Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!

by Dario Fo

Adapted by Bill Colville and Robert Walker

19–22 November, 1997 at The Electric Theatre

Like ‘The Accidental Death of an Anarchist’, Fo set ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ within a specific contemporary framework. In this case, he chose the Italian economic crisis of  1974 (as opposed to previous or subsequent Italian economic crises).

In that year the customary government collapse was followed by a period of massive inflation, with some food prices increasing by 50% in a single month. Supplies of food sent by the EEC found their way onto the black market, or were stored until unfit for human consumption.

Various protests were made – one of these being a housewives’ rebellion in several supermarkets, and their insistence on paying only a fair price for goods. It is in the immediate aftermath of such a protest that this play opens.

CAST & CREW

CAST

Antonia – Eleanor Steer
Margherita – Theresa Poole
Giovanni – Dominic Currie
Sergeant – John Dobing
Inspector – John Dobing
Luigi – Adam Nichols
Undertaker – John Dobing
Old Man – John Dobing

BEHIND THE SCENES

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