Production Images Released For The West End Production Of Daniel Raggett’s Adaptation Of ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST

Written by Dario Fo and Franca Rame in a new adaptation by Tom Basden

Directed by Daniel Raggett

New production images have been released for the West End transfer of Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Adapted by Tom Basden, and directed by Daniel Raggett, the production is currently running at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, which is owned by Access Entertainment, for a strictly limited run until 9 September. Press night is on 26 June, and is in partnership with charity, Inquest. 

The cast includes Daniel Rigby (Maniac), Tony Gardner (Superintendent Curry), Tom Andrews (Detective Daisy), Mark Hadfield (Inspector Burton), Ro Kumar (Agent Joseph), and Ruby Thomas (Fi Phelan). 

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. 

The understudies will be played by Joe Boylan, Georgina Hellier and Richard Hodder.

Playful Productions presents the Sheffield Theatres and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist

Written by Dario Fo and Franca Rame in a new adaptation by Tom Basden

Directed by Daniel Raggett

Theatre Royal Haymarket

0207 930 8800

Tickets from £15

12 June – 9 September 2023

Press night 26 June at 7pm in partnership with Inquest

Audio described performance 25 July

Captioned performance 1 August

Biographies
Dario Fo (Writer) an Italian actor-author. His stage career began with political cabaret, moved on to one-act farces, and then to satirical TV and in Italy’s major theatres. In 1968, he broke with conventional theatre to set up a co-operative dedicated to producing politically committed work in what were then known as ‘alternative venues’. His best known work, including Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Mistero Buffo and Trumpets and Raspberries, dates from this period. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997, and the official citation the Swedish Royal Academy stated that he had ‘emulated the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.’ 

Franca Rame (Writer) founded the Theatre Company of Dario Fo Franca Rame alongside her husband in 1958 (Compagnia Teatrale Dario Fo Franca Rame). Her writing includes The Rape (1975), Open Couple (1983), Let’s Talk About Women (1991), Steal a Bit Less (1992), Sex? Don’t Mind if I Do (1996) and Mother Peace: Let Mothers Decide About War (2005). Franca Rame collaborated on all Dario Fo’s works. In the 1970s she founded ‘Red Aid’ and in 1988 the ‘Nobel Committee for the Disabled’. From 2006-8 she was a Senator of the Republic of Italy. Rame and Fo published A Sudden Life (Guanda 2009), Escape from the Senate (Chiarelettere 2013) and A Forgotten Callas (Panini 2014).

Tom Basden (Adaptor) is a three-time BAFTA-nominated writer. His work for theatre includes Party (Sydney Festival and Arts Theatre), Joseph K (Gate Theatre), There Is a War (National Theatre), Holes (Edinburgh Festival and The Arcola) and The Crocodile (Manchester International Festival). He has also won an Edinburgh Comedy Award for his stand up shows. On screen, he writes and stars in the sitcoms Here We Go for BBC1 and Plebs for ITV2, and is a regular cast member in After Life for Netflix. He has also written episodes of Peep Show, Fresh Meat and The Wrong Mans. For Radio 4, he has made two series of the sketch show Cowards, three series of his sitcom Party and four series of Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme.

Daniel Raggett’s (Director) work includes The Vortex at Chichester Festival Theatre and Anna X by Joseph Charlton, which he directed as part of Sonia Friedman’s 2021 RE:EMERGE season in the West End. The critically acclaimed production starred Golden Globe Award-winner Emma Corrin in the title role and was broadcast on Sky Arts. He directed Tom Basden’s adaptation of Accidental Death of an Anarchist for Sheffield Theatres and the Lyric Hammersmith, and adapted and directed Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice for the Gate Theatre (Nominated for Best Director, Off West End Awards). He has also worked extensively as an associate director on productions at the National Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway, including on West Side Story (Broadway) and Network (Broadway/National Theatre). He was nominated as an Emerging Talent at the 66th Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2022. 

Tom Andrews’ (Detective Daisy) theatre credits include Our Country’s Good (Guthrie Theatre US and No1 tour), Revengers Tragedy (National Theatre), Cyrano De Bergerac (Chichester Festival Theatre), Major Barbara (National Theatre) and Forever House (Theatre Royal Plymouth). Film includes: The Strays and Showtrial. Television includes: This England, Afterlife, We Hunt Together, Feel Good, Sister Boniface, I Hate Suzie, The Thick of It and Plebs.

