Mistero Buffo (Methuen Modern Plays S.) [Paperback]

Dario Fo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997 | ISBN-10: 0413183807 | ISBN-13: 978-0413183804

A triumphant transformation of mediaeval mystery plays into radical political theatre Mistero Buffo, or The Comic Mysteries, recreates the irreverent vitality of the popular mediaeval theatre. It is based on careful research into the work of the strolling players of Italy in the middle ages. Essential to an understanding of the well-springs of Fo's remarkable genius, this is the first translation of the play into English."Fo is the determined enemy of pomp, ceremony and the material aspects of religion but what shines out of this exhilarating show is the love of humanity and truth." (Michael Billington, The Guardian)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A popular and controversial playwright, actor and director, Dario Fo has earned international acclaim for his political satires and farces, and has led the field in political satire in Europe for over thirty years. His best known plays include Accidental Death of an Anarchist, We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, and Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997 for "emulating the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden."

Product Details

• Paperback: 122 pages
• Publisher: Methuen (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0413183807
• ISBN-13: 978-0413183804
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,494,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Irreverent, Playful and Imaginative Performance Pieces, January 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mistero Buffo (Methuen Modern Plays S.) (Paperback)

"Mistero Buffo", alternatively titled "The Comic Mysteries", is a wonderful introduction to the irreverent, playful and imaginative world of Dario Fo, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. If "Mistero Buffo" has a shortcoming, it lies in the fact that it is merely a text and does not embody the vitality of Fo's imaginative work, which relies as much on performance as it does on literary content.

"Mistero Buffo" draws on the popular and comic tradition of the medieval mystery plays, as well as the tradition of the so-called "jongleur", or traveling comic and mime, whose performances provided a subversive counterpoint to the authority of Church, Monarchy and Lord. As the jongleur in Fo's piece, "The Birth of the Jongleur", reminds his audience: "I leap and pirouette, and make you laugh. I make fun of those in power, and I show you how puffed up and conceited are the bigshots who go around making wars in which we are the ones who get slaughtered. I reveal them for what they are. I pull out the plug, and . . . pssss . . .they deflate."

Written and originally performed by Fo himself, "Mistero Buffo" consists of a series of pieces involving mime, improvisation and performance art. The texts are fiercely anti-Church, anti-materialist and anti-authority, but they are written with a comic verve and playful sensibility that mark Dario Fo as a remarkably unique writer, director, and performer. Drawing on religious traditions, the pieces include Fo's modern take on Biblical stories entitled "Slaughter of the Innocents", "Marriage at Cana" and "Resurrection of Lazarus", as well as a series of short dialogues (entitled "Passion Plays") where Fo adumbrates the death of Christ as experienced by Mary. All of these pieces border on the blasphemous, subverting conventional pieties and unthinking reverence for established religion and replacing them with a kind of popular re-writing of Christianity, a revision which glorifies the common man at the expense of those in power. Not surprisingly, "Mistero Buffo", like most of Fo's texts and performances, is controversial and provocative. It is also, however, a short text worth reading for an insightful sampling of one of Italy's most remarkable literary and theatrical geniuses.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Irreverent, Playful and Imaginative Performance Pieces, April 23, 2002

By 

"botatoe" (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mistero Buffo (Methuen Modern Plays S.) (Paperback)

"Mistero Buffo,"., alternatively titled "The Comic Mysteries," is a wonderful introduction to the irreverent, playful and imaginative world of Dario Fo, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. If "Mistero Buffo" has a shortcoming, it lies in the fact that it is merely a text and does not embody the vitality of Fo's imaginative work, which relies as much on performance as it does on literary content.

"Mistero Buffo" draws on the popular and comic tradition of the medieval mystery plays, as well as the tradition of the so-called "jongleur", or traveling comic and mime, whose performances provided a subversive counterpoint to the authority of Church, Monarchy and Lord. As the jongleur in Fo's piece, "The Birth of the Jongleur," reminds his audience: "I leap and pirouette, and make you laugh. I make fun of those in power, and I show you how puffed up and conceited are the bigshots who go around making wars in which we are the ones who get slaughtered. I reveal them for what they are. I pull out the plug, and . . . pssss . . .they deflate."

Written and originally performed by Fo himself, "Mistero Buffo" consists of a series of pieces involving mime, improvisation and performance art. The texts are fiercely anti-Church, anti-materialist and anti-authority, but they are written with a comic verve and playful sensibility that mark Dario Fo as a remarkably unique writer, director, and performer. Drawing on religious traditions, the pieces include Fo's modern take on Biblical stories entitled "Slaughter of the Innocents," "Marriage at Cana" and "Resurrection of Lazarus," as well as a series of short dialogues (entitled "Passion Plays") where Fo adumbrates the death of Christ as experienced by Mary. All of these pieces border on the blasphemous, subverting conventional pieties and unthinking reverence for established religion and replacing them with a kind of popular re-writing of Christianity, a revision which glorifies the common man at the expense of those in power. Not surprisingly, "Mistero Buffo," like most of Fo's texts and performances, is controversial and provocative. It is also, however, a short text worth reading for an insightful sampling of one of Italy's most remarkable literary and theatrical geniuses.