Peter Kent-Baguley

The burdens and blunders of bureaucratic power

I went to the New Vic theatre last night to see Halifax based Northern Broadsides' production of Dario Fo's 1970 comic, satirical, and poignantly timeless Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the New Vic Theatre. Deborah McAndrew has brilliantly translated and transposed the play to England from Italy. Fo had been inspired by an actual death of an anarchist in police custody. His characters attempt various webs of deceit to conceal and deny their terrible involvement but this is no ‘70s raw, crude, in-your-face agi-prop political drama. Like Lear's Fool, the Maniac exposes and expresses extremes, stretching reality to imaginative limits, then letting go, dropping "his" characters back into their awkward, awful predicament, only to embark on yet another creative cover up!  As long as we tolerate the burdens and blunders of bureaucratic power, Fo's witty and incisive expose will both entertain and evoke reflection on the inequalities and iniquities of power.

The tour ended this evening in Stoke-on-Trent but it moves on to the Mart Theatre, Skipton (20-22 Nov), Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough (25 Nov - 20 Dec), The Stables, Milton Keynes (23 Dec - 11 Jan) and then the Greenwich Theatre, London (13-18 Jan). If you can reach any of those venues you will be guaranteed a 5* experience.