''Mistero buffo'' ("Comical

Mystery Play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

") is Dario Fo's solo ''pièce célèbre'', performed across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

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from 1969 to 1999. It is recognised as one of the most controversial and popular spectacles in postwar European theatre and its broadcast in Italy prompted the Vatican to denounce it as "the most blasphemous show in the history of television". Mistero buffo is a series of brief monologues with Biblical themes, drawn from the

Biblical apocrypha The Biblical apocrypha () denotes the collection of ancient books, some of which are believed by some to be of doubtful origin, thought to have been written some time between 200 BC and 100 AD. The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Ori ...

and popular tales of the life of Christ. The performance texts are in a mixture of Italian,

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

and grammelot – a constructed or rather extemporised language that draws on, and mixes up, regional languages. Fo's work originates in the surviving texts and descriptions of the '' giullari'', itinerant players of medieval times, who would travel to towns and villages, bringing the latest news. The title of the piece is borrowed from '' Mystery-Bouffe'' by

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

. An authorised English translation has been carried out by Ed Emery.Dario Fo, ''Mistero Buffo'', trans. Ed Emery, Methuen Books, London, 1988. Online version at http://www.geocities.ws/dariofoarchive/mistero.html

References

Citations Bibliography * {{Dario Fo 1969 plays Christian plays One-act plays Plays by Dario Fo