“At the root of everything I write, … is tragedy. One must never forget that Accidental Death involves a man who has been thrown out of a window, and that Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! hinges on a man who is starving. You must always be aware of this reality. The laughter is simply a means of making the audience confront the problem.”
Dario Fo, quoted in The Guardian (24/03/2026)
Dario Fo would have been a hundred years old today, ten years after his death. Yet, his legacy, his art, remains as young as ever.
For Dario …
…the scandal would have served its purpose. People say they want real justice… so we fob them off with a slightly less unjust system of justice. Workers howl that they’re being flayed like donkeys… so we arrange for the flaying to be a little less severe and slash their howling entitlement, but the exploitation goes on. The workforce would rather not have fatal accidents in the factory… so we make it a teeny bit safer and increase compensation payments to widows. They’d like to see class divisions eliminated… so we do our best to bring the classes marginally closer or, preferably, just make it seem that way.
They want a revolution… and we give them reforms. We’re drowning them in reforms. Or promises of reforms, because let’s face it, they’re not actually going to get anything.
Maniac, from the Morte accidentale di un anarchico (1970)
Suggested readings:
“The passing of a court jester: For Dario Fo”, Autonomies, 19/10/2016.
“Reading Dario Fo’s Legacy: By Jacopo Fo”, Autonomies, 27/10/2016.
For the full text of Dario Fo’s play Accidental death of an anarchist, click here.