#ITIpresents
ACCIDENTAL
DEATH
O F A N
ANARCHIST
WRITTEN BY Dario Fo
TRANSLATED BY Ed Emery
D I G I T A L P R O G R A M M E
Embedded Files
11 — 13 November 2021
Esplanade Theatre Studio
Written by Dario Fo
Translated by Ed Emery
Directed by Aarne Neeme
Performed by ITI’s 2021 graduating cohort
PROGRAMME NOTE
PROGRAMME NOTE
Written in the 1970s, during a time of political hysteria in Italy, Accidental Death of an Anarchist is a madcap farce with a disturbing underbelly. Dario Fo describes his play as “a grotesque farce about a tragic farce”, that raises broader questions about the misuse of authority and power clothed in comedy and the confusions of identity. According to director Aarne Neeme, “the actors are presented with the challenge of tackling these questions and unravelling the multiple tenets of farces in this play.”
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is based on the suspicious death of Giuseppe Pinelli, a railway worker in Milan who fell to his death from the fourth floor of a police station while being interrogated. He was an inept anarchist who was arrested for allegedly planting a bomb, later revealed to be the work of neo-Fascists.
During this period, the media and the prevailing political parties in Italy became the central arena of political turmoil, with the police being accused of corruption. The tension resulted in mass hysteria that brought about a series of bombings in Milan that killed many innocent people. The authorities and the media placed the blame on the ‘so-called’ anarchists like Pinelli. His death then sparked further conflict by creating two factions among the public — those who thought it was a suicide, and those who believed he was thrown from the window by the police. Fo uses a farce in an attempt to expose the police cover-up, and to reveal the relationship between the authorities and right-wing extremists.
As Stuart Hood once said: “the main character, who proceeds to investigate the incident and in doing so reveals the idiocy of the lies spun by officialdom, is on the face of it mad, but his madness is like Hamlet’s — a weapon that uncovers truths no one dares formulate in the sensible, ‘real world’. The power of the play derives from the tension which Fo deliberately sets up between the comedy arising from confusions of identity, always one of the principal elements of farce, and the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of an innocent man. It is one of his most important tenets that laughter opens people’s minds and renders them receptive to ideas they might otherwise reject.”
We hope you will enjoy the final show by this year’s graduating cohort.
This amateur production of “Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Emery)” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings or streams of this production is strictly prohibited, a violation of United Kingdom Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and an actionable offense.
CREDITS
CREDITS
CAST
INSPECTOR BERTOZZO
Aaron Kaiser GarciaCONSTABLE(S)
Marvin Acero AblaoMANIAC
Kewal KartikSUPERINTENDENT
Sandeep YadavINSPECTOR PISSANI
Sonu PilaniaMARIA FELETTI
Lin Jiarui
PLAYWRIGHT
Dario FoDIRECTOR
Aarne NeemeTRANSLATOR
Ed EmeryVOCAL COACH
Simon StolleryPRODUCTION DESIGNER
Dorothy PngPRODUCTION MANAGER
Natalie LimASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER / STAGE MANAGER
Marilyn Chew
_______
Special thanks to Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Foot Care and Limb Design Centre
ITI students work as a professional company in their third year, and undertake ticketed public performances.
These Final Year Productions are an integral part of the ITI curriculum.
GRADUANDS
GRADUANDS
Aaron Kaiser Garcia is a performer and performance maker. An alumnus of the Dance Program (Folk Dance) at the Philippine High School for the Arts with a strong background in folk and contemporary dances, he has gone on to explore contemporary performance-making.
Aaron has been training as an artist-facilitator and has conducted works in various communities in the Philippines. He was a production manager for Sipat Lawin Ensemble’s productions Are You Ready to Take the Law Into Your Own Hands (which he choreographed for), and Nagwawalang Gubat (2018). He was also the youngest festival project manager for Karnabal Festival: Performance and Social Innovation PerYaKToi (2016) and Edukasyon Artist Residency (2017).
As a performer, Aaron has represented the Philippines in several international festivals in Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, and China. He also performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Choreographers Series: Neo-Filipino and Koryolab. His work, Dakel Saday: The Unpublished Philippine Folk Dances of the Tasaday, Volume I, was featured in CNN Philippines Life: 2018 in Philippine Art.
