Johan Padan and the "Discovery" of the Americas by Dario Fo
RevSocialist اش... — Fri, 04/30/2010 - 15:53
This play (109pg) by Dario Fo was written in the unconventional style which Fo himself first made popular, i.e. "narrative theatre" (teatro di narrazione). In such narrative plays, there is only one person, and there is no action or dress or background or anything like that, but just a narrator-actor telling a story, very similar to the popular storytelling which influenced Fo's style so much.
This play is about a so-called "Discovery" (as if you can discover a place wherein people have already been living for thousands of years) expedition to the "New World" by a bunch of savage Europeans. But it is not by any means a tradgedy, but a play of fierce and spirited indigenous resistance to the european barbarians. Fo explains it in the introduction this way: "First of all, you should know that this is not a woefull tale of Indian massacres perpetrated by the Conquistadors. And it is not the usual story of a defeated race. On the contrary, it is an epic chronicle of Indians who were victorious."
Also, you will notice that the text of this play is accompained by many many beautiful drawings which illustrate what is happening. These drawings were sketched by Fo himself, who as you can see is an excellent artist in many things, not just in literature. So enjoy the beautiful narrative and artwork of this play which celebates indigenous resistance:
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