FFWD Weekly
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| Theatre by Nikki Sheppy Preview I once had a university professor who believed that the fool was a wisely absurdist visionary, an unlikely prophet whose laughable antics could open people’s eyes up to what they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see. Well, now’s my big chance to test out his theory, because in Generic Theatre’s Mistero Buffo, three holy fools named Ranto, Wango and Bango take it upon themselves to recreate those familiar biblical tales, reinvesting them with a more human morality. According to Calgary-based percussionist Peter Moller, who plays noise-making fool Bango, fools are a terrific vehicle for this sort of show. "Fools comes across as buffoons, but the subtext of what they say can be read into deeply," he says. "They’re a good educational tool.... The Bible stories are morality tales. Mistero Buffo is really taking the piss out of the Catholic Church." In dealing with the mysteries of human life so central to The Bible, Generic uses a clowning based on improvisations by Marxist playwright Dario Fo. "If you remove all the mysticism around Jesus and approach him the way Fo does, you see that Jesus was a human being just like everybody else. If you treat him as somebody with a message and somebody with a concept, it becomes more interesting." The show is the result of adapting Fo’s improvisations based on the jongleurs of yore. "In Italy, hundreds of years ago, they had roving storytellers called jongleurs," explains Moller. "Because there were so many dialects throughout Italy, they would present these biblical tales in a kind of scatspeak that everybody could understand. They would concentrate on the juicy parts and the bawdy parts...." Although Moller was raised essentially as an atheist, he says that all three players (himself and cohorts Dave Clarke and John Ullyatt) are relatively in touch with their spirituality. The show is not anti-spirituality and you don’t have to be a sinner to love it. In fact, a retired priest Moller met in line at last year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival made clear just how wide-ranging Mistero Buffo’s appeal could be. "He liked (Generic’s other) shows. He found them funny and really wonderfully offensive, but he didn’t have a context for them. Being a pastor, he loved the idea that there was something he could hook his beliefs into." Mistero Buffo has a cabaret appeal that Moller personally loves. He compares Generic’s brand of experimental theatre to Calgary’s One Yellow Rabbit. Expect music, too: guitar and percussion, as well as "balloons, squeaks and farts – you know, the usual.... The show incorporates music and movement and really, really wonderfully fucked-up ideas. That’s the attraction." |
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