Accidental Death of an Anarchist
ASSIGNMENT 3 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE Dario Fo Accidental Death of an Anarchist Anisha Khanna B.A.(H.) English Third Year
Q) The play ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’ makes use of farce and burlesque in order to question the accepted version of contemporary history. Discuss. ‘But everything must be done through irony.’1
-Dario Fo Dario Fo explores the play between power, truth and knowledge, delving into their relation with violence, through the theatrical devices of farce, burlesque, irony and slapstick comedy. [He once said] you could instead simply say, "To quote Fo..." "he once said " sounds quite informal., “Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible.” It is exactly this that he attempts to do through his plays. In Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Fo employs various theatrical devices to focalize and foreground the ‘truth’ as against the notion of it, widely propagated such that it is naturalized in the consciousness of all. Comedy, farce, irony and such other devices are so crucial to his plays because, he, much like Brecht, wants his audiences to think. These devices, amongst others, enable the audience to take a distanced stance and analyze what they are being presented with. The effect created and/or the thought process triggered by these devices surely stays for longer than an effect created by devices of naturalist or illusionist theatre that are aimed at imitation or mirroring the real. Fo’s grotesque jokes, however, stay with the audience. Since the aim of illusionist and naturalistic theatre is such, the spectator identifies and relates with the character, noticing no difference between the actor and the character, and leaves the theatre feeling but not thinking. Fo, working on the model of Brecht’s alienation effect, makes apparent that which is buried under multiple layers through its feature of jest. This act of thinking enables an exploration of the workings of power that suppresses
Q) The play ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’ makes use of farce and burlesque in order to question the accepted version of contemporary history. Discuss. ‘But everything must be done through irony.’1
-Dario Fo Dario Fo explores the play between power, truth and knowledge, delving into their relation with violence, through the theatrical devices of farce, burlesque, irony and slapstick comedy. [He once said] you could instead simply say, "To quote Fo..." "he once said " sounds quite informal., “Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible.” It is exactly this that he attempts to do through his plays. In Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Fo employs various theatrical devices to focalize and foreground the ‘truth’ as against the notion of it, widely propagated such that it is naturalized in the consciousness of all. Comedy, farce, irony and such other devices are so crucial to his plays because, he, much like Brecht, wants his audiences to think. These devices, amongst others, enable the audience to take a distanced stance and analyze what they are being presented with. The effect created and/or the thought process triggered by these devices surely stays for longer than an effect created by devices of naturalist or illusionist theatre that are aimed at imitation or mirroring the real. Fo’s grotesque jokes, however, stay with the audience. Since the aim of illusionist and naturalistic theatre is such, the spectator identifies and relates with the character, noticing no difference between the actor and the character, and leaves the theatre feeling but not thinking. Fo, working on the model of Brecht’s alienation effect, makes apparent that which is buried under multiple layers through its feature of jest. This act of thinking enables an exploration of the workings of power that suppresses
Bibliography: 1. Wing, Joylynn, “The Performance of Power and the Power of Performance: Rewriting the Police State in Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist”, Worldview Publications, 2011 2. Cairns, Christopher, “Introduction: Accidental Death of an Anarchist”, Worldview Publications, 2011 Good! 17/25 Pb.