Poets' Theatre to Present Dario Fo's MISTERO BUFFALO, 3/18

The Poets' Theatre is proud to announce its upcoming production of Nobel Laureate Dario's Fo comic masterpiece "Mistero Buffo" at Suffolk University's Modern Theatre from March 18th to 26th, 2016, as part of a festival celebrating Fo's 90th birthday. The production features acclaimed actors Remo Airaldi, Benjamin Evett, and Debra Wise, and is directed by Bob Scanlan. The new American translation is by Bob Scanlan and Walter Valeri.

Dario Fo has often been called the greatest single comic in the world, with discerning critics granting the first half of the century to Charlie Chaplin, and the second half to Dario Fo. Mistero Buffo is Dario Fo's best-known signature piece. It purports to revive the medieval practice of short, publicly performed Mystery Plays (plays drawn from Gospel Stories and the Life of Christ), but "mysteries" turned satirically upside down. Fo's brilliant solo turns "flip the script" on conventional morality and sanctimony, revealing the all too common hypocrisy of organized religion, and where true Christian values lie. It's sometimes shocking, relentlessly provocative, and always hilarious.

Originally a collection of solo performance pieces written for Fo and his wife Franca Rame, TPT will present Mistero Buffo with a triumvirate of award-winning actors - Remo Airaldi, Benjamin Evett, and Debra Wise - in a new American translation by TPT President and Artistic Director Bob Scanlan and Boston Conservatory's Walter Valeri, who served as Fo's company manager for many years. Brillian as it is, Fo's work has never really caught on in the United States because there are no good vernacular translations, but all that changes with this new work. Evett, Airaldi, Scanlan, and Valeri all worked with Fo thirty years ago, when he made his first visit to North America at the American Repertory Theatre, and are intimately familiar with his style of comedy.

The production is done in partnership with Suffolk University, and is part of a festival honoring Dario Fo's 90th birthday on March 24th, including an academic symposium at Harvard, workshops and classes at Suffolk and at Boston Conservatory, and other events.

Press night is Saturday, March 19th at 7:30. For tickets and information contact Benjamin Evett, Producing Artistic Director, at bevett@poetstheatre.org, or 781-771-2341.

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