Post-graduation, Aaron will be continuing his practice with Komunidad X, an anti-disciplinary collective committed to creating “life” performances for civic engagement and social development, based in Manila under Sipat Lawin Inc.
Aaron is a beneficiary of the Möbius Fund, which provides loans for actor-students.
Kewal Kartik is an actor from the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. His artistic journey began from hosting and acting for various events in his hometown. He left his home region due to the lack of opportunities, in order to pursue the arts as a profession.
Kewal holds a Diploma in Dramatic Arts from Madhya Pradesh School of Drama, and completed a year-long internship where he created and directed several original works.
He has travelled and worked with various theatre groups across India, such as Rangrez Theatre Productions and Breathing Space- The Drama Company. To better himself as a performer, Kewal decided to come to ITI.
In the future, Kewal plans to develop the theatre scene in his home region.
Kewal is a recipient of the Tan Chay Bing Education Fund Scholarship and a beneficiary of the Möbius Fund.
Lin Jiarui is an actor from China, who believes that drama education can better enrich the growth of children.
From 2016 to 2018, Jiarui worked as a theatre project manager for Shenzhen Xinhuajie Culture Communication Co., Ltd. He then joined the Little Comma Children’s Theatre part-time in 2017, where he performed his original puppetry piece, Where is my Monster? before coming to ITI.
After ITI, Jiarui is keen on furthering his studies in theatre and engaging in drama education for children.
Marvin Acero Ablao is a dancer, actor and visual artist from Bohol, Philippines. He has received extensive training in contemporary dance and classical ballet since 2008, and has coached dance and theatre to various youth communities in his province.
He started his theatre journey in 2016 as a member of Kasing Sining Teatro Bol-an Ensemble. Marvin’s works include Dagohoy: Dagon sa Hoyohoy The Musical and Blue Way (Bohol Dance Project Company), created by Romanian choreographer Gigi Caciuleanu.
In Singapore, he has performed in The Chowk Show 2021 (Chowk Productions), Waltz of the Flower, an original piece by ITI alumna Caroline Chin, at The Substation SeptFest 2021 and Room 0505 (2020) with alumna Lina Yu.
Marvin came to ITI to hone his skills as an actor and ultimately give back to his community in Bohol as a performer, educator, and researcher. He also intends to explore and experiment with different mediums of art through theatre.
Marvin is a recipient of the Tan Chay Bing Education Fund Scholarship and a beneficiary of the Möbius Fund.
Sandeep Yadav is a theatre practitioner from India, who believes in art as healing and artists as healers.
His theatre journey began in 2009 with Nautanki, one of India’s oldest folk theatres, in his hometown, Allahabad. He holds an MPA in Theatre Arts from the University of Hyderabad, and performed in various university productions such as Woman (an Indian adaptation of Thesmophoriazusae) and A Tempest by Aimé Césaire.
His final-year production, BUTTERFLY, received a theatre grant from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and was invited to Prayogam Theatre Group’s online national theatre festival. Besides acting for stage and screen, Sandeep has ventured into roles such as costume designer, technical advisor, and director. His works include Hawalaat, Neela Parcham, Red Frock, Beyond the Land of Hattamala, Gateway to Heaven (which received Special Mention at the 4th Mumbai International Film Festival), and Mitti-Back to Roots. He has also coached acting in various schools and institutions, as well as to theatre groups, across India.
His training at ITI has opened up new dimensions of work for him, rediscovering himself as an artist through theatre. He also wants to continue exploring the training he received in ITI in his future works.
Sandeep is a beneficiary of the Möbius Fund.
Sonu Pilania is an actor currently based in Singapore. In the crafts of acting for stage and screen, he specialises in the genres of realism and naturalism.
Sonu holds a BA in History from Delhi University, and a Diploma in Mime from National Mime Institute, Kolkata. His questions and curiosity about the craft of acting were what drew him to ITI.
His theatre journey started in 2014, working in various stage productions with different theatre companies and directors since then. He has participated in several theatre festivals, exploring Classical, Psycho-Physical, Forum, Parsi, and Realistic Theatre.
