Directed and designed by Cate
Clelland. Kighting design. Stephen Sill. Sound design Neville Pye. Costume
design. Darcy Abrahams. Properties coordinator. Rosemary Gibbons. Special
properties construction. Russell Brown OAM. Cast: Maddie Lee as Toni. Chloe
Smith as Maggie. Lachlan Abrahams as Joe. Rowan McMurray as Lou. Antonia Kitzel
The Actor. Ensemble: Ben Zolfaghari. Stephanie van Lieshout. Ariana Barzinpour.
Georgie Bianchini. Rucha Tathavadkar. Sterling Notley. Rosemary Gibbons. Paul
Jackson. Canberra Rep. November 20 – December 6. Bookings; 6257 1950. Canberrarep.org.au.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Nobel Laureate playwright Dario Fo
Originally written under Lino
Perle’s translated title Can’t Pay Don’t Pay! , Canberra Rep has chosen Joseph Farrell’s
translation of Non si paga. Non si paga
- Low Pay? Don’t Pay! to align Dario
Fo’s original 1975 satirical farce with a contemporary cost of living crisis.
Director Clelland has set her production in Canberra, although the action and
the characters retain a distinct Italian working class flavour. Fo’s original
plot of a group of women who steal groceries from the supermarket shelf in
protest against the rising costs becomes the vehicle for Fo’s Marxist comment
on exploitation, greed, inflation and the struggle of the working class against
the opportunistic employers. Toni (Maddie Lee) is married to Joe (Lachlan
Abrahams), a staunch member of New Labour. With neighbour Maggie (Chloe Smith),
Toni has returned to her house with the stolen groceries, which must be hidden
from the police and Joe and Maggie’s husband Lou (Rowan McMurray. What ensues
is an hysterically funny farce of frantic evasion of capture and consequence.
Clelland’s direction pays perfect
homage to the Italian tradition of Commedia dell Arte while carefully depicting
the absurdity of social, political and economic injustice. The production with
moments of farce, slapstick and madcap business has the audience in stitches.
The production’s Ensemble take on the roles of the protesting women, the police
and the workers. Clelland faithfully observes the role of farce as social and
political commentary and criticism. The production charges along with volcanic
energy . Fo is the master of political agit prop and his attack is broad-sweeping,
targeting rising prises, the costs of gas and telephone bills, the shortage of
hospital beds, the crippling rental crisis and corruption. All this is displayed
in hilarious business, such as a starving Joe’s encounter with a can of pet food mistakenly brought home
by Toni or the feigned pregnancy of Maggie’s concealed groceries. Through the laughter we are made only too
aware of the real struggle faced by the ordinary citizen. Joe’s initial male conditioning
is eventually challenged as he confronts the challenges faced by women, an
aspect I suspect prompted by the influence of Fo’s partner Franca Rame.
On occasion Fo breaks the fourth
wall in a direct didactic address to the audience. It is a salutary moment that
makes its point in a play that informs and educates through farce. Clelland and
her cast leave us not with a solution, but with an awareness that will urge the
proletariat to carry on the fight or be cast into the shadows. In 1975 Fo urged
the Italian workers of the Communist Party not to allow the moderate movement
to hold sway against the forces of Capitalist control. His final appeal to
audiences in Joseph Farrell’s clever translation is a plea for protest and
political activism in our own time.
Clelland has chosen a good cast
with an excellent performance from Abrahams as the loud and blustering husband.
Antonia Kitzel delivers a delightfully sharp caricature as the Chief Inspector
with a moustache as well as the socially empathetic policeman without a moustache.
Subtlety is not the go in this gung-ho production of Fo’s farce, but the point
is not lost on the audience. And the struggle must go on.
For its final production of the
year, Canberra Rep offers an enjoyable and entertaining show with just enough bite to prick the conscience. And as the
saying goes,
this production of classic Fo proves that “laughter is the best
medicine.” or propagandist weapon?
