Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1984)

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Poster by Poster Designer

by Dario Fo

Directed by Malcolm Saunders

Sun 7th & Tues 9th - Sat 13th October 1984, Bell Theatre


Introduction

The action of the play takes place in a Milan police station.

Cast

Crew

Reviews

(The play) by Dario Fo, might be described as a farcical political satire with a dash of Keystone Cops thrown in.

At least that is how it looks in an unaccredited translation at S.L.T.C., as directed by Malcolm Saunders. Played to the original Italian, it might look very different.

It concerns the aftermath of the suspicious death of an anarchist, bey defenestration in a Milan police station: a somewhat South African style of exit under interrogation.

But the Milan setting and the Italian names need not fool us. As Inspector Betozz, Jeremy Ward makes his speaking piece pure Monty Python, and that team are never far away from the action theatre.

This action has its very funny moments, but gets less funny in proportion as it becomes more frenzied. The wild knockabout of the second act I found counter-productive, and the revolutionary point smade towards the end by the Maniac sat uneasily on the structure of the play as a whole.


Maniac? Well, yes, that's the name of the character played my Malcolm Archer. And very inventively he plays him, a screwball impersonator whose outward lunacy puts spoke after spoke in the wheel of a corrupt, venal system.

Meryl Jones plays the lady reported, supplying a cold note of realism to the general chaos. The remainder of the cast are all policemen - of a sort. James Lyne is the constable, Matthew Lyne the frenetic Inspector Pissani and Paul Valleau the sinister Superintendent, who sometimes brings a genuine chill to the proceedings.

I think this production would succeed better if the players slowed it down a bit.

Donald Madgwick, The Advertiser

Gallery

Reminiscences and Anecdotes

Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.

See Also

References

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External Links