Franca Rame was a revered Italian actress, playwright and feminist, whose militant left-wing politics saw her elected to the Italian Senate.
She was also the wife of Dario Fo, the 1997 Nobel Prize winner for literature, who in calling Rame his muse, dedicated and shared his medal with her. She collaborated with the writing and production (although she was not always credited) of many of Fo’s plays, in many of which she was also his leading lady.

Joseph Farrell is Professor Emeritus in Italian of the University of Strathclyde
(Glasgow, Scotland). He has written widely on Italian, especially Sicilian, culture and theatre history. Among other works, he is author of Leonardo Sciascia
(Edinburgh University Press, 1995) and Dario Fo and Franca Rame: Harlequins of the Revolution (London, Methuen, 2001). He is British translator of Dario Fo, and has translated several plays and film scripts. He has also produced editions of Fo’s
Accidental Death of an Anarchist , Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author , and of Goldoni’s Servant of Two Masters all for Methuen, London. He was theatre critic for The Scotsman (1980 – 1995). He is a frequent contributor to radio arts programmes both in London and Scotland, and reviews regularly for several newspapers, including The Herald and The Times Literary Supplement.
Non è tempo di nostalgia
Franca Rame con Joseph Farrell , DellaPorta editori, Pisa
As figlia d’arte, Franca Rame came from the heart of the Italian theatre tradition, and in the interview she gave which makes up this book, the last interview she was able to do, she discusses her family, her meeting with Dario, their work together, her political views and her experience late in life as senator. She and Dario formed a lasting partnership as man and wife, as actors and playwrights, as activists on a range of social and political issues. However, Franca Rame was a major figure and major talent in her own right, and not only as the wife and collaborator of Dario Fo. She herself did not make it easy to identify her contribution to the work of Fo, or Fo-Rame, although in his funeral address for his wife he admitted that her part not only in performance but in the creation of their plays had been greater than had previously been recognised. She talks freely in this work.
Joseph Farrell, Ledizioni editori, Milan
The biography of Fo/Rame in English ( Dario Fo and Franca Rame: Harlequins of the Revolution ) was published in 2001 and ends with the award of the Nobel prize to Fo in 1997. The Italian version was published this year and takes the story up to the death of Franca in 2012. The title was chosen by the publisher, but reflects the book’s aim to focus not only on the life and theatrical production of the couple but also their involvement in the political life in Italy and their campaigning for social reform.
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 11 Fitzwilliam Square East, Dublin 2 www.iicdublino.esteri.it - iicdublino@esteri.it -
Tel. (01) 662 0509 / 662 1507— Fax (01) 676 6716
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!