As a young man, Dario Fo, the author of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, was reluctantly conscripted into Mussolini’s army towards the end of the war, but escaped and hid in an attic and then helped his father play a key role in the Resistance during the Second World War, smuggling Jewish scientists into Switzerland. Accidental Death of an Anarchist is based on a true life story that happened in 1969 about an Anarchist taken into police custody and who ‘accidentally’ fell to his death. The police denied any force involved and Dario Fo, ever the champion of the underdog, wrote a farce exposing the police corruption.
To say that Dario Fo, playwright and political activist with side ambitions to be the mayor of Milan, had a dramatic life is a vast understatement. He was a very prolific Italian playwright creating controversy and a big European following with plays like Accidental Death of an Anarchist and, probably his best known work, Non Si Paga! Non Si Paga! (Can’t Pay! Won’t Pay!) In his life he wrote over seventy plays, many of which have been translated into numerous languages. This theatrical canon makes him one of the most widely recognised playwrights of his time. The Nobel prize for literature was given to him in 1997. His works were described as written by one who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scouring authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.
Morte accidentale di un anarchico was first written by Fo and his collaborating wife Franca Rame in 1970 and this version playing at The Lace Market Theatre has been adapted into English by Tom Basden and Basden has moved the location and time of the action into contemporary Britain. Jamie Goodliffe directs this razor-sharp hilarious and farcical production with masterful expertise. Photographer Grace Eden has documented Accidental Death of an Anarchist and her well chosen images bring out the cartoonish and manic nature of the piece.
It is a brilliant cast who bring great talent and energy to the Lace Market Theatre stage tonight and until Saturday 27th June. The cast are: Dan Janes (Maniac), Joe Foster (Burton), Mark Anderson (Superintendent), Luke Willis (Daisy), Raymond MacDonald- Hulme (Joseph) and Phyllis Ruse (PC Jackson and Phelan). Most of the cast are new to the Lace Market Theatre stage and it is highly encouraging that such high quality local talents are drawn to this superb amateur theatre venue.
Dan James gives an exhausting (in a good way) performance as the Maniac who is on stage pretty much for the whole performance and whose character morphs into a variety of other strong and wacky roles throughout the play. Janes’ acting is totally professional and he has the great fortune to be surrounded and supported onstage by the brilliant ensemble of Foster, Anderson, Willis, MacDonald -Hulme and Ruse. This is one of the the most competent and electric comedy ensembles to grace the Lace Market stage in many a decade of very respectable amateur comedies. Bravo a tutto l’ensemble e al regista.
I applaud the directorial choices to pepper the piece with some Italian phrases and song which I feel gives Italian life and art, plus praises and honours the original work. The whole production is a cripplingly funny dish well served with a spicy antipasto of stark political and social reality thrown in at the finale and definitely deserves to sell out this week.
