Cast Revealed For ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST in the West End

Joining the previously announced Daniel Rigby and Tony Gardner are Tom Andrews, Mark Hadfield, Ro Kumar, and Ruby Thomas. 

By: May. 31, 2023
Cast Revealed For ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST in the West End
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The new West End cast has been announced for Daniel Raggett's production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, following a sell-out run at Lyric Hammersmith. Joining the previously announced Daniel Rigby and Tony Gardner are Tom Andrews, Mark Hadfield, Ro Kumar, and Ruby Thomas

Tom Basden's acidically funny adaptation of Dario Fo's classic will be bang up to date, taking direct aim at recent police handlings and mishandlings. The production is directed by Daniel Raggett and opens at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, which is owned by Access Entertainment, on 12 June for a strictly limited run until 9 September. Press night is on 26 June, and is in partnership with charity, Inquest. 

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.

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 c*ckand 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).




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