Accidental Death of

an Anarchist

Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Italian:

Morte accidentale di un anarchico) is a play
by Italian playwright and Nobel Prize for
Literature winner Dario Fo. Considered a
classic of 20th-century theater, it has been
performed across the world in more than
forty countries, and based on the 1969
Piazza Fontana bombing and its related
investigations and influences.[1]
 Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Cover of a 2004 Italian edition of Morte

accidentale di un anarchico

Written by Dario Fo

Characters Maniac
Inspector Bertozzo
Inspector Pissani
The Superintendent
Maria Feletti
Date premiered 5 December 1970
Place premiered Capannone di Via
Colletta, Milan

Original language Italian

Subject Police corruption; the

death of Italian
anarchist Giuseppe
Pinelli

Genre Political farce

Setting Central Police

Headquarters, Milan

Plot
A 2009 production of the play at The Doon School in

India

The play opens with Inspector Francesco

Bertozzo interrogating a clever, quick-
witted and mischievous fraudster, simply
known as the Maniac, in Bertozzo's office
on the third floor of the police
headquarters in Milan. The Maniac
constantly outsmarts the dim-witted
Bertozzo and, when Bertozzo leaves the
room, intercepts a phone call from
Inspector Pissani. Pissani reveals to the
Maniac that a judge is due at the police
station to investigate the interrogation and
"accidental" death of the anarchist, whilst
the Maniac pretends to be a colleague of
Bertozzo's and telling Pissani that
Bertozzo is "blowing a raspberry" at him.
The Maniac decides to impersonate the
judge, Marco Malipiero, an opportunity he
has been waiting a while for, and to
humiliate the policemen responsible for
the "accidental" death. After Bertozzo
reenters his office, the Maniac is forced
out of the office, taking Bertozzo's coat
and hat to use in his disguise. Bertozzo
chases him, running into Pissani, who
punches him in retaliation for "blowing a
raspberry" at him.

The Maniac, now impersonating Malipiero,

finds Pissani and his lackey, the Constable,
in the room where the anarchist was
during his interrogation. Telling them that
he is Malipiero, the Maniac asks for the
Superintendent, who was involved with the
interrogation with Pissani and the
Constable. The Maniac orders the three
policemen to re-enact the events of the
interrogation; in turn fabricating many of
the events, such as changing beating the
anarchist to making jokes with him,
incorporating new lines into the transcript
and even breaking out in song. When the
investigation reaches the matter of the fall,
the Constable reveals he grabbed the
anarchist's shoe, in an attempt to stop him
from falling. However, the Maniac notes
that witnesses reported that the anarchist
had both shoes on. When Pissani
surmises that the anarchist was wearing a
galosh, the Superintendent breaks into a
rage, making Pissani accidentally reveal
that the Superintendent pushed the
anarchist out of the window. The two
policemen then realise that the Maniac
was listening. The phone in the office
suddenly rings, which Pissani answers. He
tells them that it is a journalist called
Maria Feletti, whom the Superintendent
agreed to meet to clear rumors about the
interrogation, wanting to come up to the
office.

As the presence of Judge Malipiero would

endanger them, the policemen tell the
Maniac to leave for the time being.
Instead, the Maniac intends to disguise
himself as a forensic expert from Rome,
Captain Piccini. The Maniac leaves the
office. Feletti nearly exposes the three
policemen, until the Maniac reenters, as an
extravagantly-dressed amputee. The
Maniac manages to concoct a story on
how the anarchist died: one of the
impatient policemen hit the anarchist in
the neck, an ambulance being called; the
anarchist then being led to the window for
fresh air, and pushed accidentally out of
the window due to uncoordinated balance
between the two policemen leading him to
the window. Feletti is unconvinced, noting
how the death of the anarchist was
reported by the police to be a suicide,
opposed to their original comment that it
was "accidental". Bertozzo suddenly
enters, delivering a replica of a bomb from
another anarchist attack. Bertozzo
partially recognises the Maniac, as he
knows Captain Piccini, but is dissuaded by
Pissani and the Superintendent. Feletti
begins to pick out the inconsistencies in
the policemen's stories, and showing that
anarchists in Milan are mainly fascists, not
actual revolutionaries.

