Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman

by Dario Fo, Gillian Hanna (Translator)

English, Italian (translation)

Genres: Plays, Drama

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Dario Fo was an Italian satirist, playwright, theatre director, actor, and composer. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. In 2007 he was ranked Joint Seventh with Stephen Hawking in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses. His dramatic work employed comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the proletarian classes. He owned and operated a theatre company with his wife, the leading actress Franca Rame. Dario Fo died in Milan on October 13th 2016, at the age of 90.

Reviews

[Lucy Swinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really loved this play! it was super satirical and hilarious which i love and made me laugh out loud. Elizabeth’s character is truly insane.

[Linda]

I was waiting for Black Adder to show up at any minute...

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Dario Fo's answer to Alfred Jarry's Ubo Roi. He takes Queen Elizabeth I and deals with her hatred of Mary Queen of Scots, her love of the Earl of Essex, and her suspicion that Shakespeare, in his Hamlet, is attacking the monarchy. Along the way, she beds down a young boy and is attacked by an assassin dressed as a priest.

Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman is not Fo's most successful play. There are wild inconsistencies, such as Elizabeth discussing Hamlet (ca 1600) before the invasion of the Spanish Armada (1588) and the Earl of Essex (executed 1601) about to be executed before the Spanish Armada. I guess that violation of historical chronology is part of Fo's schtick, but it comes across as a bit discordant.

[Arjun · Rating 5 out of 5]

ELIZABETH: ALMOST BY CHANCE A WOMAN is an epic drama of the joker from comic books like a welcome parade to the BLOODY ENGLISH CULTURE.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, funny but very hard to read. Needs to be seen.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ron Jenkins in his essay on this play, entitled “Subversive Slapstick” states that “In performances of the play, Rame (playing Elizabeth) and Fo occasionally toy with the boundaries between past and present, which are written into the script by partially slipping out of character and improvising dialogue in which the arguments between the Queen and her servant resemble arguments between the husband-and-wife team who has created the work. At one point, as Elizabeth changes her gown behind a screen, Fo jokes that the people in the balcony are getting a view of her underwear. When Rame senses her husband’s improvisation going on too long, she chastises both Fo and his character: ‘Stay in your place and try to be quiet,’ she admonishes, as the monarch, ‘because now I’m the Queen, and for once, at last, you are the Servant. So shut up. Is that clear?’ Fo responds with a mock threat to assert his authorial authority: ‘Dario Fo wrote this play, and he wouldn’t like to see you treating me like this,’ he quips. ‘One word from me and he’ll cross out’Queen’ next to your lines and write in ‘The Maid.’ Fo then steps completely out of character to address the audience directly: ‘She’s really been immersing herself in the role. At home she answers the telephone: ‘Hello, this is the queen speaking.’ The self-parody that Fo and Rame slip into their play enables the spectators to see the bickering of a modern couple overlapping with the squabbling of a sixteenth-century servant and her mistress. The distant past is made more immediate and the play’s complex tapestry of social, literary and political themes becomes more accessible to contemporary audiences.”

In his prologue to the play, Fo sarcastically states, “I hope you enjoy my play, and that you come to share my sympathetic view of the poor misunderstood monarch Elizabeth. She is a failing leader, losing her memory and her health as her empire collapses around her. We are all lucky that awful things like this only happen in the past.”

Taking place in the dressing room of Elizabeth I, she is waiting for her lover, who is also directly involved in an attempt to supplant her from her position. Fo struggled to get a visa to stage the play in the United States, and some of his references in the play draw sarcastic parallels to writers and their past relationships with rulers. Big Mama responds to Elizabeth, “Outrageous. Now I see what he’s up to. This Shakespeare is telling people: ‘What’s up? Why don’t you move your asses? Why do you let yourselves be treated like slaves and animals? Just because you’re afraid of burning in hell? Don’t you idiots realize that hell is here on earth. Not down there. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourselves. Beat the shit out of your screwed-up government.” Later, Elizabeth responds to Egerton, “Splendid. You concot these harebrained plots without consulting me. And then you make me out to be an hallucinating idiot. So it was only a nightmare. The screams. The shouts. It was the skirmish in Essex, but you all conspired to keep it from me. Even you, Big Mama.”

This play, more than many of his others, allows Fo to directly comment on contemporary life through ridicule of the past.

See my other reviews here!

[リサ · Rating 2 out of 5]

While reading I was more like trying so hard to understand than enjoying the text. Up until now I don't quite understand the details (like how many times elizabeth changes her gowns and so on and so on geh). I'd be glad to ignore that fact, if only I wouldn't have to lead my class to perform this play in front of a lecturer that I respect.

God help the girl she needs all the help she can get.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've known of this play for years and from everything I've heard, I really did expect something better. I just found it to be a bit silly and farcical. Fair enough, that was probably the point, but it just didn't appeal to me.

[ülgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

füsun demirel süper çevirmiş. ilk tiyatro oyunu okuyuşum ve izliyor gibi okudum. bir solukta bitiyor. kitabın sonunda dario fo'nun mektubu ile bütün göndermeler sahibini buluyor... okumadan önce yazarın hayatı incelenirse güzel olabilir.