After graduation, Sonu intends to continue acting on stage and screen. He also aims to work towards using theatre as a tool to address environmental issues, such as climate change.
Sonu is a beneficiary of the Möbius Fund.
Headshots by Bernie Ng
CREATIVE TEAM
CREATIVE TEAM
Dario Fo
Playwright
Dario Fo
Playwright
Dario Fo (14 March 1926 – 23 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, director, stage and costume designer. Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997 and is known for his satirical and often controversial works with overtly political themes. He wrote more than 80 plays, many of them in collaboration with his wife, Franca Rame.
Born in Sangiano, Italy, his first theatrical experience was collaborating on satirical revues for small cabarets and theatres. Some of Fo’s earliest works from the 1950s, such as A Poke in the Eye and A Madhouse for the Sane, were bold satires of Italy’s political life and presented Marxist ideas in a satirical light. He founded various theatre cooperatives over the years with his wife, Rame, producing satirical plays and pantomimes that were performed throughout Italy.
Fo premiered one of his best-known works, Mistero Buffo, in 1969. A reworking of medieval mystery plays, he performed it as a one-man show and made use of an onomatopoeic language called grammelot and a mixture of dialects. Derided by the Catholic Church and the Italian government but admired by many playwrights, many have since done their best to emulate him with varying degrees of success.
Another of Fo’s influential works, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! (1974), featured Rame as a housewife looting the shelves of a supermarket as a protest against the economic crisis, in what could be called a class-conscious farce about the economy. These seminal plays, amongst many others, were performed throughout Europe and around the world, making Fo one of the most widely produced dramatists of his time.
Ed Emery
Translator
Ed Emery
Translator
Ed Emery is an ethnomusicologist, writer, translator and political activist. He was involved in the political activist group Big Flame, founded in 1970, and was one of the early organisers of the UK-based Ford Workers’ Group.
He has translated key works by Italian playwright Dario Fo and wife Franca Rame, such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Misterro Buffo, and was influential in producing English translation of works from the Italian Operaismo movement. As a writer, he regularly contributed on topics like music, culture and politics for Le Monde diplomatique, a French monthly newspaper, and co-authored two plays with Richard Fredman — Les Juifs de Salonique and The Night Before Larry was Stretched.
In 2015, he was elected Honorary Member for life of the SOAS Student Union, and is a Research Associate at the SOAS University of London (Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies).
Aarne Neeme
Director
Aarne Neeme
Director
Involved in theatre since the 1960s, Aarne Neeme is a freelance director who has frequently been engaged for theatre as well as television work. He has also taught at various tertiary institutions over the past forty years and is a faculty member of ITI.
He was previously Artistic Director of several Australian theatre companies, Head of Department of Theatre at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, and Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore.
In 2013, he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his significant service to the performing arts as a director and educator in theatre and television.
Neeme has had a major success with a production based on a former Prime Minister Paul Keating, named The Gospel According to Paul, playing to full houses touring Australia for the past two years and continuing on.
Dorothy Png
Production Designer
Dorothy Png
Production Designer
Dorothy has been designing for the theatre scene since 1994, running the gamut from cosy black box productions to large-scale outdoor productions. Her primary design focus is lighting, but in recent years she has been dabbling in her secondary focus, set design. For this, she has ITI and Aarne to thank, for the opportunities and the sparks of interest that have been ignited.
Accidental Death of An Anarchist marks her third time designing for Aarne after Extremities (2018) and Absent Friends (2020), and Dorothy is very happy that she gets to work with him again for ITI’s 2021 Final Year Production.
Simon Stollery
Vocal Coach
Simon Stollery
Vocal Coach
Simon is a vocational trainer of actors in the field of Voice and Speech with over 20 years of experience. He is a faculty member at ITI for Voice and Speech, and a certified Master Trainer of Estill Voice Training, an internationally recognised training qualification.
