Dario Fo: The Last Mistero Buffo

It is August 1st 2016 and Dario Fo, the great actor, playwright and Nobel Prize winner, is in Rome, in front of three thousand people. He is ninety years old and to mark the end of his career, he is about to go on stage with one of his flagships, Mistero Buffo, a revolutionary pièce, which was censored on debut. The master smiles thinking of the companies that represent his works all over the world. In Istanbul, the Teatra Jiyana Nu company (New Life Theatre) stages the comedy Horn Trumpets and Pernacchi in Kurdish, already censored by the Turkish authorities on the charges of terrorist propaganda. In Buenos Aires, “Muerte accidental de un ricotero” adapts the text of “Morte accidentale di un anarchico” to talk about the case of Walter Bulacio, assassinated by the police in 1991. The film follows the actors in a continuous confrontation, where Fo’s work becomes a space for reflection on the human condition and the distortions of power, overcoming linguistic, geographical and cultural differences.

It’s almost time to enter the stage. The sounds that come from the cavea merge with the memory of other familiar figures: Franca Rame, who was Dario’s steady companion on stage and in life, their intense correspondence, the many stories lived together. The elderly actor gets up, slowly moves from the dressing room to the wings and after a slight hesitation enters the stage putting an end to the wait. The magic of his theater is fulfilled one last time.

Director’s notes

The film focuses on an unprecedented event: the last staging of “Mistero Buffo”, in Rome on August 1st 2016, the farewell to the scenes of its author and interpreter, the Nobel prize winner Dario Fo, who died only two months after. It starts from Dario Fo’s dressing room, with his best known show, to travel with him on a kaleidoscopic journey that takes us from Turkey to Argentina, where his works and their powerful dramaturgy still bother the “status quo” and power.

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TV

• TG3 LOMBARDIA RAI – 7 marzo 2023 (minuto 18:14)