Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Rick Roberts, Ins Choi, Kawa Ada, Raquel Duffy & Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Soulpepper shakes up another classic play this season with a distinctly Canadian production of Italian playwright Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Fo's political farce is inspired by the true events surrounding railwayman and anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell (or was thrown) to his death from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. In this madcap version, director Ravi Jain sets the action in Toronto, swapping out Italian associations for timely references to Stephen Harper, the G20 summit, Rob Ford and Jian Ghomeshi.

The investigation takes a hilarious turn when a Madaman (played by the versatile Kawa Ada) fools Inspector Bertozzo (Oliver Dennis) Inspector Park (Ins Choi), Constable 1 (Paul Sun-Syung Lee), Constable 2 (Daniel Williston) and the Chief (Rick Roberts) into revealing the ugly truth about their actions in the presence of a Journalist (Raquel Duffy).

Accidental Death of an Anarchist gets huge laughs while exploring meaningful questions about the abuse of power in our society. Jain's highly physical production embraces slapstick and breaks the fourth wall in unexpected ways. Ada carries the show as the frenetic Madman—a master of manipulation and disguise—impersonating several characters including a judge, a one-legged commissioner with an eye patch and a fake hand, and a priest. Also notable are the performances of Choi, Roberts and Williston—their spirited rendition of "Solidarity Forever" had the crowd cheering wildly on opening night.

Visit soulpepper.ca for more information and to buy tickets.

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Q&A: Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Ravi Jain on directing a Canadian production of Dario Fo's political satire