Franca Rame
Franca Pia Rame (born July 18, 1929 in Parabiago , Province of Milan , † May 29, 2013 in Milan ) was an Italian actress, playwright and dramaturge. For decades she worked closely with her husband Dario Fo , with whom she ran theater companies and developed and performed numerous plays. Rame was also a political activist and was a member of the Italian Senate for the Italia dei Valori party from 2006 to 2008 .
Life
Franca Rame came from one of the families of folk actors who still roamed the country at that time . Her mother was a teacher and a strict Catholic. She first appeared on stage at the age of eight. In 1949, almost 20 years old, she left her family and became a revue actress with the most popular theater groups. A cover photo made her famous overnight. In 1951, the crowd favorite Franca Rame and Dario Fo met while working in the theater . Fo was an architect by profession, but by then had already been working on and for theater stages for two years.
In 1953 Franca Rame (at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan) played with Dario Fo for the first time in a piece written by him and co-authors: Il dito nell′occhio (“The finger in the eye”). Also at the Piccolo Teatro was the first satirical revue of the post-war period in 1954 with Sani da legare ("Healthy for Fetters"). Both pieces split the critics and provoke angry protests from church circles. Rame and Fo married in Milan in 1954, and their only child, the son Jacopo Fo , was born a year later . In 1956 Fo wrote the treatment for the film Lo svitato ("The Crazy One"), in which Franca Rame and Dario Fo played the leading roles. The couple moved to Rome, unsuccessful work for the cinema followed.
Franca Rame and Dario Fo returned to Milan in 1958 and founded their Compania Fo / Rame the following year ; they were probably the best-known Italian theater-maker duo. Her theatrical work regularly caused a sensation, because her work could hardly be called conventional. What they brought to the stage was mostly self-written, often in improvisational sequences, in play and through play. Politically left-wing, they always left room for this decided point of view in their plays. In 1961 the Compania had its first foreign guest performance with Ladri, manichini e donne nude (“Thieves, Ladies, Marionettes”) in Stockholm . In the fall of 1963, the popular television program "Canzonissima" came out, presented by Franca Rame, while Fo wrote and directed the lyrics. For political reasons, some skits are shortened. Dario Fo and Franca Rame withdrew from “Canzonissima” in protest. This was followed by several work processes and the 13-year-old exclusion from television.
The "Compagnia Fo-Rame" dissolved in 1968. The result was the “Associazione Nuova Scena”, an independent theater collective with three groups, which mainly performed in front of young people and workers at alternative venues of the left-wing leisure association ARCI. Due to political differences, Fo and Rame left the Associazione Nuova Scena in 1970 and founded the "Collettivo teatrale la Comune". The collective played in a factory building on the outskirts of Milan that was being prepared by unpaid volunteers. All over Italy, cultural circles were formed that belonged to the collective and formed a new, alternative network of venues. In March 1973 Franca Rame was dragged into a van on the street and raped by four men. 25 years later, right-wing terrorist acts of the 1970s were investigated. The suspicion was confirmed that this crime against Franca Rame was initiated by a Carabinieri unit in Milan and committed by four neo-fascists . Due to the statute of limitations, the perpetrators escaped conviction. Rame later processed this experience in the epilogue of her one-person play "Sex - but with pleasure!" The theater collective was repeatedly hindered by the police and had to fight off censorship. Due to renewed political differences, the collective “La Comune” split in the summer.
After a long search for a permanent seat, “La Comune” occupied the “Palazzina Liberty” in 1974, an empty, run-down building in Milan. The following year the collective went on a trip to China. After 13 years of censorship, Rame / Fo returned to television in 1976. In December 1977 the piece Tutta casa, letto e chiesa (“Only children, kitchen, church”) was premiered in the Palazzina Liberty , in which Franca Rame was officially named as a co-author for the first time. A joint tour took them to Germany , Sweden and Denmark in 1979 . On May 20, 1980, Rame and Fo were invited to the Italian Theater Festival in New York . However, the US authorities refused them entry. A protest demonstration broke out in the USA, attended by Arthur Miller , Norman Mailer , Martin Scorsese and other intellectuals. In 1982 Franca Rame performed the two monologues Lo stupro ("The Rape") and La madre ("A Mother"). The collective went on tour in England with Tutta casa, letto e chiesa .
