Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

An Anarchist has fallen to his death from a police station window. The question is: did he jump or was he thrown? 

As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter is arrested and brought in for questioning. Seizing the chance to put on a show, he leads the officers in an ever more ridiculous reconstruction of their official account, hilariously exposing the cover-ups, corruption, and profound idiocy at the heart of the police. 

Accidental Death of an Anarchist premiered over 50 years ago and was initially based on the true story of  Giuseppe Pinelli, who was wrongly arrested for carrying out a terrorist attack in 1969 and thrown from a police station window while being questioned.  The original play covered the inquest into his murder with every line taken directly from the police interviews.  This new version could easily be a historic piece but Tom Basden has expertly adapted this for a modern time turning this political farce into a hilarious yet striking piece on the state of contemporary policing.

The box staging puts the audience at a distance as if looking into a complete room.  It is a style of staging that is used a lot currently in West End theatres, yet it is used to great effect here, not least because it is immediately turned on its head when The Maniac addresses the audience directly and brakes the fourth wall by throwing part of their costume through it.  Similarly, the text throughout is full of side-eyed winks and nods to the audience, sometimes more literally than others.

This is a show that all hangs on the strength of the actor playing the lead character, The Maniac, here played by Daniel Rigby.  If the audience isn’t won over by this performer or they can’t fully commit to the rather out-there and bizarre nature of this character the whole show falls apart.  Thankfully we are in safe hands here as Rigby commands the role perfectly, bringing the slapstick, silly and unexpected aspects of this character out whilst also remaining charming for the audience.

This show remains strongly a farse, its laugh-out-loud funny and unashamedly silly, yet its more serious moments and comments on the real-life statistics and facts around British Police are timely and important.  They are presented very effectively here.  The contrast comes as a shock at times which is exactly as it is intended.  The show ending on the final shocking statistic of the number of deaths in police custardy really pushes the message home to the audience.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist is on at the Royal Theatre Haymarket until the 9th of September, tickets cost £18 and can be bought from the London Theatre Direct website.

Tickets were gifted in exchange for a review, all words and opinions are my own.  Contains affiliate links