Simon has taught at many of the major actor training organisations in Australia, among them the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Actors College of Theatre & Television (now AFTT) and the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (now AIM). Prior to ITI, he was the Lecturer for Voice and Speech at Adelaide College of the Arts. Simon has also served as a Voice and Dialect coach for the State Theatre Company of South Australia and the Australian film industry. In 2017, Simon was the resident Voice and Dialect Coach for the Adelaide and Auckland seasons of Matilda the Musical by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
ABOUT ITI
ABOUT ITI
Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI), based in Singapore, is a three-year, practice-based, professional actor training programme founded on a rigorous, intercultural learning methodology with a view to producing original, contemporary theatre.
The school began as the Theatre Training & Research Programme (TTRP), founded in 2000 by renowned dramatist Kuo Pao Kun (1939–2002) and current Director T. Sasitharan – both Cultural Medallion recipients. It is shaped by Kuo Pao Kun’s vision of intercultural learning that draws from a matrix of traditional theatre systems and modern theatre-making.
ITI’s distinguished alumni include Yeo Yann Yann, winner of two Golden Horse Awards for her performances in Wet Season and Ilo Ilo and International Emmy Award nominee for her role in Invisible Stories; Peter Sau, recipient of the 2011 Young Artist Award and several Life! Theatre Awards; Felimon Blanco, recipient of the 2013 Most Outstanding Zambosurian Award (Philippines); and Sankar Venkateswaran, recipient of the 2019 Shankar Nag Theatre Award, presented to theatre all-rounders under the age of 40 who embody the spirit of service to theatre in India.
SUPPORT ITI
SUPPORT ITI
ITI is an independent theatre school founded on the belief that theatre has little meaning if it is not connected to life and society. Through the years, ITI has developed critically and socially engaged artists who are capable of working across cultural, linguistic, social and national boundaries, and who have contributed meaningfully to their cultures and communities.
ITI is a registered charity and an approved Institution of Public Character (IPC), and more than 60% of its income has to come from fundraising. Donations to ITI are eligible for 250% tax exemption and dollar-to-dollar matching by the government’s Cultural Matching Fund.
Your donations will make a critical difference and support ITI in its seminal work.
“I was trained to be not only a good actor but also a better person. So to those who want to make a difference,
please consider supporting a student in ITI and we will make this world a better place using the arts”
~ Denise Mordeno Aguilar ‘14
Peter Sau (‘03, Singapore) is the founder of Project Tandem, a training programme for disabled performing artists. He is also associate director and cast member of And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues, the first disability-led theatre project created between Singapore and the UK. Peter is a recipient of the 2011 Young Artist Award and
the Best Actor Award at the 2015 Life! Theatre Awards.
Sankar Venkateswaran (‘06, India) is the founder and artistic director of Theatre Roots & Wings. He has set up a cultural space in Attappady, Kerala, where he works with the impoverished indigenous communities. Sankar is a recipient of the International Ibsen Scholarship 2013, Aditya Vikram Birla Kalakiran Puraskar 2016 and Shankar Nag Theatre Award 2019.
Denise Mordeno Aguilar (‘14, Philippines) is the artistic director of Pasundayag Community Arts, secretary of the National Committee on Dramatic Arts and the Mindanao designated coordinator of Women Playwrights International. She is a recipient of the Lambago Art Award 2016, in recognition of her outstanding work as a theatre artist and her invaluable contribution to the development of arts and culture in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIRMAN
Mr Arun Mahizhnan
Special Research Adviser, Institute of Policy Studies
MEMBERS
Dr Kwok Kian Woon
Associate Provost (Student Life), Nanyang Technological University
Mr Chew Kheng Chuan
