'A wonderful evening of ensemble acting'
Bolton Evening News

'A fast moving and, at times, inspired delight... A tour de force from Ashdown'

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

'A keenly directed and well acted production'

Metro (4 star review)

When a suspected anarchist insurgent dies after “falling” from the fourth floor of a UK police station, the truth of the incident becomes shrouded in a massive bureaucratic conspiracy and cover-up.  But into this world of corruption, deception and police evasion enters a man who stands alone as a bastion of honour and justice… who also happens to be a notorious liar, conman and certified maniac.

With a plethora of disguises and side-splitting alter-egos at his disposal, the Maniac sets about using irrefutable logic to trap the authorities into revealing their duplicity, and misleading accounts and statements about the accidental death of the anarchist.  Oh, what webs we weave….  But can he truly manipulate the manipulators and deceive the deceivers?  The con is on!

This riotous comedy fused the spirit and energy of Italian Comedia Dell’Arte with the madcap farce of a Marx Brothers film to create one of the most acclaimed pieces of comic theatre of the twentieth century.

Based on true events in 1960s Italy, Nobel-prize winning Dario Fo’s original production became an instant classic, performing to over half a million people in just two years on the stage.  Simon Nye’s timely updating mixed Fo’s biting satire and pinpoint social commentary with cutting, laugh-out-loud dialogue to create an outrageous, high-octane spectacle of sleaze, scapegoats, deception and disguises.  This was truly a production capable of bringing down the house… and who knows, maybe even the state!

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