Mistero Buffo
We are at a tipping point
Awards
Golden mask award for Best Actor, Art Trema Festival, Ruma, Serbia
Special Jury Award, Small Scene Festival and Monodrama, Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina
Audience Award, TIFBU Festival, Bugojno, BiH
Award for the Best Actor of 'Mladen Montenegro Button', Satire Days, Zagreb, Croatia
Award for the Best Monodrama, Festival of monodrama, Krapin spa, Croatia
Grand Prize, Be:femon-monodrama festival, Vienna, Austria
Special Recognition, Button Days, Zagreb, Croatia
Through the carnival that Dario Fo has written, we can define anew the status quo, the notion of order, of sacrifice,
the definition of actor, and of what is an audience.
Mr. Dario Fo is dead and gone, and so are the 60’s and the revolution. Or so we thought….Gilets jaunes, the 1%, the MeToo movement, the continued ban on birth control, abortion….? Mistero Buffo screams to step onto the planks and give intelligent comic form to the general rage of ‘we the people.’ As our very existence on the planet coughs its death throes, the politico/industrio/militario oligarchy continues to blow the smoke screen of distraction over the masses. But voices are raising and Dario Fo’s voice is just as razor sharp as ever.
Though each of the nine Comic Mysteries and the four Passion Plays are absolute pearls, The Birth of the Giulare, The Resurrection of Lazarus, and Boniface VIII seem to me to be the most crucial today.
The Birth of the Giulare is a brutal tale of loss and crushing authority. The entire existence of a poor innocent man is violently annihilated by the powerful. There is redemption since the Giulare is given birth through this misery. The Giulare holds up a mirror to heartless forces and makes us look at the state of humankind. Much like Saturday Night Live, Randy Rainbow, Jon Stewart, Steve Colbert, and countless more, the Giulare gives us the gift of laughter in the face of dystopia. Laughter elevates our state. Laughter sheds light on the unthinkable.
The Resurrection of Lazarus mocks the inability of the masses to understand divinity when it’s in front of their eyes. The insignificant takes precedence over the essential. Truth stands naked, yet there are cries of fake news. The relentless input of media, which is an unavoidable phenomenon, has dulled our capacity to discern what is vital.
Boniface VIII is a direct accusation of the Church for its absence of sanctity, its wealth and its power. The corruption, the ungodliness, the monetary interest, the unspeakable lack of holiness found in the Church, is losing the younger and more liberal generations. We are at a tipping point.
It takes a special kind of actor to allow the musicality and the efficiency of the text to exist as an entity. Mistero Buffo requires a supple corporal interpretation to play the various roles. It takes an actor with physical prowess and versatility, and the gift of the gab—the ability to speak with eloquence and aplomb. These are the qualities that describe Drazen Sivak, and I am certain that he is the actor to play this Mistero Buffo. Drazen’s speed, skill, and virtuosity are all I need to make it happen!
Lee Delong
PRESS COVERAGE
VISIONARY ACTING
Vecernji List, 10.03.2018
By Nataša GOVEDIĆ
…actor Dražen Šivak and director Lee Delong created “Mistero Buffo” by Italian writer Dario Fo. With this piece, values that define the actor not only as an “entertainer”, but as a deep social analyzer, mocker, enquirer, challenger, came to the Zagreb stage. Šivak is bursting with enthusiasm on stage, insisting that enthusiasm is a gift that can survive any political violence. And he is right…Šivak plays on empty stage, in basic brown pants and a white shirt, often with arms wide open, inviting the audience to come closer, consciously seducing, cheekily over courteous, only to twist it the next moment into a radical irony or even tragedy. An hour of this performance happens in one breath, and the enjoyment the audience experiences is, not only in actor’s skill of transformation, but in the way his celebration tone turns suddenly into its radical, critical opposite. Praise goes to Lee Delong who developed an original stage language with the actor….
GREAT MERIT
Novosti, 10.02.2018
By Bojan Munjin,
Great merit for this performance goes to American-French director Lee Delong who is also an actress. She performed in a French production of Fo’s “A woman alone” and was awarded Best Actress at the prestigious MESS festival of 2007 in Sarajevo. In the recent years she has been collaborating with Zagreb Triko Cirkus Teatar, leading theatre clown workshops and creating performances as a director.
In Zagreb, “Mistero Buffo” brought together the destinies of three people: an engaged genius writer, a patient and thoughtfully discerning director, and a subtle and dedicated actor. Someone said: intelligence, talent and freedom are the foundation of all good theatre.
INTERTWINNING HUMOR AND TRAGEDY
Jutarnjilist 10.02.2019
By Promo Objavljeno
Intertwining humor and tragedy, combined with constant contact with the audience, which is the seduction that clowns, harlequins, gamblers, and traveling actors employ, this versatile artist transforms….For the purposes of this play, actor Drazen Sivak will transform into over 30 characters.