Independent consultant in philanthropy
Mr Tan Tarn How
Playwright; Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies
Ms Winifred Loh
Director, LeadForte Consulting
Dr Nazry Bahrawi
Senior Lecturer, Singapore University of Technology and Design
ACADEMIC BOARD 2020–2023
ACADEMIC BOARD 2020–2023
Prof Erik Ehn
Playwright
Visiting Professor, Department of Theatre and Dance, University of New MexicoDr Quah Sy Ren
Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeDr Frances Barbe
Senior Lecturer & Course Coordinator - Bachelor of Performing Arts, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
EXAMINATION BOARD 2020–2023
EXAMINATION BOARD 2020–2023
Mr Aarne Neeme, AM (Order of Australia)
Director and educatorDr Paul Rae
Associate Professor, Head of School of Culture and Communication, University of MelbourneMr Noushad Mohamed Kunju
Director, actor and educator
Associate Professor, Department of Theatre Arts, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication, University of HyderabadMr Peter Sau
Director, actor and educatorMr Nelson Chia
Artistic Director, Nine Years Theatre, Singapore
FINAL-YEAR PRODUCTIONS 2014–2021
FINAL-YEAR PRODUCTIONS 2014–2021
THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF ITI'S JOURNEY
THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF ITI'S JOURNEY
FRIENDS OF ITI
Abel Van Staveren
Adrienne Kouwenhoven
Alvin Lee
Caroline Fernandez
Clarissa Oon
Daniel Teo
David & Noemi White
Eddie Ong
Faizah Jamal
Felipe Cervera
Graeme Wilson
Heng Guan Hou
Isis Koh
Kelvin Ang
Kenry Peh
Kong Kam Yoke
Lee Sia Ang
Lim Huey Yuee
Lim Mei Yin
Lin Sh Liang
Manuela Panos Gissler
Melisa Wee
Melissa Leung Hiu Tuen
Natalino Busa
Noorlinah Mohamed
Phan Ming Yen
Sai Ram Nilgiri
Tay Huey Meng
Toh Bao En
Wang Liansheng
Xie Shangbin
Yong Shu Hoong
And other Friends who wish to remain anonymous
PRINCIPAL DONOR
Stephen Riady
GRANT-MAKERS
Lee Foundation
Tan Chay Bing Education Fund
Kuo Pao Kun Foundation
Chew How Teck Foundation
Hong Leong Foundation
Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple
U.S. Embassy, Singapore
Arts Fund
JCCI Singapore Foundation Limited, in association with Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Singapore
PARTNERS
APC Hosting Pte Ltd
CornerStone Wines
First Printers Pte Ltd
Gim Tim Group of Restaurants
gush
Pangolin Films Pte Ltd
Pek Sin Choon Pte Ltd
RJ Paper
Suntec Singapore
The Prestigious. Bespoke Tailors
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
ITI ANGELS INITIATIVE
Tommy Koh
Alan Chan
Alvin Lin
Albert Chiu
Annabelle Yip
Arun Mahizhnan
Benson Puah
BinjaiTree
Charlotte & Yew Lin Goh
Chew Kheng Chuan
Chua Lee Hoong
George Yeo
Georges Barbey
Ho Ren Hua
Koh Tai Ann
Kong Eng Huat
Kwok Kian Woon
Lawrence Wong
Leonardo Drago
Ng Shin Ein
Ong Pang Boon
Philip Jeyaretnam
Pierre Lorinet
Prabhat Ojha
Roger Fluri
Roopa and Shiv Dewan
Samuel Seow
Sat Pal Khattar
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Vincent Choy
William & Judith Bollinger
And other Angels who wish to remain anonymous
ITI Angels Initiative has also received contributions from Nicholas Goh and Wang Gungwu
UPCOMING
UPCOMING
Actor Training Paradigms:
From Anthropological to Intercultural
An Online Symposium
Actor Training Paradigms:
From Anthropological to Intercultural
An Online Symposium
► 29 Nov / 3 pm (SGT, UTC +8) / Zoom
Pre-symposium
► 22 – 29 Nov
Work Demonstrations by Odin Teatret & ITI (Video on demand)
This symposium aims to explore the contrasts and continuities of the two actor training paradigms — between the Anthropological and the Intercultural — and to achieve a deeper understanding and knowledge through an exchange of ideas and discussion on this subject.
It will include live presentations and an interactive Q&A session on 29 November, featuring leading practitioners Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley from avant-garde theatre company, Odin Teatret (Denmark) together with core faculty members of ITI, Simon Stollery and Koh Wan Ching, moderated by researcher Cheng Nien Yuan.
Attendees will also have access to two filmed work demonstrations on Theatre Anthropology and the Organic Effect, and Intercultural Actor Training that will be available on demand from 22 November onwards.
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