Dario Fo 100 - A Century of the Last Jester

This lecture explores the life and work of Dario Fo - an artist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997. Throughout his career, Fo moved fluidly from painting to architecture, from art to politics, but theatre was his true domain.

Politically committed to the far left, he founded the collective La Comune with his wife Franca Rame, with which he directed the play Morte accidentale di un anarchico in 1970 - a drama inspired by the death of anarchist Pinelli. His masterpiece, however, became the "giullarata" Mistero buffo, in which Fo performed alone on stage, delivering ancient texts in "grammelotto" - a theatrical language drawn from Commedia dell'Arte, composed of various dialects and sounds borrowed from different languages. The result was a ruthless parody whose targets included both contemporary and historical great figures, popes and emperors alike.

For opera lovers, Fo is also known for his production of Gioacchino Rossini's Viaggio a Reims at the National Opera of Helsinki. The lecture is held in Italian. Free admission!