Accidental Death of an Anarchist

What is it?

Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Morte accidentale di un anarchico) is a farcical play written by Italian playwright Dario Fo in 1970. It is based on real events surrounding the death of an Italian anarchist named Giuseppe Pinelli, who died of "accidental" circumstances while in police custody in 1969. 

The play is heavily influenced by Brechtian theatre, it uses slapstick, humour and farcical situations to criticise the police force and to make many political points related to the death of Pinelli. The play was also influenced by commedia dell'arte a common form of Italian theatre. lots of characters in ADA are influenced by the stock characters from commedia.

Historical Context

on 12/12/1969

 a bomb exploded in the national agrarian bank in piazza Fontana. the bomb killed 17 people and injured 88. three more bombs were found and detonated on the same afternoon with a fourth being found unexploded. the police immediately claimed the attacks were caused by the anarchists which led to 80 arrests including Giuseppe Pinelli.

Pinelli was a railway worker and was politically active during the anarchist movement three days after his arrest, 15/12/1969 Pinelli fell from a window on the fourth floor of the Milan police station. the accounts of how he fell were contradictory and were described as "accidental". Many years later Pinelli was found innocent of his crimes as the New-fascist group Ordine Nuovo took the blame.

Bertozzo:

section for each character 

what is interpretation how am i gonna play him

what am i thinking about bertozzo characteristics

how is he interpreted by the audience

key moments

ideas 

ADA work 03/032025

 themes to focus on:

1) Reform vs Revolution - Feletti vs Maniac

2) Fear and Submission - strategy of tension

3) Corruption

4) Madness - is the Maniac actually mad or is the world around him mad?

5) Truth and Illusion - `key messages is the idea of lies/illusion that police officers try to create, to protect            themselves. Maniac creates a lot of illusion to expose other things.

6) Layers of Reality - we never learn what the truth is

7) Class oppression - people not of middle class were seen as lower, the person they decided to blame was lower class = perfect scapegoat.   

key moments - what theme they relate to 

moment 1) truth and illusion

moment 2) madness truth and illusion

moment 3) madness 

moment 4) fear and submission

moment 5)

moment 6) corruption, fear and submission 

moment 7) truth and illusion 

moment 8) class oppression corruption

moment 9) madness fear and submission