Fo's opposition to conformism, the courage of his convictions, and his political and social commitment, have involved him in numerous court cases and controversies with the Italian state, the police, the censors, television and the Vatican. The pope felt that the play ’Mistero Buffo’ had ‘desecrated Italian religious feelings’. In 1980 Fo was refused an entry visa for a performance in the USA because of his membership to an organisation supporting prison inmates. Together with Rame, Fo has written a number of monologues inspired by the struggle of Italy's women for the right to divorce and legal abortion.
Fo has come under heavy criticism and disapproval over the political content of his plays, however this hasn’t stop over half a million people watching his play ‘The Accidental Death of an Anarchist’. This particular play was a huge success for Fo, as the theatrical theme produced massive reactions by the Italy public. The play deals with a number of controversial issues that exited in Italy in the seventies when there was a state crisis. Numerous events took place in the decades before, which have great historical importance in explaining what happened in Italy. Unrest in Italy started with the rise of fascism, which is a political system, which developed in Italy and Nazi Germany during the 1920s and 30s. The term itself is derived from an Italian word for the bundle of sticks around an axe, a symbol that was originally used by Roman diplomats. Which Mussolini later adopted for his nationalistic and authoritarian political movement, founded in 1919. Fascism, which is a form of dictatorship, caused unrest in Italy for many years during and after World War II. This resulted in high levels of government corruption that produced various protests and marches during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Many of these political issues are captured in Fo’s plays. ‘The Accidental Death of an Anarchist’ was written in response to the suspicious death of an Italian railway worker.
In 1969 a bomb exploded in the Agricultural Bank in Milan. The bomb killed more than 16 people, and the anarchists were immediately blamed for the slaughter. One of the accused was Giovanni Pinelli, who was taken to the police headquarters. Pinelli disbelievingly ‘fell’ out of the window, apparently committing suicide, due to being guilty. It was discovered ten years later that three fascists were condemned to prison for being materially responsible for the crime. One of them turned out to be an agent of the secret police. It was thus confirmed that the instigators of the crime had been the organisation entrusted with ‘protection’ of the Italian state. This hypocrisy caused Fo to express his concerns about the situation in Italy. This play is based on the suspicious death of the railway worker, and continually mocks the government.
Fo created this play using the tradition of Commedia Dell’Arte, to satire the officials and the right-wing authorities responsible for the abuse of power. Commedia Dell’ Arte uses the concept of stock characters. Stock characters represented fixed social types. Actors have to project their characters emotions through the body. Leaps, tumbles, stock gags, obscene gestures and slapstick antics were incorporated into their acts. Movement is also essential in Fo’s work, as the authorities became nervous of these notorious plays that commented on the wrongs of society. This meant that police were constantly present at performance, checking that the actors kept to the official scripts allowed by the government. Due to the strict censoring of scripts, Fo developed his movements. By exploiting his extraordinary range of gesture, facial expressions, variation of voice and accents, and his skill as a storyteller meant that he could still convey his messages effectively.