Tony Gardner (Superintendent Curry) previously performed in Accidental Death of an Anarchist at Sheffield Theatres. Other theatre credits include Bang Bang! (Theatr Clwyd), The Lie (Menier Chocolate Factory), Around the World in 80 Days (St James Theatre), The Rivals (Bath Theatre Royal/UK tour/Theatre Royal Haymarket), Bedroom Farce (Rose Theatre/Duke of York’s Theatre), Where There’s A Will (UK tour) and Struck Off and Die (Edinburgh Fringe). His television credits include The Larkins, Gentleman Jack, Last Tango in Halifax, Not Going Out, Lead Balloon, Fresh Meat, The Thick of It, My Parents are Aliens, Bluestone 42, Death on the Tyne, Innocent, Lovesick, Back, Doctor Who, Unforgotten, Death in Paradise, Young Hyacinth, The Tracey Ullman Show, Tripped, Stella, The Escape Artist, Gates, New Tricks, MI High, Moving Wallpaper, May Contain Nuts, Love Soup, Bremner Bird and Fortune, Jekyll, Lenny Henry in Pieces, Cold Feet, Dark Ages, People Like Us, Lee Evans – So What Now?, Wonderful You, Barking, Sunnyside Farm, Grown Ups, Crossing the Floor, Smith and Jones, Joking Apart and Drop The Dead Donkey. His film credits include Horrible Histories – The Movie, Cockneys Vs Zombies, Mad, Sad and Bad and Back Home. 

Mark Hadfield’s (Inspector Burton) theatre credits include Notes From a Small Island (Watermill Theatre), Dmitry (Marylebone Theatre), Sydney & The Old Girl and The Weatherman (Park Theatre), Vanya and Masha and Sonya and Spike, Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, Man & Superman and Don Juan (Bath Theatre Royal), Pinocchio, Therese Raquin and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (National Theatre), Road (Royal Court), The Libertine (Bath/Haymarket Theatre Royal), Richard III (Almeida), The Painkiller (Garrick Theatre), The Meeting and Matchbox Theatre (Hampstead Theatre), Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), Jeeves and Wooster: Perfect Nonsense (Duke of York’s Theatre), Singing in the Rain (Palace Theatre), Uncle Vanya (The Vaudeville Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Nuffield Theatre), Peter Pan (West Yorkshire Theatre), The Lion King (West End), The 39 Steps (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Donkey’s Years (No. 1 Tour), Duchess of Malfi, Volpone (Greenwich Theatre), Into the Woods (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), Rookery Nook, Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory), Cymbeline, Henry VI: Open Rehearsal, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Talk of the City, The Seagull, Twelfth Night, The Canterbury Tales, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tamburlaine (RSC). Film includes: Belfast, Football Monologues, Girls Night Out, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, In the Bleak Midwinter, Felicia’s Journey, A Cock and Bull Story and Hamlet. Television includes: Outlander, Maigret, The Vice, Foyle’s War and Doc Martin, From the Cradle to the Grave, The Wyvern Mystery and People Like Us, Trollied, Wallander, and Headless.

Ro Kumar’s (Agent Joseph) theatre credits includes: About Money (Park Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, and Theatre503). Film includes: We Should Do This Again Sometime. Television includes: Casualty, The Diplomat and Traces Series 2.

Daniel Rigby (The Maniac) is a BAFTA Award-winning actor and has worked extensively in theatre and television. He previously appeared in Accidental Death of an Anarchist at Sheffield Theatres and has performed at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in Michael Frayn’s Noises Off. Other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Frost/Nixon (Crucible Theatre), Twelfth Night (National Theatre), Breaking the Code (Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester), Holes (The Invisible Dot/Arcola Theatre), Berk in Progress, Holes (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre/London & National Tour/Adelphi Theatre – West End London/ Music Box Theatre – New York). His television includes The Ballad of Renegade Nell, After Ever After, Landscapers, The Witchfinder, Tom Jones, Flowers, Jericho, Big School, Black Mirror: The Waldo Moment, and Eric and Ernie (Winner of the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in the role of Eric).

Ruby Thomas’ (Fi Phelan/PC Jackson) theatre includes Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible) and Spring Awakening (Headlong Theatre tour). For television, her credits include Layla, Call The Midwife, Mister Winner, Endeavour, Fail and Agatha Raisin. Writing credits includes: Either, The Animal Kingdom and Linck & Mülhahn (Hampstead Theatre) and Romy & Me (Royal Court Theatre).

Photos courtesy of Helen Murray

About Playful Productions
Playful Productions was founded in 2010 by Matthew Byam Shaw, Nia Janis and Nick Salmon and is one of the largest independent theatre production companies in the UK. Its productions have received 34 Olivier Awards, 10 Tony Awards®, 8 Evening Standard Awards, 1 Oscar® nomination and 1 Grammy® nomination.

