Fo, Dario

Italian playwright and actor, born in Sangiano in northern Italy. The father worked as a station master while the mother was a housewife. Dario Fo was the oldest child, and he had a brother and a sister. The family was poor, and it had to move around in the northern Italian regions because of the father’s work. Dario Fo’s father, moreover, was active in the resistance movement and was pursued by the Fascists. As a railroad man, he helped English and American prisoners of war flee from Germany to Switzerland. Several times, Dario Fo had to help and act as a guide in these dangerous situations. Thus, already as a child, this future playwright of the world and central figure of political theatre became involved in the turbulent political situation of his native country.