An irrepressible fraudster known only as the Maniac is brought into Police Headquarters just as the officers are preparing for a judicial review of the recent 'accidental' death of a suspect in custody. Outwitting his captors, the Maniac dupes them into performing a farcical recreation of the incident, exposing the absurd corruption and terrifying idiocy at the heart of the system. Dario Fo and Franca Rame's riotous satire has been widely performed around the world since its premiere in 1970. Tom Basden's acclaimed adaptation was first performed at Sheffield Theatres in 2022, directed by Daniel Raggett, and starring Daniel Rigby as the Maniac. The production transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in 2023, before moving to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End.

A new translation of Fo's play which aims to be faithful to the clear-sighted insanity of the original. The author's other plays include "Mistero Buffo", "Trumpets and Raspberries" and "Archangels Don't Play Pinball".

Fo's subversive drama is based on a true-life story: a prisoner falls from a window at police headquarters which triggers a chain of events exposing the judicial and police corruption of 1970s Italy.

This is the first extended treatment of the English translations, stagings, and reception of the political plays of Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Focusing on the United Kingdom and the United States, Stefania Taviano offers a critique of the cultural stereotyping and political conservatism that have pursued these playwrights in translation and argues for the possibility of remaining true to Fo and Rame's political commitment while preserving the comic nature of their plays. Taviano shows how the choices made by the translators and stagers of Fo and Rame's political theatre reveal attitudes toward foreign cultures and theatre generally and Italy in particular. Among the questions she poses are 'What characterizes the process of acculturation that takes place when political theatre is transposed from one culture to another?' 'To what extent are images of foreign literary production affected by dominant translation practices and theatre traditions?' Perhaps most important, 'What constitutes political theatre in a given society, and how are such definitions used to categorize and contain theatre texts that are disturbing, challenging, and difficult to stage?' Her book concludes with an investigation of the meaning of Fo and Rame's political theatre today that points the way for future critical studies of the politics behind the translation and stage production of political theatre outside its culture of origin.

The first and only full-length critical study of Dario Fo, the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature Winner This book, now extensively rewritten and updated, remains the only full-length critical study to cover various phases of Dario Fo's theatrical career. It looks at Fo's political influences and also the influence on his work of various theatrical motifs, including the great clown traditions which stretch back to the middle ages. The political work of Dario Fo and his wife/collaborator Franca Rame is charted from the 1960s up to the present to give the reader clear insight into this playwright/performer's unique literary and theatrical strengths. Each of Fo's plays and productions is discussed at length and the author has included an extensive and updated bibliography which includes full production details, quotes and writings about Fo. Always a popular performer in his native Italy, Fo has been one of the world's most performed dramatists. In the author's words: he is the "people's court jester".

‘There is no one-volume book in print that carries so much valuable information on London and its history’ Illustrated London News The London Encyclopaedia is the most comprehensive book on London ever published. In its first new edition in over ten years, completely revised and updated, it comprises some 6,000 entries, organised alphabetically, cross-referenced and supported by two large indexes – one for the 10,000 people mentioned in the text and one general – and is illustrated with over 500 drawings, prints and photographs. Everything of relevance to the history, culture, commerce and government of the capital is documented in this phenomenal book. From the very first settlements through to the skyline of today, The London Encyclopaedia comprehends all that is London. ‘Written in very accessible prose with a range of memorable quotations and affectionate jokes...a monumental achievement written with real love’ Financial Times

This cutting-edge collection, born of a belief in the value of approaching ‘translation’ in a wide range of ways, contains essays of interest to students and scholars of translation, literary and textual studies. It provides insights into the relations between translation and comparative literature, contrastive linguistics, cultural studies, painting and other media. Subjects and authors discussed include: the translator as ‘go-between’; the textual editor as translator; Ghirri’s photography and Celati’s fiction; the European lending library; La Bible d’Amiens; the coining of Italian phraseological units; Michèle Roberts’s Impossible Saints; the impact of modern translations for stage on perceptions of ancient Greek drama; and the translation of slang, intensifiers, characterisation, desire, the self, and America in 1990s Italian fiction. The collection closes with David Platzer’s discussion of translating Dacia Maraini’s poetry into English and with his new translations of ‘Ho Sognato una Stazione’ (‘I Dreamed of a Station’) and ‘Le Tue Bugie’ (‘Your Lies’).