SOURCE: "Dario Fo: Trumpets and Raspberries," in Satiric Impersonations: From Aristophanes to the Guerrilla Girls, Southern Illinois University Press, 1994, pp. 92-106.

[In a close examination of Fo's Trumpets and Raspberries and Almost by Chance a Woman: Elizabeth, Schechter argues for Fo's timeliness as a humorist and his identification as perhaps the last great theatrical satirist.]

Few comedians in our century besides Chaplin have been better known than Dario Fo. The Italian satirist's plays are staged around the world. He has directed comic opera at La Scala in Milan. His own one-man shows have been applauded everywhere from China to New York.

Unfortunately, Fo may also be one of the theater's last great satirists. Comic broadsides against abusive power and wealth are rarely heard on stage anymore. Producers avoid controversial subjects, especially those that offend wealthy patrons. Even when playwrights are able to stage satire, if they produce it...