Comic Mysteries

In the Middle Ages mystery plays were how illiterate people across Europe experienced bible stories. Members of the clergy would 'perform' scenes from the bible in churches and church owned property, however, there was no performance to these plays, generally it was just the clergy reading aloud the written words, each as a single character. 

Around the 13th century these plays began to be performed off church sites and in more public places by guilds, who without the presence of the church where freed to do risky stuff that the church might frown upon. Due to this freedom plays began to hold less truth and contain irrelevant elements. This freedom also allowed them to parody significant figures from society such as physicians, soldiers, judges, and even monks and priests. These plays came to an end in the 16th century as they burnt their bridges with the Catholic Church, no longer preaching good Catholic values.

My Ideas before starting, for Mistero Buffo

After hearing that there is a death character in the play, I have had an idea of how we can create a great effect. I have spoken to my tutor and we were able to make it even better.

My original idea was to take a life sized Halloween skeleton and harness it to someones back to create the appearance of it being a 9-10ft tall grim reaper. We would then dress them in a long black flowing cloak. My tutor suggested we could even move the jaw with the use of a some puppeteering and someone outside of the costume could articulate the arms in a similar way to that of the puppets in Avenue Q. Here is an example:

I think with our piece we would go for a more hidden puppeteer though rather than the blatant style of Avenue Q. Perhaps having our puppeteers more like that in the style of Bunraku.

Words I don't know the meaning of

After reading a chunk of the play, one word kept coming up and I didn't know what it meant.  I spoke to my tutor and he explained to me what it meant . The word was Jongleur and it means fool or jester, this word originates from France.

Mistero Buffo and it's themes

Mistero Buffo was originally performed between 1969-1999. 'Fo's solo pièce cèlèbre, titled Mistero Buffo and performed across Europe, Canada and Latin America over a 30 year period, is recognised as one of the most controversial and popular spectacles in postwar European theatre and has been denounced by the Vatican as 'the most blasphemous show in the history of television'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistero_Buffo)

It takes its style from that of commedia dell'arte characterised by the use of masks. In my opinion they are very reminiscent of that of a harlequin.

Themes

The theme of the play is the idiocy of organised religion; it is not intended to insult the religion but more what it becomes once people and politics take it over. This theme links into other themes of right and wrong. These themes are shown through the actions undertaken by the church in the name of Catholicism despite them being against what was originally taught. 
The theme of morality is shown in most of the scenes featuring soldiers. The question being raised is 'is it moral to do something that is 'wrong' because of an organisation that is widely considered to be good instructs you to?'
Other themes include life and death, grief and being human. In various scenes the characters main objective is the fear of imminent death and the hope of a better life.

The play is written in a didactic style to educate the audience as well as entertain. 

Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte was a style of performance which was popular across Italy but was not isolated to. It began in the 16th century and was enjoyed in Europe for 200 years.

This is a list of stock characters and their attributes.

Here is an example of various masks that would be worn. 

As well as the masks, costumes like these would have been worn:

Colombina - She is dressed

in a ragged and patched 

dress, appropriate to a

hired servant.

                            

Arlecchino - He is

characterised by

his chequered costume.

Pulcinella - Always dressed

 in white with a black mask

 (hence conciliating the 

opposites of life and death)

Pantalone - Dark colors of

black, grey and red. 

Dynamic Pantaloons,

red tights and yellow

turkish slippers.

The character of Colombina would not have always worn a mask but when she did, it would be something like this.

Not covering the whole face, just covering the section around the eyes. 

Arlecchino would wear a mask with short, fat features. Often portrayed with a boil or a spot on the forehead. 

Pulcinella's mask is black in a contrast with his entirely white costume. 

Pantalone's mask will have ridged brows and thick facial hair to show his age. 

This video probably explains the stock characters better than I could.

Dario Fo. The author.

Dario Fo is a very skilled man, working in multiple areas of the performance world. He is an actor-playwright, comedian, singer, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter and political campaigner. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997. 'This marked the international acknowledgement of Fo as a major figure in twentieth-century world theatre. The Swedish Academy praised Fo as a writer who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo)
His work promotes improvisation and 'comprises the recovery of illegitimate forms of theatre, such as those performed by Giullari (medieval strolling players) and, more famously, the ancient Italian style of commedia dell'arte'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo) 
His plays are performed world wide and have been translated into 30 different languages. Some of the countries include Argentina, Chile, England, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Yugoslavia. Through 1960-1980 his plays made critical reference to assassinations, organised crime, organised religion, racism and war. In recent years his plays have been at the expense of Italy's political leaders such as Silvio Berlusconi. But even more recently the European banks have suffered under the scrutiny of his plays. 

In my opinion Dario Fo's work is still valuable and work like this will always be needed but as society becomes more aware of the actions of the government, police forces and military, the actions taken become more transparent ready for everyone to see. Due to this work like this become less valuable than they were 20-30 years ago when the information was as readily available worldwide.