Staging Dario Fo and Franca Rame

This is the first extended treatment of the English translations, staging, and reception of the political plays of Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Focusing on the United Kingdom and the United States, Stefania Taviano offers a corrective to the cultural stereotyping and political conservatism that have pursued these playwrights in translation. Among the questions posed are "What characterizes the process of acculturation that takes place when political theatre is transposed from culture to...
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This is the first extended treatment of the English translations, staging, and reception of the political plays of Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Focusing on the United Kingdom and the United States, Stefania Taviano offers a corrective to the cultural stereotyping and political conservatism that have pursued these playwrights in translation. Among the questions posed are "What characterizes the process of acculturation that takes place when political theatre is transposed from culture to culture?" "How are images of foreign literary production affected by dominant translation practices and theatre traditions?" and "What constitutes political theatre in a given society, and how are such definitions used to categorize and contain disturbing and challenging theatre texts?" She concludes with an investigation of the meaning of Fo and Rame's political theatre today that points the way for future studies of the politics of translating and staging political theatre outside its culture of origin.