Masquerade Theatre Company will stage Dario Fo’s criminally comical play Accidental Death of an Anarchist later this year.
The famous cold case of Giuseppe Pinelli will be re-opened with a twist by Masquerade Theatre Company next month, in a hilarious contemporary take on the explosive political farce, Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
Penned by Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo in 1970, Accidental Death of an Anarchist tells the story of the investigation into the death of a suspected anarchist following a fall from a fourth-floor police station window. Only one person can solve the mystery of whether Pinelli jumped or was pushed, and that unlikely detective happens to be a certified lunatic with a knack for impersonation.
“The play is an absurdist classic about institutional corruption. It is an exploration of thevarious people and organisations that are supposed to help and protect us, butsometimes don’t,” explains the play’s director, Ian Moore. “And although it was written in the 70s, it is still relevant today, highlighting that these institutions occasionally still don’t have the interests of those they serve at heart. This new adaptation is a glorious battle of the individual against the establishment, of underdog against overlord, of anarchy against tyranny.”
In a first for Malta, this classic farce which has a political sting in its tail will now be given renewed energy in the Masquerade production, with an all-female cast that is led by some of the country’s funniest comediennes.
Mr Moore hopes that approaching the subject from a female perspective might offer new insights. “The characters will retain the gender all but one of the six are men and I wanted to explore what institutional corruption within a system means to women. Mocking the bureaucracy from a lower status is a trope seen often in comedy, but rarely with a female perspective. Seeing female performers playing men has a great deal of comedic mileage, and the production offers an opportunity for new voices to be heard in familiar, albeit usually male, roles.”
The new production will feature an all-star cast led by Maltese favourite, Pia Zammit, who delighted audiences recently in Comedy Knights and in Stitching. She is joined by fellow top comediennes Antonella Axisa, Louiselle Vassallo, Maria Caruana, Gabriella Mendes and Samantha Gauci.
Booking is now open online for this cross-gender and criminally funny production, at www.masquerademalta.com.
Masquerade’s production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo will be staged at
Blue Box M Space, Oscar Zammit Street, Msida, on 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17 November 2019, with all performances starting at 8pm.
Tickets and more information are available online at www.masquerademalta.com.
