About face: A political farce

by Dario Fo, Ron Jenkins

Rare Book

Genres: Drama

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

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

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you ready for a satirical play based on the terrorist kidnappings in Italy during the 1970s? Dario Fo's About face: A political farce. The head of Fiat, Gianni Agnelli, is being kidnapped when he is saved by a Fiat worker named Antonio, but not before being damaged beyond recognition. In the hospital, Agnelli is identified as the worker who saved him by the worker's estranged wife and current girlfriend -- primarily based on his recognizable ears and hands.

Antonio and Agnelli keep getting confused for one another, especially after Agnelli is subjected to plastic surgery to look like Antonio. There is a lot of farcical comedy when both appear in the estranged wife's apartment one after the other.

[Luis Löwenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich bin mir nicht recht sicher, wie tauglich das Stück im allgemeinen als politisches Instrument ist. Der starke Bezug auf das zeitpolitische Geschehen Italiens wird sicherlich seine Sprengkraft gehabt haben, wie der im Nachwort geschilderten Skandal bezeugt. Sicherlich wird ein Publikum vor dem Hintergrund der Zeit dem Stück ganz anders gegenübergestanden und seine didaktische brühwarm-marxistische Resolution eher als einen Höhepunkt denn, wie ich, als einen nachträglichen Versuch, den Schwank zum Lehrstück zu erheben, erlebt haben. Sicher, für einen mit der Linken Sympathisierenden gibt es darin eigentlich kaum etwas, das seine Wertanschauungen zu tief verletzen wird, aber auch ein bürgerlich-liberales Publikum könnte sich gut, nachdem der Revoluzzer einmal durch den Nobelpreis zum Hofnarren gezähmt wurde, an Fos nach allen Richtungen ausschlagenden Humor ergetzen. Brechts politische Gleichnisse sind da wohl um einiges klüger und bedürfen demnach auch einer radikaleren Zensur, um sie einem bürgerlichen Publikum schmackhaft zu machen, was durch ihre Inszenierung als Dramen unter der Regie eines Idioten und der Ägide des Staatstheaters mittlerweile konventionalisiert ist. Gleichzeitig ist das Stück durchgehend von solch einer derben Komik, wie sie Brecht selten erreicht, und darin vielleicht eher für die Erkenntnis durch Lachen geeignet, die er mit seinem epischen Theater herzustellen bestrebt war. Ich befürchte bloß, dass, wenn nur das Lachen überhand nimmt, das Denken ihm irgendwann gar zu sehr weichen wird. Ich muss wohl mehr von Fo lesen, um mir ein rechtes Urteil über ihn bilden zu können.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ron Jenkins in his essay on this play, entitled “Comedy, Madness and Freedom” states that “Fo’s method of mining laughter from actual events provokes his audience into seeing their world from fresh perspectives. In the Brechtian terms of epic theatre, Fo makes the familiar strange, presenting situations that everyone thinks they understand in a context that forces a reexamination of what was once taken for granted.” This play radically questions the murder of the Prime Minister of Italy and also the kidnapping of contemporary Italian industrialists. It is a revolutionary play that uses comedy, but also points the way towards violence. The Judge and Inspector are banging on the head of the Policeman. The Inspector asks, “What if the subjected just pretends he can’t remember, or invents things to avoid telling the truth.” The Doctor responds, “No, impossible. In the first phase, which we call the phase of innocence, the patient is incapable of practicing deceptions, because the fiction mechanism, which is the most exposed and ephemeral part of the brain, is always the first to be destroyed by any violent trauma.” The Judge asks, “To sum it up, they don’t know how to pretend or lie. And does this happen in every case?” The Doctor, hilariously responds, “Yes, in every case except that of politicians. Their fiction mechanisms are immune to trauma.”

I find this play pretty troubling because of its incitements. That is not to say Fo isn’t quotable, and the play isn’t powerful. It is, and the comment about politicians included above is quite pithy. Read with care.

See my other reviews here!

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly funny political farce. Highly recommended for anyone with a sense of humor!

[リサ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bahahaha my first comedy play. Btw, rest in peace, Mr. Fo