Dario Fo

Dario Fo: "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1997 awarded to Dario Fo 'who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden"

Online NewsHour: Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo -- October 9, 1997

Online NewsHour: Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo -- October 9, 1997: "It's very hard to describe Dario Fo plots because they are anarchic. And all of them deal with subverting either church ideology or government ideology or capitalism in some way by refusing to do something--in this case refusing to pay for goods that were substandard. All of his plays in some way tackle basic givens, societal givens, and question why society is set up that way, and why some people have and some people don't. In a sense I think that's the role of any great clown is to make us look at ourselves in a defamiliarized way"

Online NewsHour: Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo -- October 9, 1997

Online NewsHour: Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo -- October 9, 1997: "A clown in the deepest sense of the word"

Dario Fo - The Birth of the Jongleur

Dario Fo - The Birth of the Jongleur: " I was not born a jongleur; I didn't suddenly turn up as I am now, with a sudden gust from the skies and, hopla, there I was: 'Good day... Hello.' No! I am the result of a miracle! A miracle which was carried out on me. Do you believe me? This is how it came about! I was born a peasant.
A peasant? Yes,"

Dario Fo - The Birth of the Jongleur

Dario Fo - The Birth of the Jongleur: "Kind people, gather round and listen. The jongleur is here! I am the jongleur. I leap and pirouette, and make you laugh. I make fun of those in power, and I show you how puffed up and conceited are the bigshots who go around making wars in which we are the ones who get slaughtered. I reveal them for what they are. I pull out the plug, and... pssss... they deflate. Gather round, for now is the time and place that I begin to clown and teach you."