Fo(R) Satire: Turn To Indian Street Clown

Dario Fo, the Nobel laureate for literature this year, says the strongest inspiration in his life has come from the streetside Indian clown. Often described as the first clown of the world, satirist Fo expressed his appreciation for the great influence the Indian clown has exercised on my art.

I have great admiration for the poetry, philosophy and culture of India, said the prolific Italian playwright, actor, producer and director, who has given modern popular theatre a new dimension. But it is the Indian clown, the plain ordinary Indian street clown, that has most influenced my work.

What I mean, (is that) over the ages, the clown in India has made life easier for the downtrodden by mimicking the foibles of their unbearable caste and social superiors...an opportunity to portray their tormentors, however occasional, has been ameliorative of their insurmountable social tribulations,

 

Fo said in an interview here. Fo was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in literature in recognition of being one who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden. Fo has also been called the Miguel de Cervantes of our times, who, combining Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in one, relentlessly but very effectively tilts at todays windmills.

Fo has facets other than literary. He has been, over the decades, the most painful thorn in the side of the Italian establishment and the Vatican as well as a Marxist of the most pure genre. The Italian government did not even congratulate him after he won the Nobel Prize. During the interview, he spoke at length on these controversies: Marxism has been a state of mind, he said. It served a pragmatic purpose, at the right times, in right places. Today it has served its purpose. To continue to adhere to it, whether in India or elsewhere, would be a futile obsession.

I have nothing against the Catholic Church, per se. But I do oppose the neo-fundamentalism in Christianity, as I do in other religions, Fo said of his feud with the Vatican. In his crusade to bare the existing evils, Fo spares neither state nor church nor society and has in the process earned the ire of all three. However, his denigration of the three estates, however piquant and provocative, is never bitter it is just laughter used as an effective weapon.

Fo, 71, was born at Lago Maggiore. Educated at the Academy of Arts in Milan and on the streets of the world, including India, he claims to have been his own teacher. His talents and work were singularly complemented when he married the actress and writer Franca Rame.

He, if anyone, merits the epithet of jester in the true meaning of the word, Sture Allen, permanent secretary of The Swedish Academy, the body that annually selects the Nobel finalist, said. With a blend of laughter and gravity, he opens our eyes to abuses and injustices in society and also the wider historical perspective in which they can be placed. Fo is an extremely serious satirist with a multifaceted oeuvre.

Fo often alludes to medieval jesters (joculatores) and their comedy and mysteries. The central work Mistero Buffoon (The Buffoon Mystery) from 1969 is based on such historic material as interpreted by Fo. Another milestone of Fos extensive work is Morte accidentale di un anarchico (Accidental Death of an Anarchist) from 1970. It was based on the right-wing extremist bomb attacks of 1969 in Italy, for which the authorities and the press blamed the anarchists. During interrogations in Milan, an innocent suspect fell from a fifth-floor window. The play deals with these interrogations, which are gradually taken over by a Hamlet-like character, Il Matto (The Maniac) who possesses the kind of lunacy that lays bare the lies of officialdom.

Other works that have been acclaimed the world over include Non si paga! Non si paga! (We Cant Pay, We Wont Pay) from 1974 and Clacsson, trombette e pernachi (Trumpets and Raspberries) from 1981.

The latter is a veritable comedy of errors, aimed at participants in the disreputable strategems in high places. In recent years, together with wife Franca Rame, Fo has dealt with womens issues in several telling plays.

The Nobel Laureate for literature says he draws inspiration from the everyday Indian clown