The Tricks of the Trade (Theatre Arts (Routledge Paperback)) [Paperback]

Dario Fo (Author)

Book Description

Series: Theatre Arts (Routledge Paperback) | Publication Date: May 23, 1991

Clown, political activist, playwright, actor: Dario Fo is an unclassifiable genius of the modern theatre. In his "mini-manual for actors," Fo lays bare the tools of his craft. With the assistance of his wife, playwright Franca Rame, he explains how text, song, humor, mime and political intelligence can be fused into brilliant "popular theatre."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Dario Fo won the 1997 Nobel Prize for literature, establishments everywhere erupted in anger. Here was an anticlerical, obscene, communist clown receiving the world's top literary accolade. As this collection of his essays and lectures shows, Fo has such a unique vision that his mission as clown/playwright requires him to be all those other things. What's interesting about The Tricks of the Trade is not his politics, but the incredible amount of research he's done on 2,000 years' worth of jesters, minstrels, and political clowns, whom he believes have changed the course of history.

Review

...Dario Fo, the provocative Italian winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize, is both playwright and actor, as well as an all-round iconoclast. Washington Post.
Since Fo believes that his plays are profoundly more meaningful when performed than read, the best printed introduction to Fos work is this excellent translation of The Tricks of the Trade. a distillation of the six-day performance workshops given internationally by Fo and his feminist wife Franca Rame, the book illuminates the secrets of Fos unique art. . . Filled with personal anecdotes and insights about the history of comic theater, Tricks of the Trade is a joy to read.
–Octopus (Champaign, IL), Dec. 18, 1998

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Reissue edition (May 23, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878300082
• ISBN-13: 978-0878300082
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Reference

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A freeing work from a brilliant actor/scholar., August 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tricks of the Trade (Theatre Arts (Routledge Paperback)) (Paperback)

In this book Dario Fo articulates the relationship between actor and audience in a way only someone who has accepted the physical and mental demands of the acting craft can do. Fo demonstrates he is one part actor, one part scholar, and one part inspired artist. Each page illustrates the line between how an actor acts and their audience cannot be separated from themselves, their society, or from the history of the craft. If nothing else, Fo's joy in performance helps explain why actors remain central to entertainment and to society.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Donald Sutherland praised this book on Charlie Rose 9/10/98, September 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tricks of the Trade (Theatre Arts (Routledge Paperback)) (Paperback)

Donald Sutherland praised this book on Charlie Rose 9/10/98Donald Sutherland praised this book on Charlie Rose 9/10/98.

That's good enough for me.

I plan to buy it for my daughter - a fledgling Commedia artist.