Theater of Dario Fo Got a Chinese Revamp

Shanghai, the city of everlasting happenings, has lately been even luckier on classy events with Italian flavor. The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre welcomed a Chinese version of Dario Fo’s play «The open couple», that has been on stage until June 5th.  Dario Fo, who received a Nobel Prize in Literature, is equally masterful on stage as actor, playwright and theater director. He wrote «The Open Couple» in 1983 together with his wife Franca Rame, and it since been performed worldwide. Dario’s works explored hot topics, raising delicate questions so bravely, that for some time in the 60s he and his wife were banned from appearing on state TV and took their plays to the streets around Italy.

«The Open Couple» is centered around serious themes but is set up as a farce opening up marriage under the microscope of humor. The play is a whirlwind of different ideas about sex, politics, love and marriage, it amuses, entertains and keeps the audience guessing until the final act. The Chinese version of the play saw the light of day thanks to the efforts of Vertebrae Theatre Company in cooperation with the Italian Institute of Culture in Shanghai. The troupe of young theater translated contradictory feelings of the play with class under guidance of Li Qianpeng (李芊澎) and Jin Ye(金晔) , Wang Zichuan (王子川) brought a Chinese flavor into main characters.

 上海这座隽永的城市最近更幸运了，将会有意大利风格的优雅活动。上海话剧艺术中心迎来一个中国版的达里奥·福的话剧«开放夫妻»，话剧上演到6月5日。达里奥·福曾获诺贝尔文学奖，也是高超的舞台演员、剧作家和戏剧导演。1983年，他与妻子弗兰卡桢写成《开放夫妻》的剧本，在全球范围内引起关注。达里奥的作品勇敢地探讨热点话题，引发微妙的问题，对于在60年代有一段时间，他和他的妻子被国家电视台封杀，他们只能将作品带到意大利街头表演。

«开放夫妻»从微观视角展现了一场幽默的婚姻闹剧，其主题却是严肃的。该剧包含了人们对于性、政治、爱情和婚姻截然不同的看法，悬念重重，乐趣无穷，观众无法猜测剧情直到落幕。因为椎骨剧团与意大利上海文化学院合作才有了中文版的《开发夫妻》，这一天的演出，感谢了这一天的演出。在李芊澎、金晔、王子川的指导下，这个年轻的剧团翻译出剧作情感矛盾，给主要角色们增添了中国色彩。