We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! And Other Works: The Collected Plays of Dario Fo, Volume One (Collected Plays of Dario Fo (Paperback))

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About We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! And Other Works: The

Product Description Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature In the words of his translator, Ron Jenkins: "The Nobel committee's decision to honor Fo as a master of literature is a historic tribute to the theatre, which is still viewed by many as literature's bastard child; it is also the first time that the Nobel for the literary arts has been awarded to an actor. This courageous and controversial choice indirectly expands the modern definition of literature to include the power of the spoken word." Volume One includes:We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!ElizabethArchangels Don't Play PinballAbout Face From Library Journal The Nobel prize-winning Italian dramatist Fo and his frequent collaborator, Franca Rame, have been eliciting laughter and thought for almost half a century both as writers and as actors. They are modern commedia dell'arte entertainers with a social, political, and historical conscience. Jenkins's joint study is a much-needed critical review of their work. As Fo's official American translator, Jenkins has worked closely with the texts and the artists for several years. In this book, he communicates his deep commitment to and appreciation of their work, covering their biographies, artistic development, and philosophy and surveying many major works. With its extensive text samples, performance photographs, and reproductions of Fo's paintings, this book is both comprehensive and thoughtful. An anthology of plays, We Won't Pay! is the first volume in the collected works by this translator. The four plays collected here date from 1959 to 1986. In addition to the title play, the book includes "About Face," "Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman," and "Archangels Don't Play Pinball." As translations, they are funny and agile and will be more accessible to Americans than earlier Fo translations, which were geared toward British audiences. Of course, since Fo is such an improviser, his actual performances may differ widely from one occasion to another and from what is presented here. These books belong together in public and academic theater collections. Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., MA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author One of the major theatrical artists of the 20th century, Italy's Dario Fo, togther with Franca Rame, his wife and creative partner, have been creating a theatrical foray uniquely their own for more than fifty years. One of the world's most produced playwrights, Fo was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature. Ron Jenkins holds a doctorate from Harvard and a masters in buffoonery from the Ringling Brothers Clown College. His translations of Dario Fo and Hoshua Sobol have been performed at theatres around the country. He is the author of Dario Fo and Franca Rame: Artful Laughter and is the chair and artistic director of the theatre department at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.