Fo, Dario (1926-2016), an Italian playwright and actor, won the 1997 Nobel Prize for literature. He became best known for his strongly political plays based on the theatrical traditions of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Italian comic style known as commedia dell’arte. Some of Fo’s works have been attacked as obscene and blasphemous. The Swedish Academy, in awarding Fo the Nobel Prize, praised him for “scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.”
Fo wrote more than 40 plays, some with his wife, the actress Franca Rame. His best-known plays include the political satires Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970) and Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay (1974). He wrote the one-woman play Female Parts (1981) with his wife. His other plays include The Open Couple—Wide Open Even (1983), One Was Nude, One Wore Tails (1985), and The Devil with Boobs (1997). As a performer, he became famous for his one-man Comic Mystery (1969), based on medieval religious plays called mystery plays. The play satirizes landowners, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Italian government. It changes with each performance to reflect current events.
Fo was born on March 26, 1926, in San Giano, Italy. He began his writing and performing career on radio and in television. He also collaborated on satirical revues for cabarets and theaters. In 1959, Fo and his wife founded the first of several acting companies to perform his works. Fo died on Oct. 13, 2016.
