Accidental Death of an Anarchist at Lyric Hammersmith

Lyric Hammersmith is one of the several theatres that I keep a particularly close eye on but, even so, I was not especially tempted by Accidental Death of an Anarchist until the reviews came in.

By then many other people had decided to see it too and I was forced into the Upper Circle, for the first time, and I paid £23 for seat A16.

On my previous visit to Hammersmith I found what I hoped was, finally, a reliable pre-theatre eating place, La Petite Bretagne. and I was pleased to find it did the job very well even if I overindulged slightly with both a savoury and a sweet crepe. The place was pleasingly busy and next time I'll book a table to be sure of getting in.

Across the square at Lyric, I had just enough time to grab a pint of something brown to quell an annoying cough before climbing all the way up to the Upper Circle, you have to go up stairs just to get to the Stalls. I was a little bit vertiginous up there but no more than expected and the view was excellent.

I knew that Accidental Death of an Anarchist was a farce but other than being very silly I did not know what that meant, The farces I am more familiar with have lots of bedroom doors, semi dressed people in the wrong places and mistaken identities but this was none of that, it was an absurd situation created by and centred on an absurd character. Possibly something like The Mask, but it is a long time since I last saw that film so that may be a false memory leading to a false comparison.

The absurd character in the centre is a self-confessed former mental patient who through chance learns of an investigation of a police incident and through by taking an unexpected opportunity and making a quick change impersonates the person leading it.

In conducting the investigation he makes the various policemen say silly and contradictory things as they explain how the anarchist's fall from a window was suicide rather than police murder.

That description does not do the play justice as that simple scenario was horrendously funny thanks to the original story, Tom Basden’s updated adaptation and the mesmerising performance by Daniel Rigby. It was simply one of the funniest plays I have ever seen.

But there was a very serious side to it too as the play was about one death in police custody and made references to the many other cases in this country. We were left in little doubt that the farcical policemen did indeed kill the anarchist, and it took a maniac to reveal it.

Bt wrapping a serious message in a farcical story Accidental Death of an Anarchist made excellent theatre.