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Archangels Don't Play Pinball

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Written by
  
Dario Fo

Author
  
Dario Fo

3.5/5
Goodreads

Originally published
  
1959

Original language
  
Italian Language

Similar
  
Dario Fo books, Other books

Archangels Don't Play Pinball (Italian title: Gli arcangeli non giocano al flipper) is a 1959 two-act play by Dario Fo. The play uses the metaphor of a pinball machine—a new innovation in Italy at the time of and one of which Fo and his wife Franca Rame were fond— to convey mechanisation and conspicuous consumption.

Contents

Plot summary

A group of young Milanese men play a prank on one of their group - "Lofty". They arrange a fake marriage to a prostitute, who pretends to be a beautiful Albanian princess. Lofty has a problem - he needs to get identity papers from the Ministry. The only way he can do this is to become a dog. He is taken into a local kennel, where he is eventually bought by a circus owner. After various further adventures, Lofty eventually awakes, only to find that it has all been a dream. But the lovely lady is still there with him. Archangels don't play pinball with people's lives.

Song

The play is also noted for its use of song. One example is "Stringimi forte i polsi" (Hold my wrists tightly together) which the protagonist Il Lungo (Stretch) sings to an "Albanian" prostitute whose wrists he is bound to. It would later be the theme tune to the TV programme Canzonissima.

Translations

Ed Emery has carried out an authorised English translation.

References

Archangels Don't Play Pinball Wikipedia