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by Matt Jones, directed by Caroline Fournier

Blacklist Committee for Unsafe Theatre,

Toronto Fringe Festival, St. Vladimir’s Theatre, Toronto

July 6-16, 2011

It’s 2018 and the G20 summit and riots are back in town, but this time Rob Ford is mayor. Playwright Matt Jones has contrived this dodgy premise to bring his two targets of satire and criticism together, adapting Dario Fo’s classic 1970 farce The Accidental Death of an Anarchist.  Rob Ford (Kyle Allatt with belly stuffing) does appear and the G20 is referred to, but if you expect either to be the focus of the play, you will be sorely disappointed.

As in the original, a maniac (Susanna Jones) escaped from a mental institution helps those in power cover up a detainee’s death.  Jones is a fine physical comic but she doesn’t project, and her rushed speech and unclear diction cause much of the humour and understanding of the plot to go missing. The actor who comes off best is Vince Benvenuto as a police inspector who endures slapstick violence of every kind.              

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in NOW Magazine, July 14, 2011.

Photo: Kyle Allatt, Susanna Jones and Mikaela Davies. ©2011 theblacklistcommittee

For tickets, visit www.fringetoronto.com.