YouTube Version of Accidental Death of an Anarchist
> In this version, it was much more effective than reading it out, because it was all at a much faster pace, which made it funnier as I understood the farce and satire more easily.
> Moreover, compared to reading it out in class, they were able to do the Italian accents and words which helped with the comedy. > The actions which the actors did also made it comical. > The way which the actors said their lines made it more effective and better, because the way they may have said something had a comical elements to it. > In this play, they has slapstick, which when reading it out wouldn't have been as funny, but when seeing it would have. > As the actors knew their lines, there was no hesitation which made the play better to watch. > The actors may also do facial expressions which when read out would not have shown and so would have not been as funny, |
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A Play of Accidental Death of an Anarchist
This was a version which I found on YouTube, but of course, it was different because this version was a play while the other was a movie. I found that there were slightly more differences than similarities, this may be because the directors has different ideas of how they would want to portray this. One of the major differences and questions which was in my mind during the whole play was, why was the Maniac played by a woman? Was there a specific meaning to this or not?
In the beginning, it was very similar to how the play was written, however, when the Maniac entered, I felt quite intrigued to find out who this person was and their character too. But after a while I felt quite disappointed, because the first impression I got was the Maniac was very crazy, but I preferred the Maniac by Gavin Richard because there was a lot more character shown and he was portrayed as a rounded character. On the other hand, I thought that Bertozzo was played quite well in the play, as the same with the Superintendent as the Constable. The Gavin Richard's Maniac came across as cheeky, clever and mad but in a good way, which I think made the Maniac more likable and entertaining but you can still see the message put across to the audience. Unfortunately, I did not see this in the play, as this Maniac came across as very powerful, in the way that she used her voice and sometimes the way that she stood and walked around. Moreover, the Maniac was shouting most of the times, so it was difficult to tell what emotion was conveyed that that time. For example, she used a similar voice when the Maniac was reading out the name and when the Maniac was telling Pissani and the Superintendent to jump out of the window as their only option in life. As a result, as an audience, I did not feel as entertained or interested as the Gavin Richard's version. This is because I felt that he put more tonal variation which made it more compelling to listen to. The reason why I am so focused on the Maniac is because he is the main character, and he is the metaphor for Dario Fo's voice for this play, so I feel that it is quite vital to get a good Maniac in order for the message to be given out right. As a whole, I thought there was a lot more farce portrayed and clearly shown in the movie compared to the play. For example, in the play, in the beginning, when the Constable got his fingers caught in the mouse trap and cried in agony, Bertozzo went up and didn't do much, which confused me for a bit as nothing happened, which wasn't as funny as it should have been. Compared to the movie version when one of the characters got electrocuted when fixing the computer, this was much funnier as nobody paid attention to him and carried on. On the contrary, one of the farce which I did find amusing in the play was when the Maniac and Constable has a little 'romantic' moment, but Bertozzo cut it out. This was funny, because obviously the Maniac was played by a woman but playing a man, so it looked like the Maniac and Constable had a moment. Furthermore, the satire presented in the play was not as efficient and effective compared to the movie. For example, when Maniac and Feletti were having a political debate, in the book it said that Pissani, the Superintendent and Bertozzo were wrestling and fighting around in the background while Maniac and Feletti were having the argument. However, in the play Maniac and Feletti were having the debate but Bertozzo was lying on the ground with Maniac's fake leg on Bertozzo's back. The effect of this was that you could not clearly see and tell that there was satire here, so it was not as effective and as an audience, I did not see the point. On the other hand, a satire which did work well was the part when Feletti set the policemen free and they starting singing 'Staying Alive'. This was funny because of the choice of the song which they sang, but it was also has a meaning to it, because Fo is trying to say that the policemen always win, even if they have to kill someone in order to save themselves. Compared to the movie with Gavin Richard, when Maniac was telling Pissani and the Superintdent that theiir only choice was to jump out of the window, and they said that they gave their whole lives to this country, Maniac replies with 'They don't give a tinker's fart about your boring bloody sacrifice. This is politics.' Therefore, this shows that the government doesn't care about anyone except the people in the government, so Fo is criticising the government here by saying that they do not care about anyone apart from themselves. To conclude, personally I thought that the movie production of this play was much better than the play I saw from You Tube, for a number of reasons. On of the reasons was that the farce and satire were clearly shown out in the movie, and even the characters were much more entertaining. |