The Fo / Rame piece Coppia aperta (" Open relationship for two ") was premiered in 1983 with Franca Rame in Stockholm. This was followed by appearances in England and Germany as well as another refusal of entry to the USA. In 1984 Rame and Fo released Coppia aperta in Milan. However, the responsible ministry had the play forbidden for young people under the age of 18. After a storm of protest, the order was withdrawn. On the intervention of the US President Ronald Reagan , the Compagnia Fo-Rame received a residence permit in 1986 for a six-week tour through the USA. She showed Mistero buffo and Tutta casa, letto e chiesa in Cambridge , New Haven , Washington and New York. She also led seminars and workshops in the USA. Performances in Amsterdam , Cambridge, San Francisco and an award ceremony in New York followed the following year . Franca Rame took up Parti femminili again and played for Italian television. In April and May 1989 the Compania went on tour in Brazil. This year Fo wrote the two pieces Il Braccato ("The Hetzer") on the subject of the Mafia and Il papa e la strega ("The Pope and the Witch") on the subject of drug use and anti-prohibitionism. As always, he played it with rame in Italy. In the 1989/90 season it was the most popular performance in Italy, for which Fo and Rame received the “Biglietto d'Oro” (golden ticket) from AGIS (umbrella association of actors and artists).
In 1994 Franca Rame came up with the monologue Sesso? Grace, tanto per gradire! ("Sex? But with pleasure!") In Milan. The world premiere was staged by Dario Fo, who played it herself many times with great success. For prudish Italy, besides the autobiographically influenced epilogue about her rape experience, it was scandalous in another way: Franca Rame wrote this piece, inspired by a fairly open educational book by her son, the author and actor Jacopo Fo. This book ("Zen or the Art of Birds") provoked so many reactions that Franca Rame, repeatedly asked about this book, decided to give her artistic answer to the many, apparently pressing questions on stages across the country by acting. Initially, this production was also banned from young people, which was lifted after vehement protests. Rame and Fo combined their two monologue top pieces Mistero buffo and Sesso? Grace, tanto per gradire! 1996 for a performance. The tour through Italy was a triumph.
In October 1997 the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature to Dario Fo. Connoisseurs as the time -author Rolf Michaelis wrote, his partner at work have as much content as he is. Pieces such as Open Two-Way Relationship , which are performed worldwide, were created through joint authorship. There is not a single piece by Fo that Franca Rame did not significantly contribute to the text. The award aroused both enthusiastic approval and negative criticism in Italy and abroad. Fo / Rame have been the most played Italian authors abroad for decades (in over 50 countries), their plays have been translated into around 30 languages. Fo and Rame announce that they will use the prize money for the disabled and also support Adriano Sofri in his fight for release, who was wrongly imprisoned in Italy.
Political commitment
Franca Rame, together with Dario Fo, can paradigmatically represent the reprisals that artists can be exposed to (even today, even in an EU country) who mess with the powerful. There was practically no current socio-political topic in Italy that Rame / Fo did not deal with in one piece; the spectrum ranges from AIDS to drugs, the Gulf War, financial practices in politics and crime to kidnapping, abuse of power and party scandal.
