PIP Theatre’s Queensland-flavoured production of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist, adapted from the translation by Ed Emery, turns the force of Fo’s ferocious wit onto local history.
Accidental Death of an Anarchist follows a quick-witted Maniac who has been brought in for questioning after impersonating a psychologist. Producing medical records that declare he is insane, and therefore cannot be prosecuted, the Maniac is soon wreaking havoc across multiple levels of the police station in a series of disguises as the policemen fall over themselves in an effort to maintain the status quo.
The original play premiered in Italy in 1970, inspired by the 1969 bombing in Milan’s Piazza Fontana and the death of anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli in police custody. After being brought in for questioning about the terrorist attack, Pinelli was seen to fall from a fourth-floor window of the Milan police station – the police claimed it was a suicide and initial legal proceedings ruled it an accident, although many believed he was killed during an interrogation.
This PIP Theatre adaptation by Deidre Grace (who also starred as the Maniac) and Helen Strube (who was also the production’s dramaturg) included a new ending, and recontextualised the whole play for Queensland in the lead-up to the 1987 Fitzgerald Inquiry. Presided over by Tony Fitzgerald, the full title of the judicial inquiry was The Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct. The inquiry ended up taking two years, and the findings resulted in the resignation of long-standing Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen and saw three former ministers and the Police Commissioner jailed, among other things.
Translated to English by Ed Emery and transplanted to Brisbane by Grace and Strube, the play’s razor-sharp commentary on the interconnectedness of corruption, suppression, power, and money transcends language and location. Where Fo’s original was set in Milan, this new production was filled with local references that flit across time and space, from the secondary bomb being planted in Yeppoon to mentions of the Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing. There were themes of history repeating itself, and the forgetting that precedes repetition of a pattern.
Directed by Calum Johnston, Accidental Death of An Anarchist was physically dynamic and incorporated dance, slapstick comedy, and other exaggerated movement (including impressive, repeated falls by Isaiah Harrison to represent the titular event). Cross-gendered casting and elements of drag added to the sense of ludicrous caricature-style characters, and of performance and facades. The only exception was Greg Scurr as the hapless and harried Inspector Louis, seemingly the only ‘straight’ cop and the one who eventually noticed the Maniac’s antics ensnaring (and incriminating) his colleagues.
Costume design by Adelaide Lukin piled countless comical disguises and props upon the Maniac, from an assortment of prosthetic limbs to a judge’s wig made from a mop head. Lukin drew inspiration from Queensland Police uniforms of the 80s for the other characters, and there were impressive false moustaches aplenty.
Deidre Grace was magnetic as the Maniac in his many guises. She adopted the increasingly absurd characterisations with utmost seriousness, her movements sharp and lively and her eyes alight with mischief. Rebel Star played a gruff and frequently exasperated Superintendent Biscoff and Izabela Wasilewska was a swaggering, leather-clad Detective Hallaran, frequently wide-eyed with rage or concern. Dana Summer played the eager-to-please PC Sherbert (a dual character, demonstrated through split costuming), who was often left unsupervised to dance or compose a “duet” with himself to great comedic effect. In addition to his highly physical role in the first half, Isaiah Harrison played a skeptical journalist who arrived in the second half to interview the Superintendent over the death of the anarchist.
Set design by Laurent Milton surrounded the action inside the police station with high walls and winked to Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland in the details, such as brown paper bags of bribe money strewn across the station, an electric paper shredder labelled “Complaints”, and a framed portrait of the former Premier that was kissed and genuflected to. Lighting design by Noah Milne and sound design by Peter van Brucken brought further depth to both the emotion and comedy of the play, furthering the absurdism in many scenes and incorporating some iconic Australian music.
While the play has historically allowed the viewer to decide on an ending for themselves, Grace and Strube’s adaptation finished on a note of sombre certainty. The Maniac delivered a final monologue, supported by projections, reflecting on the statistics and facts of deaths in police custody in Australia, the disproportionate representation of First Nations people in that number, and what this means for the nation and its ideals.
A comic rendering of corruption and violence, Accidental Death of an Anarchist contains enough prolonged and escalating buffoonery that the audience is lulled by the comedy and eventually hit over the head by the reality of what they have witnessed. Grace and Strube’s new ending spoke directly to the Australian context (and Australian audiences), the bureaucracy of (in)justice, and the state of modern democracy.
As cutting and clever as it was chaotic and camp, PIP Theatre’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist was an excellent modern adaptation that captures the light and the dark of the original material while applying its ideals and critique to a new context.
Accidental Death of an Anarchist was performed at PIP Theatre, Milton, from 23 July – 2 August 2025
For further information, visit the PIP Theatre website
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