Reviews for Mistero Buffo: The Collected Plays of Dario Fo, Volume 2

The average rating for Mistero Buffo: The Collected Plays of Dario Fo, Volume 2 based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-08-27 00:00:00 Kevin Fry boring to read

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-22 00:00:00 Jeffrey Caplis After reading Wisława Szymborska poetry, the transition to Dario Fo's Nobel Prize winning Mistero Buffo was difficult for me. It took me some pages to find the rhythm of his work, which really should be experienced onstage. The subject matter is religious "mysteries" as performed by giullari. These works were often profane, blasphemous, wickedly witty, and full of slapstick, scatalogical detail, and cursing. They were still religious, however, a religion of the peasants, of the poor people, responding to the corrupt institutions around them, including masters, kingdoms, and organized religion. Fo translated and updated some of these mysteries to comment on modern institutions as well, resulting in something that is entertaining, educational, and powerfully political. It was difficult for me to "act out" this work in my imagination, because of the content and because I am somewhat ignorant of performance art. I watched a few clips on YouTube of Fo performing his work and it transformed what I understood from my reading. The three stars I'm giving this work is not meant to downplay the quality or importance of Fo's work, but does reflect that I personally find scatalogical humor gross and upsetting. How elitist and prudish of me, but such is the temperament of my stomach.