Accidental Death Of An Anarchist

20 Sep 2005 in Dance & Drama

Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, 13 September 2005

LtoR: Anita Vetesse, Andrew Murray, Sean Hay, Jim Byars in Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

BORDERLINE THEATRE has a long and honourable history with the plays of Dario Fo. In 1985, the left-wing Italian farceur even attended the company’s production of ‘Trumpets and Raspberries’, starring Andy Gray, and yelled his approval in one word: “Carnivale!”

Back in those days, Fo’s plays – in earthy Scots translations – tuned in to the mood of the nation and proved tremendously popular. More recently, companies have found it harder to make a winning combination out of Fo’s comic anarchy and political finger-pointing – perhaps because the audience’s appetite has change in these post-devolutionary times. The more repressed a nation feels, the more liberating Fo’s plays appear.

If Anna Newell’s production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist doesn’t – and probably couldn’t – have the juggernaut force of those hits of old, it is nonetheless an enjoyable romp that has topical repercussions even 26 years after it was written.

Inspired by the true story of an anarchist who was found dead after allegedly jumping voluntarily from the window of the police cell where he was being interrogated, the play satirises the way corrupt police forces cover up their violent methods with poorly constructed lies.

Disguising himself as a sympathetic though erratic investigating judge, our hero is a self-styled “madman” who traps an inspector and superintendent into admitting complicity in the death of an innocent suspect.

Fo’s trick is to place an anarchic voice of reason in the centre of an authoritarian regime that has lost sight of how insane it has become.

Translator Joseph Farrell suggests that the play might remind us of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian man mistakenly shot dead by police in London. Certainly, the contradictions and cover-ups are chillingly familiar. But on a wider level, you think also of the abuses of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and the way hysteria can replace diligence at the threat of a suicide bomber.

Strange as it seems, Fo makes all this funny. His trick is to place an anarchic voice of reason in the centre of an authoritarian regime that has lost sight of how insane it has become. Expertly performed by Alan McHugh, this madman is a joyful subversive, using quick-witted mirth instead of righteous anger to unseat the powerful. He grins his way through a series of increasingly preposterous costume changes, knowing that it is the police – who symbolise the warped power of the capitalist state – who look the more preposterous as a result.

It’s not a definitive production, but strong performances by Rod Young, Sean Hay, Jim Byars and Andrew Murray, all treating their deceitful dilemma with due seriousness, ensure a pacy and polemical performance.

Accidental Death of An Anarchist can be seen at Inverness Royal Academy on 6-7 October 2005.