Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man
Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man | |
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Written by | Dario Fo |
Original language | Italian |
Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man (Italian title: Isabella, tre caravelle e un cacciaballe)[1] is a 1963 two-act play by Italian playwright Dario Fo, the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. Some people got angry: Fo received threatening letters, was assaulted in Rome with Rame by Fascist groups who also threw rubbish at them, while another performance was disrupted by a bomb scare.[2] He recounted this event in the prologue of Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas.
Plot summary
The play is considered "an attempt to demystify and debunk the traditional history-book image" of Christopher Columbus. Fo said: "I wanted to attack those Italian intellectuals who, with the centre-left and the Socialist Party in the government, had discovered power and its advantages and leapt on it like rats on a piece of cheese. I wanted to dismantle a character who had been embalmed as a hero in school history books, whereas he is in fact an intellectual who tries to keep afloat within the mechanisms of power, play games with the King and be cunning with power figures, only to end up reduced to a wretch."[1]
Isabella... is a play-within-a-play wherein an actor condemned to death (for performing the works of a banned author) is granted a last wish to perform one last play. He performs a history of Christopher Columbus, of which Roberto Rebora, writing in Sipario in 1963, says:
The play about Columbus presents the Genovese hero as an obsessive, wily individual, pitting his wits against Isabella, Filippo, Giovanna the madwoman, the (Spanish) court, sailing ships, enemies, a trial, and eventual obscurity, a consequence of the fact that cunning and unscrupulousness (even to honourable ends) is not enough if the powers that be are not on your side.' [3]
Production history
The play was first produced at the Teatro Odeon in Milan on 6 September 1963, in a production directed by Fo himself. It was later broadcast on RAI 2 in May 1977, and revived at the Centro Dramatico Nacional in Valencia, Spain in 1992 (again directed by Fo).
Translations
Ed Emery has carried out an authorised English translation.[4]
Further reading
- Mitchell, Tony (1999), Dario Fo: People's Court Jester (Updated and Expanded), London: Methuen, ISBN 0-413-73320-3.
References
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- t
- e
- Corpse for Sale (1958)
- The Virtuous Burglar (1958)
- Archangels Don't Play Pinball (1959)
- He Had Two Pistols with White and Black Eyes (1960)
- He Who Steals a Foot is Lucky in Love (1961)
- Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man (1963)
- Throw the Lady Out (1967)
- Grand Pantomime with Flags and Small and Middle-sized Puppets (1968)
- Mistero Buffo (1969)
- The Worker Knows 300 Words, the Boss Knows 1000, That's Why He's the Boss (1969)
- Chain Me Up and I'll Still Smash Everything (1969)
- I'd Rather Die Tonight If I Had To Think It Had All Been In Vain (1970)
- Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970)
- United We Stand! All Together Now! Oops, Isn't That the Boss? (1971)
- Fedayn (1972)
- Mamma Togni (1973)
- The People's War in Chile (1973)
- Porta and Belli Against the Authorities (1974)
- Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (1974)
- Fanfani Kidnapped (1975)
- Mother's Marijuana is the Best (1976)
- Let's Talk About Women (1977)
- All House, Bed and Church (1977)
- The Tale of a Tiger (1978)
- Trumpets and Raspberries (1981)
- The Open Couple (1983)
- Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman (1984)
- The Tricks of the Trade (TV, 1985)
- Hellequin, Harlekin, Arlecchino (1985)
- Abducting Francesca (1986)
- The First Miracle of the Infant Jesus (TV, 1987)
- Letter from China (1989)
- The Story of Qu (1989)
- The Wanted Man (1989)
- The Pope and the Witch (1989)
- Hush! We're Falling! (1990)
- Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas (1992)
- Seventh Commandment: Steal a Bit Less No. 2 (1992)
- Mummy! The Sans-culottes! (1993)
- Sex? Thanks, Don't Mind If I Do! (1994)
- Leonardo: The Flight, the Count and the Amours (1995)
- The Devil with Boobs (1997)
- The Two-Headed Anomaly (2003)
- "An Arab Woman Speaks"—monologue from Fedayn