by Dr. David Glen Robinson
 |
| (image: Palindrome Theatre) |
The
Up Collective is in one of my favorite places. It's in East Austin,
specifically at 2326 E. Cesar Chavez St. The name is easy to get—one
has to walk upstairs to a second floor gallery where the play is
performed. The art on the walls is really, seriously good and is priced
like it, too. Palindrome Theatre's set is simple, designed for
mobility. It has two standing door frames with no doors, a table and
two chairs, a filing cabinet and two revolving set pieces representing
windows. On one side of each of the painted windows there is a city
dayscape; on the other side, a nightscape. Palindrome plans to travel
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist to several indoor and outdoor locations, and the set by George Marsolek is well adapted to that plan.
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist is a famous farce by
Dario Fo. The play is based on terroristic events and police
corruption. The work is fictional, but it updates itself in every new
production with references to contemporary events. The play premiered
in Italy in 1970, found immediate popularity, and toured widely in Italy
to play before millions of theatergoers. International productions
kicked off in the 1980's.
The Wikipedia article lists successful major productions in the UK, United States, Sri Lanka, India and China. As the world moved into the 21
st
century, the play caught on in Pakistan and Australia and saw more
productions in Britain and the United States. This thing has legs.
 |
| (image: Palindrome Theatre) |
Dario
Fo is the ultimate Internationalist gadfly, set on this career early in
life when he was drafted by Mussolini’s fascist army late in World War
II. He soon deserted and, with his family, worked for the Resistance
helping Allied soldiers escape the fascist forces. Can there be any
doubt that these were his formative experiences, which taught him the
language of defiance? He articulated this defiance and all that goes
with it in his play writing and career in theatrical production, still
going on today. The response to his work was near-uniform condemnation,
criticism and outright suppression by governments, churches and mosques
around the world. What was the outcome of the hostility of
officialdom? In 1997, Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for
his body of work.
Fo’s theatrical efforts have always been informed by early Renaissance Commedia dell’ Arte. The traditional presenters of the commedia performed
as costumed characters in the streets, and they quickly discovered that
their biggest laughs came from fart jokes (and other bawdiness) told
about dukes, bishops, kings and popes. Hence Fo’s devotion to farce,
improvisation, and references to government abuses. Fo encourages
producers of his plays to add local references and to rewrite dialogues
as commentary on contemporary issues. Give Austin’s small but active Commedia dell’ Arte community, Palindrome Theatre’s opening of a Fo play should find an informed and receptive audience.
Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com and for performance times and venues. . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment