Fo pas in San Francisco Essay Example For Students

Fo pas in San Francisco? Essay For Perloff and ACT, it was out of the ethnic frying pan and into the theological fire You couldnt imagine a pair of less conspicuous protesters. Stationed at the narrow entryway of the Marines Memorial Theatre in San Francisco, the two middle-aged men in suits and ties politely, almost shyly, handed out pamphlets to patrons on their way in to see the American Conservatory Theatre production of Dario Fos The Pope and the Witch. But the text of the proffered four-page booklet, expensively printed on heavy cream-colored bond, told a more impassioned story. Written by Wade C. Hughan, a longtime ACT subscriber and president of a church-sanctioned lay group called Catholics for Truth and Justice, the essay roundly bashed ACT for putting on a play which, in Hughans words and emphases, at heart attacks the Church and the Faith of over 800 million people and ridicules the current Pope. That was only one of the many salvos fired in a public flap that raged for weeks in San Francisco, catching up the citys Catholic Archdiocese, the local theatre community and private and corporate arts funders. The conflict embroiled new ACT artistic director Carey Perloff and associate director Richard Seyd in a controversy they never anticipatedand one that seemed curiously tangential to the production itself. The fuss was by no means the first episode in Carey Perloffs baptism by fire. The former head of New Yorks Classic Stage Company assumed artistic control of San Franciscos largest nonprofit theatre last spring, and soon after found herself ensnared in the many-tentacled embrace of the citys highly schismatic, very complicated, extremely tempestuous cultural body politic. Apparently no one had alerted Perloff ahead of time that San Franciscans of various allegiances will rush en masse to the barricades at the first provocation, the least suspicion of inequity or insult. They do it as a matter of honor and principle, but also because crying foul is almost a regional sport. And maybe Perloff didnt realize how quickly one controversy can spawn another in a city that has an historic flair for insider scandals, and a conservative tradition as strong as its better-publicized radical one. (Consider David Belascos production of a Passion Play in the laissez-faire 1870s, which aroused the ire of many churchmen and led to a city ordinance banning any portrayal of Jesus Christ on local stages for the next 50 years.) Perloffs imbroglio began several months ago, when she cut a planned production of Ken Ludwigs Broadway farce Lend Me a Tenor from the 1992-93 season roster. ACT company members (African Americans and others) objected to a scene in which two white opera singers don blackface makeup to appear in Verdis Otello. The play cancellation immediately drew sharp criticism from those who felt Perloff had capitulated to political pressure, and praise from others for racial sensitivity. Outline1 Dismay from the pulpit  2 A throng of orphans3 Cut the Italian politics  4 Waving a red flag   Dismay from the pulpit   But in July, Perloff leapt from the ethnic frying pan into the theological fire when she announced Tenor would be replaced with the American premiere of The Pope and the Witch. Fos agitprop fantasia, translated for ACT by San Francisco Mime Troupe playwright Joan Holden, concerns a holy father who suddenly embraces the idea of birth control and heroin legalization. The pontiffs change of heart is triggered by a mind-bending encounter with an unorthodox woman healer, who ministers to the poor by performing illegal abortions and supplying addicts with drugs. After Perloffs announcement, a guest editorial by Wade Hughan in the San Francisco Chronicle called ACT to task for a very selective cultural sensitivity along lines currently politically correct. Other Catholics also protested, and in October, San Francisco Archbishop John R. Quinn joined the chorus. From the pulpit of St. Marys Cathedral he expressed dismay over a wave of cultural expressions he labeled defamatory attacks on Catholicism. He cited the irreverent lampoon of Christianity in Gore Vidals new novel, Live From Golgotha, Irish pop star Sinead OConnors defiant rip-up of a Pope John Paul II photo on TVs Saturday Night Live, and the Fo play, which he said portrayed the pope as something of a lunatic. From Sendak's kitchen: the author and illustrator has cooked up a hearty menu for children EssayAs is her specialty, translator Holden worked in quips about current U.S. affairs whenever she couldi.e., Bush calling the Pope after the American election to ask what happened to the miracle he ordered. But fearing that audiences would be unfamiliar with Italian politics, Holden excised the plays original references to the scandal linking the Vatican bank with Mafia drug traffic. Without that, Fos satirical thrusts seem diffused and somewhat arbitrary, and the final scene of conspiracy and assassination is not fully motivated. But even if the bank scandal had been left in The Pope and the Witch, this Fo play would probably not have traveled well to the U.S. (It apparently found a warmer reception in England.) Its not a question of whether the script offends anyone; of course it does, just as The Merchant of Venice will always bother some Jewish viewers, Lend Me a Tenor may continue to raise hackles, and some Catholics still arent wild about Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. But Fos comedy is no ad hominum attack on Catholicism, nor a personalized mugging of a spiritual leader. It criticizes the Vatican as a corporation, and challenges some social directives that have been hotly debated within the Church itself. Waving a red flag   There must be a reason why The Pope and the Witch could be performed by Fo and his charismatic wife-partner Franca Rame in Italy, on state-subsidized television, without a murmur of protest from the Vatican or the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic citizenry. Id venture it has to do with an acceptance of Fo as a theatrical clown sanctioned, expected, encouraged to lampoon and demystify his countrys most omnipotent institutions. That is the role Fo has carved for himself over a long, prolific, often controversial career, and it is one he continues to play to the hilt. But it is not the position ACT, well known in the past for its rendition of classics and stylish comedies of manners, has occupied in San Francisco. If ACT decides to add blunt, topical social criticism to its mix, subscribers may need some help to make the shiftand the theatre should be prepared to wave goodbye to the ones who wont. That doesnt mean that Perloff and the new ACT will have to avoid offending anyone at all costs. But the Vatican is the Vatican is the Vatican. And this Pope (though Fo does not call him John Paul II and in Hoyles reading, he did not sport a Polish accent) is hard not to confuse with The Pope. In ethnically hypersensitized San Francisco, where the new mayor is an Irish-American ex-police chief and the president of the Board of Supervisors hails from a large, entrenched Italian-American political community, the Pope and the Witch is nothing if not a red flag. Nevertheless, ACT can look on the bright side: Only four subscribers took up the offer to exchange their tickets for another show; fund-raising has (so far) been unaffected by the conflict; and for the first time in years ACTs repertoire was a hot topic of discussion at Bay Area breakfast tables.