Dario Fo, Playwright and Nobel Laureate, Passes Away

The Italian government announced that Dario Fo, playwright, actor, and Nobel Prize in Literature winner, passed away on Thursday, October 14, at the age of 90, the same day the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is to be announced. Nineteen years ago, in 1997, Dario Fo received the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the sixth and last Italian writer to have received this award. Before him, Giosuè Carducci (1906), Grazia Deledda (1926), Luigi Pirandello (1934), Salvatore Quasimodo (1959), and Eugenio Montale (1975) had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Reports from Italian media indicate that Dario Fo died in a hospital in Milan, where he had been hospitalized 12 days prior. One of the hallmarks of Dario Fo's works is his sharp and devastating political satire, reflected in plays such as 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist.' Matteo Renzi, the Prime Minister of Italy, who has himself been the target of Dario Fo's biting humor, referred to him in a statement upon his death as one of the 'greatest heroes of theater and culture and a defender of civil rights' for the people of Italy, celebrating Dario Fo's legacy in this regard. The statement noted that Dario Fo's humor, his research, his work related to stage design, and his multifaceted artistic activities will be his legacy to the world. The play 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist,' which brought Dario Fo international fame, is based on the true story of a railway worker who fell from the fourth floor during an interrogation at a police station in Milan and died. The Italian police claimed he committed suicide, but Dario Fo argued that he was murdered. This play was first staged in Milan in 1970 and has since been performed in over 40 countries worldwide. Various translations of this work have also been done in Persian. Dario Fo was born in 1926 in the village of Legnano, located in northern Italy. His wife, Franca Rame, was also a prominent figure in theater and playwriting, who passed away in 2013.