in Milan on 13 October 2016 aged 90.
The programme includes a series of noted speakers from the Italian cultural scene who will pay tribute to Fo on the stage in their own distinct way.
The diverse line-up includes Paola Cortellesi, Ambra Angiolini, Moni Ovadia, Anna Foglietta, Marco Travaglio, Gad Lerner and Ascanio Celestini, as well as Fo’s son, the writer-actor Jacopo Fo, who will be joined by his daughters Mattea and Jaele.
Unique legacy
The initiative aims to highlight Fo’s unique contribution to culture not just as a historical figure, but as a living influence whose satirical and subversive approach to the stage continues to resonate today.
The Teatro Sistina event, coordinated by the Dario Fo and Franca Rame Foundation, is part of a programme of centenary celebrations involving various cultural institutions around Italy.
There will be a wide range of performances, exhibitions and educational workshops that seek to introduce younger generations to Fo’s iconic works, according to Italian state broadcaster RAI, which will also pay tribute to Fo on television.
A brief biography of Dario Fo
Born on 24 March 1926 in Sangiano, in the northern province of Varese, Fo became interested in theatre from a very young age, particularly Commedia dell’Arte.
He attended the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, and in 1952 began his prolific career as an author and writer of satirical plays.
Fo worked in film and television, painted and wrote about art; in addition to his plays, he authored several novels and essays.
In 1954, he achieved critical and popular success with the radio play Poer nano, an original version of the story of Cain and Abel.
In 1959, he founded a theatre company with his wife Franca Rame, the Italian theatre actress, playwright and leftwing political activist who died in 2013.
Fo is best known for his biting political satire in plays such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! and Mistero buffo.
In 1997 Fo received the Nobel Prize in Literature whose jury said he “emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden”.
