Throughout the past decade, Dario Fo, Italy's best known satirical playwright, and his wife Franca Rame, the actress and feminist, conducted a series of performance-seminars around the world on the subject of acting. Fo and Rame have revealed to audiences the many facets of the actor's art - his and her 'Tricks of the Trade'. Tracing the life of the comic performer back to the itinerant jongleur and the skilful improvisations of later commedia dell' arte troupes, Fo's genius as both a player and synthesiser of the historical past allows him to resurrect before our eyes and ears a shadow performer upon whom all actors unwittingly base their work. Using mime, masks, pieces of text, dance, action and snatches from songs, Fo and Franca Rame consolidate many months of their lecture demonstrations into a 'Six Day' workshop that is also a Fo-on-Fo one-man show.
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..."Dario Fo, the provocative Italian winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize, is both playwright and actor, as well as an all-round iconoclast. "Washington Post."
"Since Fo believes that his plays are profoundly more meaningful when performed than read, the best printed introduction to Fo's work is this excellent translation of "The Tricks of the Trade. a distillation of the six-day performance workshops given internationally by Fo and his feminist wife Franca Rame, the book illuminates the secrets of Fo's unique art. . . Filled with personal anecdotes and insights about the history of comic theater, "Tricks of the Trade is a joy to read."
-"Octopus (Champaign, IL), Dec. 18, 1998
"Since Fo believes that his plays are profoundly more meaningful when performed than read, the best printed introduction to Fo's work is this excellent translation of "The Tricks of the Trade. a distillation of the six-day performance workshops given internationally by Fo and his feminist wife Franca Rame, the book illuminates the secrets of Fo's unique art. . . Filled with personal anecdotes and insights about the history of comic theater, "Tricks of the Trade is a joy to read."
-"Octopus (Champaign, IL), Dec. 18, 1998
About the Author
Joseph Farrell is Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Strathclyde. He has written on and translated Italian theatre widely. He is theatre reviewer for The Scotsman, as well as the author of Dario Fo and France Rame: Harlequins of the Revolution (Methuen, 2001), and has edited A History of Italian Theatre (CUP, 2006) as well as Methuen Student editions of Six Characters in Search of an Author and Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A must for anyone interested in acting, ESPECIALLY commediea'del arte. This man knows near everything about acting... and his how he wries is so casual, it is the one Theory Books I have found easy, and exceptionlly enjoyable to read..
By blake-zx1zx1
Format:Hardcover
had to write an essay (3000 words) on one Fo's plays, this book and a lot of great information and therefore if you need it for academic reasons i completely reccomend it - it's great.
if you want it just to read; there are some parts that are a bit wordy but majoritably interesting so i reccomend it in that sense also.
all in all, good book, love Fo!!
if you want it just to read; there are some parts that are a bit wordy but majoritably interesting so i reccomend it in that sense also.
all in all, good book, love Fo!!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A freeing work from a brilliant actor/scholar.
16 Aug 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
In this book Dario Fo articulates the relationship between actor and audience in a way only someone who has accepted the physical and mental demands of the acting craft can do. Fo demonstrates he is one part actor, one part scholar, and one part inspired artist. Each page illustrates the line between how an actor acts and their audience cannot be separated from themselves, their society, or from the history of the craft. If nothing else, Fo's joy in performance helps explain why actors remain central to entertainment and to society.
6 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Donald Sutherland praised this book on Charlie Rose 9/10/98
11 Sep 1998
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Donald Sutherland praised this book on Charlie Rose 9/10/98Donald Sutherland praised this book on Charlie Rose 9/10/98.
That's good enough for me.
I plan to buy it for my daughter - a fledgling Commedia artist.
›
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