Mistero Buffo

by Dario Fo. Translated into Afrikaans by Herman Pretorius and Romy Boom: Asjas Passie. Full-length. Cast: mixed.**

Mistero Buffo ("Comical Mystery") is Dario Fo's solo pièce célèbre, performed across Europe, Canada and Latin America from 1969 to 1999. It is recognised as one of the most controversial and popular spectacles in postwar European theatre and its broadcast in Italy prompted the Vatican to denounce it as "the most blasphemous show in the history of television".

The performance is a series of small one-act plays built around the idea of the travelling players of medieval times, who would travel to towns and villages, bringing the latest news, Fo also performs theatrical pieces which are sometimes subversive in their content. The final section of the collection consists of Passion Plays narrating the life and times of Christ.

Fo's work originates in the surviving texts and descriptions of the giullari. The title of the piece is borrowed from Mystery-Bouffe by Vladimir Mayakovsky. An authorised English translation has been carried out by Ed Emery. Published in Plays, Dario Fo. Methuen Drama, 1997.

Performed by Chris Truter in Afrikaans at a mini-festival linked to a Theatre Action Group (Cape Town) seminar in 1991.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistero_Buffo

The Star, 8 Oct 1991

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