''Archangels Don't Play Pinball'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
title: ''Gli arcangeli non giocano al flipper'') is a 1959 two-act play by
Dario Fo
Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...
. The play uses the metaphor of a
pinball
Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
machine—a new innovation in Italy at the time and one which Fo and his wife
Franca Rame
Franca Rame (18 July 1929 – 29 May 2013) was an Italian theatre actress, playwright and political activist. She was married to Nobel laureate playwright Dario Fo and is the mother of writer Jacopo Fo. Fo dedicated his Nobel Prize to her. ...
were fond of— to convey
mechanisation
Mechanization (or mechanisation) is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. In an early engineering text, a machine is defined as follows:
In every fields, mechan ...
and
conspicuous consumption
In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen c ...
.
[
]
Plot summary
A group of young Milanese men play a prank on one of their group - "Lofty". They arrange for a fake marriage to take place between Lofty and 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 with the lovely lady there with him. Archangels don't play pinball with people's lives.
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.[Mitchell 1999, p. 67] It would later be the theme tune to the TV programme ''Canzonissima
(; ) was an Italian musical variety show broadcast by Rai 1 from 1958 to 1975, aired on Saturday evenings except for the last two editions, which were aired on Sunday afternoon. The program has been referred to as "the synthesis and paradigm of ...
'' which the playwright, Dario Fo, makes a controversial appearance on.
Translations
Ed Emery has carried out an authorised English translation.[Fo, Dario. ''Archangels Don't Play Pinball'', trans. Ed Emery, Methuen Books, London, 1987. Online version at http://www.geocities.ws/dariofoarchive/archangels.html]
Further reading
*
References
{{Dario Fo
Plays by Dario Fo
1959 plays