As Producer and General Manager productions include Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story (Lyric); My Fair Lady (Coliseum and UK & Ireland Tour); Walking with Ghosts (Apollo); The Mirror and the Light (Gielgud); Noises Off (Garrick); Kinky Boots UK & Ireland Tour; Imperium (Gielgud), Quiz (Noël Coward), The Moderate Soprano (Duke of York’s); Shrek The Musical UK & Ireland Tours; Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Don Juan in Soho (Wyndham’s); No Man’s Land (UK Tour & Wyndham’s); Kinky Boots (Adelphi); Hangmen (Wyndham’s); Mack & Mabel (UK & Ireland Tour); American Buffalo (Wyndham’s); The Audience (Gielgud and NTLive, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Broadway and Apollo); Executive Producer on the Netflix TV series The Crown (based on The Audience); Wolf Hall: Parts 1 & 2 (Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway), Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies (Aldwych); The Weir (Wyndham’s); South Downs/The Browning Version (Harold Pinter); Sweeney Todd (Adelphi); Hay Fever (Noël Coward); The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s); Flare Path (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Yes, Prime Minister (Gielgud, Apollo, Trafalgar Studios and three UK Tours); Krapp’s Last Tape (Duchess); Red (Golden Theatre, Broadway); Enron (Noël Coward) and the forthcoming Good (Harold Pinter). As General Manager productions include Wicked (Apollo Victoria, two UK & Ireland Tours and an International Tour); Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Piccadilly); Come From Away (Abbey Theatre Dublin and Phoenix); Dirty Dancing UK & Ireland Tour; Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Wyndham’s); An American in Paris (Dominion); Groundhog Day (The Old Vic); Blithe Spirit (Gielgud); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Dirty Dancing (Aldwych, two UK Tours and Piccadilly); Shrek The Musical (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Million Dollar Quartet (Noël Coward) and Clybourne Park (Wyndham’s).

About Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres is home to three theatres: the Crucible, the Sheffield landmark with a world-famous reputation; the Playhouse, an intimate, versatile space for getting closer to the action; and the gleaming Lyceum, the beautiful proscenium that hosts the best of the UK’s touring shows.

Having held the title ‘Regional Theatre of the Year’ on four separate occasions, Sheffield Theatres is the ticket to big names and local heroes, timeless treasures and new voices. Committed to investing in the creative leaders of the future, Sheffield Theatres’ dedicated talent development hub, The Bank, supports a new cohort of emerging theatre-makers every year.

Sheffield Theatres has a reputation for bold new work. Starting life in the Crucible in 2019, the award winning Life of Pi transferred to the West End in 2021 and to Broadway in 2023. This success follows the hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie which also transferred to the West End, toured the UK and enjoyed a feature film release internationally on Amazon Prime in 2021. Both Life or Pi and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie return home to Sheffield Theatres as part of their 2023 – 24 UK and Ireland tours. Last year, ROCK / PAPER / SCISSORS was staged across all three theatres to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Crucible and Playhouse, winning Best Directors at the UK Theatre Awards 2022. Also during the anniversary year, the acclaimed Accidental Death of an Anarchist opened the newly named Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse in September 2022. Most recently, Sheffield Theatres, in co-production with the National Theatre and Various Productions, revived Standing at the Sky’s Edge, returning the show to the Crucible before transferring to the Olivier Theatre and winning two Olivier awards including Best New Musical. The show transfers to the West End in February 2024.

Crucible Lyceum Playhouse 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA

About Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre produces bold and relevant world-class theatre from the heart of Hammersmith, the theatre’s home for more than 125 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director and CEO Rachel O’Riordan, it is committed to being vital to, and representative of, the local community. A major force in London and UK theatre, the Lyric produces adventurous and acclaimed theatrical work that tells the stories that matter. The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre has a national reputation for ground-breaking work to develop and nurture the next generation of talent, providing opportunities for young people to discover the power of creativity and to experience the life changing impact of theatre. We are the creative heart of Hammersmith, proud of our history and ambitious for our future.

About Inquest
INQUEST is the only charity providing expertise on state related deaths and their investigation to bereaved people, lawyers, advice and support agencies, the media, and parliamentarians. Our specialist casework supports bereaved people after deaths in police and prison custody, immigration detention, mental health settings and deaths involving multi-agency failings or where wider issues of state and corporate accountability are in question. This includes work around the Hillsborough football disaster and the Grenfell Tower fire. We campaign alongside bereaved people to expose the truth about deaths, hold those responsible to account and try to ensure meaningful learning and systemic change to prevent future deaths.

About Access Entertainment
Access Entertainment is a division of Access Industries, the global investment firm owned by British-American businessman and philanthropist Sir Leonard Blavatnik. Under the leadership of Danny Cohen, Access Entertainment invests in feature films, television, live theatre, the creator economy, gaming, and the visual arts.