Franca Rame was also directly politically active. She has been involved in the Red Aid since 1969 , advocated for political and "normal" prisoners , made numerous individual cases public, supported relatives and mobilized mass media and politics against the inhumane conditions in Italian prisons . This commitment played into the artistic work again and again, was reflected in her stage plays. With consequences: Rame / Fo felt not only the brutal violence of individuals, but also the power of the state , church and other institutions. Most of the plays have been designated as comedies and therefore find an audience willing to amuse, but there were forty trials for seventy plays. There were death threats and they were given police protection, but were also repeatedly prevented from performing with police violence. They were also banned from appearing on Italian television for 13 years. Most recently, Franca Rame, together with her husband and son, was particularly active in the fight against Silvio Berlusconi's media monopoly - they have been running the television channel "Atlantide TV" since November 2004, one of the pirate channels that appeared in Italy.
From April 2006 to April 2008 she was a member of the Italian Senate as a representative of the anti-corruption party Italia dei Valori (IdV; “Italy of Values”). In May 2006 she was IdV's candidate for the office of President: in the first ballot she received 24 of the 1009 votes in the electoral college, then she withdrew her candidacy. At the end of October 2007 she left the IdV. She was a member of the Senate from June to September 2006 on the Budget Committee, from September to December 2006 and again from March to November 2007 on the Committee on Public Works and Communication and from November 2007 to April 2008 on the Committee on Labor and Social Security. She was also a member of the committees of inquiry into fatal accidents at work and depleted uranium as well as the supervisory body for public broadcasting.
Quote
“We believe that lawsuits are wrong. You cry, go home sad, say: 'How beautifully I cried', and fall asleep relieved. No, we want to make you laugh ... Not only does the mouth open when you laugh, but the brain. And nails of reason can enter the brain. I hope that tonight some people will go home with nails on their heads ... "
Works
Franca Rame was explicitly named as the (co-) author of the following six pieces. It is believed, however, that Rame played a major role in the authorship of most of Dario Fo's works.
- "Nur Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (Italian original title: Tutta casa, letto e chiesa ), 11 monologues, co-author: Dario Fo, 1977 (Tr .: Renate Chotjewitz-Häfner )
- " Open relationship between two people " (Coppia aperta, quasi spalancata) , comedy, co-author: Dario Fo, 1984 (T: Renate Chotjewitz-Häfner)
- "A day like any other" (Una giornata qualunque) , one-act play, co-author: Dario Fo, 1986 (T: Renate Chotjewitz-Häfner)
- "The fat woman" (Grassa è bello) , one-act play, co-author: Dario Fo, 1991 (trans .: Renate Chotjewitz-Häfner)
- "Die Heroine" (L'eroina) , one-act play, co-author: Dario Fo, 1991 (Tr: Renate Chotjewitz-Häfner)
- "Sex? But with pleasure! " (Sesso? Grazie, tanto per gradire!) , Drama, co-authors: Dario and Jacopo Fo, 1994 (T: Renate Chotjewitz-Häfner)
swell
- ↑ a b Dario Fo's wife and stage partner Franca Rame dies , ORF.at, May 29, 2013
- ↑ John Francis Lane: Franca Rame obituary. guardian.co.uk, May 29, 2013, accessed May 29, 2013.
- ↑ Death report , nzz.ch, May 29, 2013, accessed on May 29, 2013
- ↑ Michael Braun: The blood baths of the Italian state. In: taz. the daily newspaper , May 18, 2001, p. 16.
- ^ A b Rolf Michaelis: Nobel Prize for Literature for Dario Fo - and his partner Franca Rame. In: Die Zeit , No. 43/1997, October 17, 1997.
- ↑ Franca RAME (XV Legislatura) entry in the archive of the Italian Senate.
- ^ Resignation from Franca Rame 2008 (Italian) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Literature by and about Franca Rame in the catalog of the German National Library
- Page from Franca Rame to the Italian Senate, XV. Legislative period
- Franca Rame in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- È morta Franca Rame. unita.it, May 29, 2013 (Italian, with photos and videos)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rame, Franca |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rame, Franca Pia (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian theater maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 18, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Parabiago |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 29, 2013 |
| Place of death | Milan |