“To be a jester is, and always has been, a serious matter.”

October 13, 2016 10:39 AM

Italian playwright Dario Fo died this morning at the age of 90.

He is mostly known for his satirical farces, including Mistero Buffo and Accidental Death of an Anarchist (previously), and he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997.

He popularized the medieval art of the grammelot. A couple of examples from the master: an English-speaking technocrat showing his machines and a hungry peasant from Northern Italy.

posted by spheniscus (19 comments total)

He was 90, so it's not unexpected but still, this makes me so sad.

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posted by janey47 at 10:50 AM on October 13, 2016

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posted by romakimmy at 10:58 AM on October 13, 2016

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posted by the sobsister at 11:17 AM on October 13, 2016

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posted by monotreme at 11:47 AM on October 13, 2016

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posted by Coda Tronca at 12:12 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by jammy at 12:27 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by bouvin at 1:07 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by acb at 1:16 PM on October 13, 2016

One of the handful of times I’ve ever been to see a play at an actual theatre was a production of his ‘The Pope and The Witch’ in London in the early ’90s starring Frances de la Tour as the titular Witch (I forget who played the Pope). I very much enjoyed it, although there were a few points where the Italian-born friend I’d gone to see it with laughed at something that had gone cleanly over my head.

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posted by misteraitch at 1:41 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by airish at 2:07 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by goshling at 2:09 PM on October 13, 2016

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One of my most memorable theatre experiences was seeing his Can't Pay? Won't Pay!

I hope I'll see many more of his plays in my life.
posted by Kattullus at 2:39 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by Joey Michaels at 3:39 PM on October 13, 2016

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posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:13 PM on October 13, 2016

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                                                    (waiting in a long queue to see the queue scene in accidental death of an anarchist)
posted by sammyo at 4:21 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

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posted by Lesser Spotted Potoroo at 4:43 PM on October 13, 2016

a great loss to his country (and beyond).

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posted by progosk at 12:39 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

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posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 10:01 AM on October 14, 2016

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posted by Smedleyman at 10:41 AM on October 14, 2016