Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Morte accidentale di un'anachico in its original Italian), is a satirical slapstick comedy by Dario Fo, inspired by real events in 1969, when a bomb was set off in the National Agricultural Bank in Milan. The explosion killed 16 people and injured 88. After the explosion, the police arrested around 80 Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists. The individual of note here is Francisco Pinelli, an Anarchist. Pinelli was taken in for questioning, and at some point during his questioning, he fell from the fourth-floor window of the Milanese police headquarters to his death on the pavement below. The police report on Pinelli's death claimed that it was accidental, but it soon came out that this death was a murder. The newspaper Lotta Continua soon accused police inspector Luigi Calabressi of orchestrating Pinelli's murder. Calabressi responded to this by taking Lotta Continua to court, suing for defamation. It's this death, and the court case surrounding it, that forms the background to Accidental Death of An Anarchist.

Fo himself went out of his way to update the script as more and more allegations came out regarding Calabressi, as the trial progressed.

"Bertozzo: I ought to warn you that the author of this sick little play, Dario Fo, has the traditional, irrational hatred of the police common to all narrow-minded left wingers and so I shall, no doubt, be the unwilling butt of endless anti-authoritarian jibes."
 * Author Tract: Fo is very unsubtle in his message about police corruption.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Inspector Bertozzo at the beginning of the play.

"Superintendent: (Name of actor who is playing the part) This isn't Dario Fo!"
 * Commedia Dell'Arte: The show's style is a combination of this and Brechtian abstraction.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: The Maniac, who is highly intelligent, but incredible at impersonation, and is frequently confused with the people he's impersonating.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Maniac.
 * Master of Disguise: The Maniac.
 * Noodle Incident: Subverted. The incident involving the titular Anarchist falling to his death is explained to the audience in the opening. The reference to said incident does, however, make far more sense if you understand the historical context of the play.
 * No Name Given: The Maniac.
 * No Fourth Wall: One translation acknowledges the fact that the translator added in some of their own dialogue.


 * Only Sane Woman: Miss Maria Feletti, a journalist.
 * Overly Long Name: Inspector Francesco Giovanni Batista Giancarlo Bertozzo of the Security Police.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: The Maniac dons these throughout the play, in order to screw with the police.
 * Police Are Useless: Subverted; the police are competent, but incredibly corrupt. They're only rendered completely useless because The Maniac keeps outsmarting them.
 * Posthumous Character: The titular Anarchist.
 * Smart People Wear Glasses: The Maniac is described as wearing a pair in the stage directions.
 * The Trickster: The Maniac.