Franca Rame Won the Nobel Prize: Approaching the Works of Dario Fo and Franca Rame as Collaboration

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, we seek to modify the view that Fo is the driving force behind the theatrical production of the various incarnations of the Compagnia Fo–Rame. We review certain theoretical aspects of authorship, emphasising it as an intrinsically collaborative process. In particular, we want to move away from the dichotomy that sees Fo as the solitary writer-actor-genius, and Rame as the ancillary manager and editor of ‘his’ works. Not only is the reality far more complex, but those roles are in fact creative authorial functions inside a collaborative practice. Why has this not been done before? In part because of a cultural practice that puts the individual (male) and his ‘genius’ at the centre, and in part because of a strong narrative put forward by Fo and Rame themselves, never truly questioned by scholars; as a consequence, Rame’s contribution has been either side-lined, or reclaimed in problematic ways.