On The Italian Stage: Lu Santo Giullare Dario Fo 1

The Beginning: The Many Homers & the Cunto
Long before books and theaters, there were storytellers.

In ancient Greece, the many ‘Homers’ traveled from town to town, keeping audiences spellbound with stories of gods, heroes, battles, love, and human destiny. Their art was not simply about the words they spoke, but about how they spoke them: rhythm, breath, pauses, sound, repetition, and the physical relationship with the audience all became part of the story.

Centuries later, this ancient tradition found a powerful echo in Sicily through the Cunto, a highly theatrical form of oral storytelling used to recount the adventures of knights, kings, princesses, and legendary heroes.

Participants will explore the histories of ancient Greek storytelling and of the Cunto. We will also analyze the structure of a Cunto, listen to examples from some of its greatest masters, and experiment with transforming stories—including stories created in the moment—into performance.

What does it mean to tell a story? And why, thousands of years later, are we still captivated by the same ancient art?
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Dario Fo’s birth, this four-part series takes participants on a fascinating journey through the history of storytelling—from the traveling storytellers of ancient Greece and the Sicilian Cunto, to medieval jesters, Shakespearean fools, the oral traditions of Italian villages, and finally the extraordinary gramelot made famous by Fo.
Through stories, demonstrations, historical anecdotes, and hands-on exercises, participants will discover how the storyteller uses voice, rhythm, breath, language, gesture, imagination, and the relationship with the audience to transform words into theater.