1997: Waking up by Franca Rame and Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo

Waking up by Franca Rame and Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo.  The Fo Festival at The Street Theatre Studio, September 3 - 13, 1997.

    The Franca Rame - Dario Fo Company has, since the 1950's, taken their plays of social criticism to the towns and working people of Italy, using pantomime and commedia dell'arte traditions to amuse, educate people in the skills of social analysis, and rouse people to action in the face of corruption and social control by powerful elite groups.

    Waking Up is a short, humorous yet ultimately sad study of a working woman who forgets that Sunday is her day off.  Anna Voronoff creates a warm, attractive character using excellent mime and voice skills.  She is tuned in to Rame's theatrical style: we hear and feel the message.

    Accidental Death is a surrealist very funny romp through a story of police corruption, based on a real case of an anarchist's supposed suicide by leaping from the fourth floor window of a police station.  Fo's aim is to show that police are corrupt because they are an arm of the law of a society essentially based on corruption.  At least that's what his anarchist character says: he doesn't end up committing suicide.  Newspaper reporters get it in the neck in this play, and I'm not sure where theatre critics stand.

    The performers from the Ugly Duckling Theatre Company are not all as skilled as Anna Voronoff in Waking Up, but they clearly understand the style and purpose of this kind of theatre and the energy rarely flags.

    The Fo Festival is under the banner of the Tuggeranong Community Arts Association, bringing together Ugly Duckling (hatched by the John Oakley / Ian Phillips drama classes at the old Stirling College) and the professional arts/theatre collective Canberra Independent Artists.  The Rame-Fo plays suit these performers and the times are perhaps ripe for Canberra audiences to appreciate themes of social awareness and conscience.

    I may be accused of politicising my review, but Fo would shoot me down if I didn't.  I can only say if you think a package is the answer to your workplace relations, then you should see these plays and make up your own mind.

© Frank McKone, Canberra