Saturday 24th June 2023, matinee
Being big fans of Tom Basden, we were pretty excited when we saw that he was going to be adapting Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Dario Fo and Fraca Rame’s play, originally premiered in 1970. It’s a marriage made in heaven, with Basden’s unerring ability to tap into timeless tropes while making them feel completely up to date.
We recommend a strong shot of coffee (or preferred stimulant) for this one, and whatever the cast are on, we want some. The pace and energy of this show will leave you breathless, and we can’t recall seeing a farce that was so unremittingly…….farcical.
We can just imagine the look of delight on Daniel Rigby’s face when he heard he was going to be playing ‘The Maniac’. He is having an absolute ball with the part, just as the character, who as a serial impersonator suddenly finds himself with the role of a lifetime when he ‘decides’ to impersonate a judge to get to the bottom of the mysterious death in custody of a suspect. His banter with the audience and sheer physical energy, perfectly executed, are a joy to behold.
Rigby is ably abetted by another of our favourite actors, Tony Gardner, whose mastery of passive aggression is legendary, is put to good use here as a character who is so unaware of his own corruption that he has to be constantly reminded when he blatantly lies in front of members of the public. His constant mantra of ‘I wasn’t there’ for example is belied in the final act by the obvious fact that he was handcuffed to the radiator. The mild-mannered and slightly irritated manor in which he receives correction is the perfect compliment to Rigby’s manic antics.
Tom Andrews as Detective Daisy is a willing and equally unhelpful accomplice with his puppy-like impulsivity as the two of them enthusiastically dig themselves deeper into the hole they have created.
Maybe our caffeine reserves were running low, but we did find it a little difficult to keep up in the second half, as the madness rapidly unraveled into chaos. Having said that, this is meant to be a farce and clarity is definitely not a priority. Daniel Raggett’s direction is tight, with not a single extraneous piece of action.
Sadly there is also a serious undertone to this new adaptation, which was in part done to highlight the still disturbingly high numbers of deaths in custody in the UK right now, which is certainly no laughing matter. At the end of the play we were given details of Inquest, an organization set up to investigate such deaths.
rageoffstage 