Dario Fo

His life:

• His father was a socialist railway worker, already sparking early signs of his political side, when young, growing up in an anti-fascist household
• Later on in his life, he took part in the resistance against fascism, where he was actually accused of being part of Mussolini's Republican army
• He was then shaped into alignment with the far left, joining groups like "La Continua", an anti-capitalist revolutionary group. Where later on in his life, after his TV show was censored by the Italian state broadcaster, he created a group called "La Commune", where they performed illegally in factories, prisons, and public squares, supporting things like labour strikes and student protests.
• In one of the places he grew up, there were such things called Fabulatori, who were storytellers, telling stories of the lake they lived nearby, like stories about monsters.
• They tended to be fishermen, or glassblowers (people devoted to the craft of forming molten glass into various shapes and forms)
• Fo was always intrigued by these storytellers, and their gestures, where it got to a point that he studied and learned every movement they used.
• These Fabulatori and his political upbringing formed his style very early on, to be him channelling his bitterness into satire theatre, through a storytelling mindset

Insanity

• Fo grew up very with insanity and madness very present in his life, where one of the places he lived when he was younger had the highest insanity percentage in Italy, which then formed his affinity towards the "madman" further becoming a default pick for the "main character"
• "I began to see the figure of the mad man as something familiar"
• Linking to the Maniac, where people have debated if he really is mad, or just playing the part of a madman, where Fo is outlining the thin line between sanity and insanity
• Fo saw the madman as the modern-day jester, which is ironic, as he was known as the "People's Court Jester" as he embraced the persona of one.
• He used these characters to critique authority without being silenced, as he did with the TV show
• They had a different logic which helped divert from social norms, also revealing hidden truths
• They also engaged audiences by using humour, taking the mick out politics
• The Maniac is a prime example of this, as his behaviour is absurd and chaotic, but unravels the lies and hypocrisy of the policemen, uncovering the corruption of the authority, where Fo may have seen himself as the Maniac in this sense
• "You have to be slightly mad to tell the truth in a world run by lies"- Maniac
• The Maniac acts as a metaphorical conscience, who destabilises official narrative
• This reflects Fo as a person as he disturbed peace in authorities, by exposing authority's corruption through absurd means (theatre)

Influence

• Fo's earliest influence was Georgio Strehler
• Strehler's main mission was to provide serious, and accessible theatre to all classes, to bring about change
• He was known for his composed stage pictures and poetic qualities, grounded in human emotion and social reality.
• Combining Italian tradition (such as Commedia Dell'arte) with modern influence, mainly Brecht, which is where Fo took his main influence towards style, following Strehler in this sense
• Where Strehler and Fo differ are how Fo takes a more satirical and improvised sense, where Strehler leans towards a classical sense

ADA

• Fo used ADA to attack the Italian Government's manipulation of scandals

• It was performed in 41 countries by 1991, sparking many controversies, and governmental action in all these countries
• Due to this, his first intention of it being 'Throwaway theatre' was deepened heavy
• Throwaway theatre is theatre where it has no plan to be preserved, and to change things quickly in the present. It ended up doing the complete opposite, being so influential even nowadays, causing global discussions on corruption and unbalanced power in countries
• This was due to the "fearful vacuum of information" in the world at that time, which was also the main reason the play was written, to provide information to the public through satire.
• Fo sourced most of the play from the book called "La Strage Di Stato" which was later published in English called "Italian State Massacre" which was posted fully anonymously, full of the Pinelli case's documents and evidence, ultimately structuring the piece, such as the shoe scene
• Inspector Calabresi was then accused of murder by the extra-parliamentary newspaper, creating more controversy on the Pinelli case, with the people using ADA as the primary source of information on the case
• The Maniac was the forefront of enlightening the fact that the police were seen as characters and actors alike, as they were themselves, as well as portraying a false reality, just as the Maniac does in the play.
• This ended up causing distrust in the Italian government, as well as governments all over the world, as they were never fully truthful with what they said.

Thanks Herman