Bertozzo realises that "Piccini" is the

Maniac, after seeing his coat and hat on a
stand. Bertozzo, holding the policemen at
gunpoint, orders Feletti to cuff the three
policemen; getting the Maniac to show
them his medical records, exposing him as
a fraud. The Maniac reveals a tape
recorder, which he used to record Pissani
and the Superintendent's tirade, exposing
their crime. The Maniac strips off his
disguise, making him recognizable to
Feletti, who identifies him as Paulo
Davidovitch Gandolpho, the "Prose
Pimpernel of the Permanent Revolution"
and "notorious sports editor of Lotta
Continua". Revealing that the bomb replica
can in fact work, setting it off on a timer,
the Maniac has Bertozzo join his fellow
policemen. Feletti attempts to stop the
Maniac, citing the Maniac as an
"extremist" and "fanatic". The Maniac,
instead of killing her, offers her an
ultimatum: save the four corrupt
policemen, acquitting them and the
Maniac will be put behind bars; or leave
them to die for their crime and unwittingly
join the extremist movement as an
accomplice. The Maniac then leaves to
spread the recording.

The Maniac then addresses the audience,

showing what the scenario entails. When
Feletti leaves them, the four policemen die
in the resulting explosion. However, the
Maniac then offers the second result:
sticking to the rule of law, Feletti releases
them, but is chained to the window by the
policemen when they realize that Feletti
knows what they did. The Maniac then
leaves the audience to decide which
ending they prefer.

Adaptations and legacy

Its Hindi adaptation, Bechara Mara Gaya,[2]
was made into a film.[3] Another earlier
adaptation, Dhool Me Lipta Sach, ran in
Pune.[4]

Ed Emery translated an authorised English-

language version of the play.[5]

A sequel, Pum pum! Chi è? La polizia!

(Knock Knock! Who's There? The Police!),
followed. Semiotician Umberto Eco
commented favourably on the sequel in a
weekly column in L'Espresso.[6]

See also
Strategy of tension
References
1. Mitchell 1999, p. 101.
2. Of mistaken identities and utter
chaos . 2015-03-28.
3. Rajendran, Nuvena (13 January 2014).
"A Political Parody!" . Deccan
Chronicle.
4. "Nothing accidental about it" . Pune
Mirror. 16 May 2009. Archived from
the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved
28 September 2011.
5. Fo, Dario. Accidental Death of an
Anarchist, trans. Ed Emery, in Dario Fo:
Plays One, Methuen Books, London,
1988.
 . Mitchell 1999, pp. 121–122.

Bibliography
Mitchell, Tony (1999). Dario Fo: People's
Court Jester (Updated and Expanded).
London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-73320-3.

Further reading
A Study Guide for Dario Fo's 'Accidental Death
of an Anarchist'. Gale, Cengage Learning.
2016. ISBN 0-7876-8119-9. ISSN 1094-9232 .
Chimwenje, Joe (2005). " 'Bringing pus to the
surface': Dario Fo and the dramaturgy of
irreverence" . Journal of Humanities. 19 (1):
19–38. ISSN 1016-0728 .
Maher, Brigid (2011). "Playing for Laughs:
Satire, Farce and Tragedy in Dario Fo".
 Recreation and Style: Translating Humorous
Literature in Italian and English. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 51–76.
ISBN 978-90-272-2438-5.
Niccolai, Marta (2017) [1970].
"Domestication as a political act: The case of
Gavin Richards's translation of Dario Fo's
Accidental Death of an Anarchist". In Brodie,
Geraldine; Cole, Emma (eds.). Adapting
Translation for the Stage. London: Routledge.
pp. 173–185. ISBN 978-1-315-43680-7.
Review on BBC website

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