Plot
Accidental Death of an Anarchist, a play by Italian playwright Dario Fo, is based loosely on real-life
events involving the Italian rail worker and anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli, who died under mysterious
circumstances while in police custody in 1969. Pinelli, accused of the notorious Piazza Fontana
bombing, was cleared of the charges after his death. The events that led to Pinelli’s death have never
been revealed, and Fo’s intention is to depict a fictionalized version of the aftermath, through the actions
of a scheming con man known only as the Maniac. The play explores themes of political corruption,
repression, the nature of truth versus illusion, class struggle, and the conflict between reformers and
revolutionaries. Accidental Death of an Anarchist is Fo’s most acclaimed and famous play, having been
staged across the world since its premiere in Milan in 1970.
As Accidental Death of an Anarchist opens, Inspector Francesco Bertozzo is interrogating a clever,
sneaky fraudster who is only known as the Maniac. The setting is Bertozzo’s office on the third floor of
Milan’s police headquarters. The Maniac consistently outwits the simple-minded Bertozzo, and when the
Inspector leaves the room, he intercepts a phone call from Inspector Pissani. Through this call, he finds
out that a judge is coming to the station to look into the recent death of an anarchist while in police
custody. The Maniac pretends to be a co-worker of Bertozzo’s and tells Pissani that Bertozzo is mocking
him.
The Maniac then impersonates the judge, Marco Malipiero, as a way to humiliate the policemen
responsible for the supposedly accidental death. Taking Bertozzo’s coat and hat as a disguise, he leads
the inspector on a chase, but Bertozzo is stopped when Pissani punches him for his supposed insult.
The Maniac, now in the guise of Judge Malipiero, finds Pissani and his sidekick the Constable. They are
in the room where the anarchist died, and the Maniac tells them he is the judge. He asks for the
Superintendent, who was also involved in the interrogation, and demands the three men reenact the
interrogation. They fabricate many of the events, turning it into a farce where the three of them act as if it
was a friendly conversation rather than a tense interrogation. When the conversation turns to the
anarchist’s fall from the third floor, the Constable claims he grabbed the anarchist’s shoe to keep him
from falling. However, the Maniac notes that witnesses saw the anarchist had both shoes. Although
Pissani suggests that it may have been a galosh, the Superintendent gets angry and Pissani slips up,
revealing that the Superintendent pushed the anarchist out the window. The phone suddenly rings, and
Pissani answers. A journalist named Maria Feletti wants to meet with them to clear up some rumors
about the interrogation and the death.
Worried that the presence of “Judge Malipero” would make them targets, the policemen tell the Maniac
to leave for now. This gives the Maniac the chance to disguise himself again, this time as a Roman
forensic scientist named Captain Piccini. Feletti presents the policemen with evidence that might expose
them, and this is when the Maniac enters again, disguised as a well-dressed man supposedly missing
an arm.“Piccini” comes up with a story about how the anarchist may have died, with a policeman
accidentally injuring him, the anarchist going to the window for fresh air, and being accidentally pushed
out by the clumsy policemen. Feletti is skeptical, given that it was originally reported as a suicide.
Bertozzo arrives, bringing with him a replica of a bomb from an anarchist attack. Bertozzo almost
recognizes the Maniac, but Pissani and the Superintendent dissuade him. Feletti starts picking apart the
flaws in the stories, proving that the anarchists in Milan are actually fascists, not anarchist
revolutionaries.
Bertozzo, seeing his coat and hat, realizes that the Maniac is in disguise. He holds the other policemen
and the Maniac at gunpoint, ordering Feletti to cuff them. He manages to expose the Maniac, but the
Maniac reveals a tape recorder that proves the policemen were lying and exposes their role in the
anarchist’s death. He strips off his disguise to reveal his true identity, Paulo Davidovitch Gandolpho,
also known as the “Prose Pimpernel of the Permanent Revolution.” He reveals that the bomb replica is
functional and sets it on a timer. Feletti attempts to stop him from killing the policemen, calling him an
extremist and a maniac. He tells her she can save them and put him in prison, or she can leave them to
die for their crimes and join him as an accomplice. He then leaves to spread the recording. The play
ends as the Maniac turns to the audience, telling them that if Feletti leaves the policemen, they die.
However, if she saves them, they take her prisoner because she knows too much. He asks the audience
which ending they prefer.
Dario Fo
- Heavily inspired by the Commedia Dell’Arte
