JOEL SCHECHTER
nounced, to see a scandal break out so that people can talk about
it. For him, that's real freedom and the best of all possible
worlds.
119
If
Fo knows the limits of his art, he also knows the source of its
appeal. The buffoon in
Accidental Death oj an Anarchist
tells us that his
hobby is "the theater of reality, so my fellow artists must be real peo–
ple, unawa,.re that they are acting in my productions, which is handy,
as I've got no cash to pay them." The law officers who hear him, and
the audience offstage, willingly become this masterful charlatan's
coconspirators, his "fellow artists," as he winks at both groups in
turn, confides his impostures and scandals to listeners, and asks
them to approve of his disguises. His need for audience acceptance is
complemen ted by his listeners' (on and offstage) desire to be part of a
political conspiracy, to hear secrets of state whispered aloud. The
spontaneous and intimate sense of conspiracy between the satirist
and his audience cannot be achieved by him as easily on electronic
media as on stage, in person, especially if the person is Dario Fo.
While Fo's plays allow the audience to eavesdrop on dirty
political deals or parodies of them, the playwright resists passivity
and voyeurism in spectators. He too uses "real people" as his "fellow
artists." To do this he involves the audience and actors in playwrit–
ing, by incorporating their suggestions into works-in-progress. Plays
such as
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
have acquired several different
endings as a result of Fo's exchanges with the audience. Other plays,
such as
The Boss's Funeral,
contain an "unwritten" last act; instead of
finishing the story, Fa and his cast discuss the play and its political
issues with the audience. In this way he allows spectators to "enter"
(his word) the performance and modify it; they too become agents of
change.
"In this way his performance becomes a discussion (about social
conditions) with the audience he is addressing," Brecht wrote of an
epic actor's technique; and this can be said of Fo's performance style
too, although his style differs markedly from Brecht's epic theater in
its factually based, documentary satire. And while both playwrights
have tried to break through the fourth wall with techniques that
allow them to address the audience directly, Fo has gone one step
further "out of character." He leaves his personae behind, to become
Dario Fo, listener, conversationalist, debater, political organizer.
When he engages in democratic, postperformance dialogues, there is
no need for that perpetual outcast and renegade, the political satirist.
