AN ENERGETIC Northern Broadsides cast of six performed a modern adaptation of Dario Fo’s play.

Based on the real story of anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli who ‘fell’ from the fourth-storey window of a Milan police station in 1969, it is still not known if he was thrown or went of his own will.

The fictional story follows a somewhat unusual line of inquiry into the death of the anarchist.

A mentally disturbed man, known as the Manic, masquerades as a judge, a forensic detective and even a priest. The police officers become actors in his play as he unravels the cover-up.

The play’s satirical look at the people in power, a corrupt society and even an ironic dig at actors made the play uncomfortably home in on the truth, but at the same time was easy to watch.

All the cast kept the audience laughing and filled the stage with their well-executed actions from sleazy womaniser Bertozzo (Anthony Hunt) to his arch-rival in the office, the loud Pisani (Craig Rogan).

Michael Hugo played the continually changing Maniac wonderfully, bouncing around the stage with an energy that kept the audience entertained from start to finish.