Voting Station

Dario Fo

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Playwright

The Resume

    (March 24, 1926-October 13, 2016)
    Born in Sangiano, Italy
    Playwright/Actor/Theater director
    Wrote ‘The Virtuous Burglar’ (1958), ‘Angles Don’t Play Pinball’ (1959), ‘Mistero Buffo’ (1969), ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’ (1970), ‘Mama Togni’ (1973), ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ (1974), ‘Let’s Talk about Women’ (1977), ‘Trumpets and Raspberries’ (1981), ‘Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman’ (1984), ‘The Pope and the Witch’ (1989) and ‘The Devil with Boobs’ (1997)
    Founded the theater group Collettivo Teatrale La Comune (1970)
    Won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1997)

Why he might be annoying:

    He joined the Fascist army during World War II.
    He originally studied to be an architect, but had a nervous breakdown before taking his final exams.
    An Italian broadcast of his ‘Mististero Buffo’ (1977) was denounced by the Vatican as ‘the most blasphemous show in the history of television.’
    In addition to mocking Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s policies, he also mocked him for being short.
    He ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Milan (2005).
    He called the 9/11 attacks ‘the legitimate daughter of a culture of violence, hunger and inhumane exploitation.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He said he joined the Fascist army only to avoid drawing attention to his family, since his father was active in the Resistance movement, helping to smuggle refugees and Allied soldiers to Switzerland.
    He was married to actress Franca Rame for 59 years.
    When he debunked the traditional view of Christopher Columbus in ‘Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man,’ he and his wife were attacked by Italian nationalists (1963).
    Many of his plays were based on the improvisational techniques of medieval commedia dell’arte.
    A New York Times reviewer wrote, ‘Imagine a cross between Bertolt Brecht and Lenny Bruce and you may begin to have an idea of the scope of Fo’s anarchic art.’
    The Swedish Nobel Academy said he ‘emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 53 Votes: 62.26% Annoying