Archangels Don't Play Pinball
Written byDario Fo
Original languageItalian

Archangels Don't Play Pinball (Italian title: Gli arcangeli non giocano al flipper)[1] is a 1959 two-act play by Dario Fo. The play uses the metaphor of a pinball machine—a new innovation in Italy at the time and one which Fo and his wife Franca Rame were fond of— to convey mechanisation and conspicuous consumption.[2]

Plot summary

The play by the Ljubljana Drama Theatre in 1963

A group of young Milanese men play a prank on one of their group - "Lofty". They arrange a fake marriage to a prostitute, who pretends to be a beautiful Albanian princess. Lofty has a problem - he needs to get identity papers from the Ministry. The only way he can do this is to become a dog. He is taken into a local kennel, where he is eventually bought by a circus owner. After various further adventures, Lofty eventually awakes, only to find that it has all been a dream. But the lovely lady is still there with him. Archangels don't play pinball with people's lives.[3]

Song

The play is also noted for its use of song. One example is "Stringimi forte i polsi" (Hold my wrists tightly together) which the protagonist Il Lungo (Stretch) sings to an "Albanian" prostitute whose wrists he is bound to.[2] It would later be the theme tune to the TV programme Canzonissima.[4]

Translations

Ed Emery has carried out an authorised English translation.[5]

Further reading

  • Mitchell, Tony (1999), Dario Fo: People's Court Jester (Updated and Expanded), London: Methuen, ISBN 0-413-73320-3.

References

  1. ↑ Mitchell 1999, p. 65
  2. 1 2 Mitchell 1999, p. 67
  3. ↑ Mitchell 1999, pp. 65–70
  4. ↑ Mitchell 1999, pp. 67–68
  5. ↑ Fo, Dario. Archangels Don't Play Pinball, trans. Ed Emery, Methuen Books, London, 1987. Online version at http://www.geocities.ws/dariofoarchive/archangels.html
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