Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Encyclopedia
Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Italian
title: Morte accidentale di un anarchico) is perhaps the best-known play
by the Nobel Prize
winner Dario Fo
.
based on events involving a real person, Giuseppe Pinelli
, who fell - or was thrown - from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. He was accused of bombing a bank (the Piazza Fontana bombing
).
The events of the play itself, however, are fictional. The play opens with Inspector
Bertozzo interrogating The Mania
c, a histrionic
character, on the first floor of the police station. The Maniac, however, constantly outsmarts the dim-witted Bertozzo and, when Bertozzo leaves the room, intercepts a phone call from Inspector Pissani. The phone call lets the Maniac know that a judge
is due at the police station
to investigate the interrogation and death of the anarchist. The Maniac decides to impersonate the judge, and successfully does so. He gets the police to re-enact the events, in the actual fourth floor room, and also involves a woman journalist
who is trying to probe the events.
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
title: Morte accidentale di un anarchico) is perhaps the best-known play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
.
About the play
The play is a farceFarce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
based on events involving a real person, Giuseppe Pinelli
Giuseppe Pinelli
Giuseppe "Pino" Pinelli was an Italian railway worker and anarchist activist, who died in the custody of Italian police in 1969 after being arrested. Pinelli was a member of the Milan Circle "Ponte della Ghisolfa". He was also the secretary of the Italian branch of the Anarchist Black Cross...
, who fell - or was thrown - from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. He was accused of bombing a bank (the Piazza Fontana bombing
Piazza Fontana bombing
The Piazza Fontana Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969 at 16:37, when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88...
).
The events of the play itself, however, are fictional. The play opens with Inspector
Inspector
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...
Bertozzo interrogating The Mania
Mania
Mania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
c, a histrionic
Histrionic personality disorder
Histrionic personality disorder is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriately seductive behavior, usually beginning in early...
character, on the first floor of the police station. The Maniac, however, constantly outsmarts the dim-witted Bertozzo and, when Bertozzo leaves the room, intercepts a phone call from Inspector Pissani. The phone call lets the Maniac know that a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
is due at the police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
to investigate the interrogation and death of the anarchist. The Maniac decides to impersonate the judge, and successfully does so. He gets the police to re-enact the events, in the actual fourth floor room, and also involves a woman journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who is trying to probe the events.
Major productions
- Accidental Death of an Anarchist was first staged by Dario Fo on December 5, 1970 in VareseVareseVarese is a town and comune in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 km north of Milan.It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto.- Geography :...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.This production toured Italy playing to audiences totaling more than a million by theatre group, Collettivo Teatrale La Comune. - An English translation was published by Suzanne Cowan in Theater Magazine in 1979, and led to subsequent productions in Minneapolis in 1982.
- In 1980, the play was staged in BritainUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
at the Wyndham's TheatreWyndham's TheatreWyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It had a highly successful run in the heart of London's theatreland, from 5 March 1980 to 24 October 1981. The production was nominated for a highly prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. - In 1983, British television adaptation, which mixed the original Italian setting with contemporary references to ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's BritainUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
aired on Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
,. Starring Gavin RichardsGavin RichardsGavin Richards is a British actor, writer and director. His father is music critic Denby Richards, emeritus editor of Britain's oldest classical music magazine, Musical Opinion....
as Maniac, directed by Alan Horrox and Gavin Richards. - On February 9, 1984, a stageTheatreTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
adaptationAdaptationAn adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
by Richard NelsonRichard Nelson (playwright)Richard Nelson is an American playwright and librettist. He wrote the books for the musicals James Joyce's The Dead and the Broadway version of Chess.-Personal life:Nelson was born in Chicago, Illinois....
, directed by Doug Wager, opening at Arena StageArena StageArena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest Washington, D.C. Its declared mission"is to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics...
in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. The show made it to BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
starring Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
and Patti LuPonePatti LuPonePatti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
in 1984, but closed after 20 performances and 15 previews. - In January, 1987 " Accidental Death of an Anarchist" was adapted to Sinhala. The play was performed in Sri Lanka and it was adapted and directed by Vijitha Gunaratne for the Movement for releasing political prisoners. The play was titled " Saakki" , starring Gamini Hatthotuwegama as Maniac.
- In May, 1997, the play was performed in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, by director Arvind GaurArvind GaurArvind Gaur , Indian theatre director, is known for his work in innovative, socially and politically relevant theatre. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political issues...
for Asmita Theatre, DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. Adaptation in HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
as Operation Three Star by Amitabh Srivastava of National School of DramaNational School of DramaNational School of Drama is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India, established . It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and became an independent school in 1975...
, starring Piyush MishraPiyush MishraPiyush Mishra is an Indian film and theatre actor, music director, lyricist, singer, scriptwriter.-Early life and education:He spent his early life in Gwalior, where he received his education...
as Maniac. - In 1998, a Chinese language adaptation was brought to Beijing by China's most influential stage director, Meng Jinghui.
- In 2003, a new translation by Simon NyeSimon NyeSimon Nye is an English comic television writer, best known for creating the hit sitcom Men Behaving Badly, writing all of the four ITV Panto, co-writing the 2006 film Flushed Away, co-writing Reggie Perrin and creating the latest adaption of William Brown in the Just William CBBC...
was performed at the Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
theatre, London, starring Rhys IfansRhys IfansRhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...
Directed by Robert Delamere. - In 2005, a new version preserving the original Italian setting was directed by Luca Giberti at the Oxford Playhouse theatre, Oxford, UK, with Brian Stewart playing the Maniac.
- In 2008, the play was adapted in Urdu and performed by 'DRAMALINE', the dramatic society of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). The 5 day production took place at Al-Hamra Hall in Lahore and attracted a great audience. The play was titled 'Marta Kya Na Karta'.
- The play was performed in a new English translation and contemporary updating in the Stephen Joseph TheatreStephen Joseph TheatreThe Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain....
, Scarborough, by the Northern BroadsidesNorthern BroadsidesNorthern Broadsides is a theatre company formed in 1992 and based at Dean Clough Mill in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The founder and artistic director is Barrie Rutter. The company performs in Halifax and on tour, a mix of Shakespeare and other productions. Music is specially written for...
company, in November 2008. - Swatantra Theatre's an adaptation of Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist, delves into the murky side of the police force
- In 2009 the Sydney Theatre Company performed this play.
- In 2011 the play was performed by The Lahore Grammar SchoolLahore Grammar SchoolLahore Grammar School is a group of private fee-paying group of academic institutions based in city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The system was established, in January 1979, at its 55 Main Gulberg campus. The institution provides education to both boys and girls until A Level...
(PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
), changing the background events to the Sialkot Killings. - Also in 2011 it was performed at HIFA (Harare International Festival of the Arts) but the bombing had been changed from a bank to a train station in Zimbabwe, and other parts had been changed slightly as well to suit a Zimbabwean audience.