ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST. To 6 December.
Tour.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST
by Dario Fo adapted by Deborah McAndrew.
Northern Broadsides Tour to 2008.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 6 November at Liverpool Playhouse.
If you didn’t laugh, it would be serious.
Nearly four decades on, Dario Fo’s political farce is still going strong. But, as what? Broadsider Deborah McAndrew’s new version plays as fast and loose as most. Rightly so; this isn’t a word-for-word classic, but a scenario, a structure in which the lunacy within hierarchical structure is blown apart by that of anarchic comedy.
There was an Anarchist - ironically a railway-worker, used to keeping to the tracks - and he did fall (or was pushed) from a high window in a police station. But that was Italy, 1970 and once-hot news, or controversy concealed, has lost immediacy.
But dossiers on the incident were clearly dodgy, quite probably sexed-up too. With access to shredders and delete buttons, such cover-ups have become quicker fixes than ever. And the age of Abu Ghraib and data-bearing technology left lying around can do with the exposure of laughter over official deviousness and institutional incompetence.
Through his Maniac, who’s political awareness takes on a brilliantly inventive madness as ideas ricochet round his synapses, Fo shows how a little chaos can cause a hefty organisation to collapse. His other main points are the way society covers up, using the media and finally resorting to the ‘bad apple’ theory of damage limitation.
McAndrew freewheels through the plot nodes, importing a very modern, very British concern with surveillance. Her piece begins in wild anarchy as Michael Hugo’s Anarchist outsmarts various police officers. There are rapid-fire visual and vocal gags, before things settle down to the issues at hand. While there’s plenty of lunacy left, the piece reflects the old problem of popular political theatre: having given the audience an opening bout of revels, there’s an inevitable slowing of pace when the serious stuff begins.
Still, she charts a verve-filled journey through the lunacy of politics and policing. Hugo’s Maniac, smiling conspiratorially at the audience, leading other characters on with persuasive voice, and those around him live up to Broadsides’ reputation for upfront performance. A pity the end doesn’t have the decision-making tension of some versions, but a deliberate visit to this touring show is well worth while.
The Maniac: Michael Hugo.
Detective Inspector Bertozzo: Anthony Hunt.
Constables 1 and 2: Matt Connor.
DCI (The Guv): Neil Caple.
Detective Inspector Pisani: Craig Rogan.
Maria Feletti: Ruth Alexander-Rubin.
Director/Composer: Conrad Nelson.
Designer: Dawn Allsopp.
Lighting: Richard G Jones.
Movement: Adam Sunderland.
Choreography: Beverley Norris-Edmunds.
2008-11-13 23:27:35