Accidental Death of an Anarchist Themes

Accidental Death of an Anarchist satirizes a remarkable chapter from the political turmoil of 1960s Italy: after a deadly bomb attack on a major Milan bank, the police detained and interrogated an anarchist activist, who died mysteriously after falling out of the police station window. The official investigation labeled the death an accident, but many activists and intellectuals suspected foul play on the part of the police. In Fo’s play, a “certified psychotic” and…

Accidental Death of an Anarchist mostly shows the Maniac infiltrate the Milan police headquarters, make fools of the police officers, and uncover the truth about the anarchist’s death. But in its closing minutes, the play takes a dramatic turn. The Maniac reveals that he is not actually a “certified lunatic” with a knack for impersonating bishops, psychiatrists, and judges, but rather a left-wing activist who has been impersonating a lunatic in order to secretly…

Accidental Death of an Anarchist is full of characters whose personal and professional lives don’t quite align: the bumbling police officers, the righteous journalist Maria Feletti, and of course the multi-talented Maniac, who convincingly impersonates professionals from bishops and army captains to surgeons and High Court magistrates. Fo’s critique of labor is clearest of all in his police officers. Even though they spend their days torturing activists, the policemen are not right-wing fanatics—in…