Last night (19th Dec '00) I went to see Accidental Death of an Anarchist at Alliance
Francaise. It was excellent. In fact, it was the best play I have seen in
Harare (apart from some visiting groups during HIFA) in two years.
The play itself is very funny with witty and fast paced lines.

The audience spent much of the play doubled up with laughter. In the style of
Eugene Ionesco and other Absurdist dramatists, the actors often spoke
directly to the playwright about the play and the audience or to the audience
themselves. The actors also hilariously talked to each other as actors
rather than their characters and at one point Adam Neill (as Adam Neill)
began a serious discussion of present day politics and only stopped when one
actor reminded him that Bill Clinton had not even been heard of when the
play was written. These techniques were used to highlight the truth and
absurdity of the situation the play was dealing with: corruption in
government and police and the brutal consequences of this corruption.

The relevance of the theme to Zimbabwe today need hardly be pointed out.
A brilliant script could so easily be destroyed by poor or weak
direction and acting but Diana Wilson's direction was superb and the lead
actors, particularly the excellent, maniacal Adam Neill, were all in top
form.

The minor parts were slightly disappointing: Parkinson missed far too many lines
but Nimmo and Wilson presented nervous though promising performances. But
none of this took too much away from a brilliant production.
Every serious play goer in Harare must see this play.

Catherine Meyer

Return to top