ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST. To 29 April.
Bolton.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST
by Dario Fo translated by Simon Nye.
Octagon Theatre To 29 April 2006.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 22, 26 April 2pm.
Audio-described 26 April 7.30pm.
BSL Signed 27 April.
Post-show discussion 11 April.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.
TICKETS: 01204 520661.
www.octagonbolton.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 April.
Fruitful fun till almost the very end.
The question ‘Did he fall or was he pushed?’ hardly needs answering in Italian political dramatist Dario Fo’s best-known play. Fo started with a real-life event, an Italian anarchist’s ‘jump’ from a police-station’s high window. The incident sparked off Fo’s finest fury, a comic cascade of contempt and political analysis.
He creates a mad world where the forces of law order a society which, as the play explains, eases its cramped joints by shifting around in indignation when occasional scandals reach the media, leaving the body politic where it was. Which suits those in authority just fine.
Where such things constitute sanity, it takes a madman to reveal the truth. Hence the maniac who invades the police-station in this play, disguised as a high-court judge apparently helping the police invent better lies for a new investigation into the anonymous anarchist’s death.
Told By An Idiot’s Paul Hunter is just the person to direct this piece. Fo’s crazy Commedia capers find admirable reflections in Hunter’s offbeat style, perfectly realised by his cast. And in particular Niall Ashdown’s madman, who emerges through the floor via a bin full of shredded documents. Smart but casually dressed, Ashdown looks the picture of middle-class sanity. This helps him take various corrupt policemen into wildly extravagant territory, to the point where he’s crazily dressed, sporting fake limbs and leading officialdom a merry dance, exposing them to everyone around (aka the audience).
Yet there’s clear logic to his reasoning, as to his asides. The result is all the madness ends heaped on the society these policemen represent. Hunter throws in tricks of his own, including comic business with doors: one a mere frame, one solid, and another solid but opening into air on designer Naomi Wilkinson’s high platform, which isolates the police from society (though it causes a few sightline problems).
Simon Nye’s version seeks to apply Fo’s material to more general corruption (and a topical reference to bird ‘flu). Rightly; such comedy should adapt to remain relevant. I only regret a weakened ending, drawing heavily on Gogol and Priestley, in place of the nail-biting, decision-demanding original.
The Maniac: Niall Ashdown.
Journalist: Annie Fitzmaurice.
Inspector: Michael Hodgson.
Chief Superintendent: Martin Hyder.
Constable: Dharmesh Patel.
Berttozzo: Simeon Truby.
Director: Paul Hunter.
Designer: Naomi Wilkinson.
Lighting: James Farncombe.
Sound: Andy Smith.
2006-04-10 15:21:47