CAN'T PAY? WON'T PAY!

Much murky water has flowed under Westminster Bridge since the early seventies, when Dario Fo’s political farce first took to the stage. His own river Po could tell a similar tale, I’m sure. Blair and Berlusconi have come and (almost) gone, the Berlin Wall has fallen, though our boys are still sent to patrol the vestiges of Empire.

Satire too, has seen a sea-change, and even Fo, whose play proved wierdly prophetic, could not have predicted last year’s London riots, a ludicrous mix of protest and shopping, which form a backdrop to this lively, hilarious revival at the Queen’s.

Bob Carlton’s take on the piece is relentlessly topical, almost parochial. Claire Lyth’s lovely set,worth the admission price on its own, has a familiar Romford skyline behind the colourful flat, with its skewed perspective, multiple doors and Vettrianos on the walls. Constant references to Cameron, the coalition, the cuts, the NHS, bankers, you name it, even poor old Wozza’s Tesco shame is dragged into the mix.

The core quartet of characters – two old Ford hands, now a cabbie and a street cleaner and their merry Essex wives – are a long way from Italy (Luigi becomes Lol). The play’s origins show through only in some radical rants, and in the emphasis on the Church, though the key St Eulalia sequence is brilliantly sustained.

Georgina Field and Kate Robson-Stuart make a likeable pair of desperate housewives, coping well with the wordy opening pages. Simon Jessop seems very much at home with the conservative John, retreating to the smallest room with a copy of the Mirror, and chatting to Gareth in the front row about minced morsels. Steve Simmonds is the bemused taxi driver – some excellent moments of confusion between these two. But the farceur par excellence here is Jonathan Markwood, playing two of Fo’s cartoon cops as well as an undertaker and a doddery old geezer, stepping outside his character to bemoan his lot, hoping for better things in “The Merchant of Chuffin’ Venice” (coming to the Queen’s on April 20).

Quickfire dialogue, rabbit’s heads, a fearsome TASER, a coffin: lots of balls to keep in the air, and on press night the dialogue twice had to be hauled back onto track, and Jessop had to tidy up the apron after the front cloth, with its icons of consumerism, upset the table.

It’s all enormous fun, though, especially when the surreal comedy takes off and the pace sweeps us along with it. “Is that the message of this play?” someone asks. I’m not sure that we’re very good at messages in the theatre, despite the well-aimed brickbats, but full marks to the ever-inventive Queen’s for bringing political theatre to Essex, gaudily gift-wrapped in farce.

“A pregnant policeman popping out of the cupboard makes perfect sense,” but that’s nowhere near as improbable as the revolutionary West End finale, involving a colander, a fish slice and a proud West Ham banner …

The fun is fast and curious with trolley-loads of local references and much involvement of the audience. But it’s not panto time – it’s Bob Carlton’s staging of the classic [Dario Fo political farce first staged in 1974. True, you could almost re-title Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! in Joseph Farrell’s energetic and bang-up-to-date translation as The Merry Wives of Romford, but there’s no disguising the bite behind the surface laughter.

All this is helped along by some good ensemble playing and a quirky set by Claire Lyth, marvellously askew and itself a key player in the story. Georgina Field is Antonia, facing eviction from the right-to-buy ex-council house she and husband John had bought before he found himself out of an assembly-line job.

Caught up in one of those protests about rising prices which somehow dissolve into actual riots, she comes home with bags full of supermarket goodies for which she hasn’t paid. Unfortunately, they’re ones designed for the four-legged or two-winged members of the animal kingdom not for human consumption. But when the gas and the electricity are being cut off and the bailiffs are at the door…

Enter her friend Maggie (Kate Robson-Stuart. The women’s attempts to hide the non-purchases from John and Maggie’s husband Lol lead to ever more frantic inventions and the involvement of a policemen, his inspector, an undertaker and a grandfather – don’t ask! These four misfits give Jonathan Markwood opportunities which he grasps with both hands, both feet and much else in between.

Both Simon Jessop as John and Steve Simmonds as Lol revel in their parts and are also very funny, especially when sampling the animal food and then finding themselves landed with bags full of trendy gear “liberated’ from some looted shops by the local hoodies. It all culminates in a truly anarchic finale – which I won’t spoil for you.

Pantomime season has arrived early, as Bob Carlton’s rendition - set amid last summer’s turbulent UK riots - relevantly resurrects Italian satirist Dario Fo’s 1974 production, which originally captured the tumultuous domestic unrest in his home nation.

Witnessed through the lives of four absorbing core characters, aided greatly by Claire Lyth’s inventive homely set, whether it’s bankers, spiralling fuel costs, cuts, mortgages or benefits, you name it, Carlton has Broken Britain covered.

Armed with opinionated rants aplenty, Georgina Field makes a welcome return to Queen’s as animated eviction-threatened Antonia, desperate to conceal her liberating yet illegal endeavours. Channelling Gavin & Stacey’s Pam-like qualities, Field demonstrates the art of digging ludicrous holes, ably assisted by Kate Robson-Stuart’s reluctant Maggie, whose traumatised facial expressions are a constant amusement, offering an unorthodox take on the pregnancy process.

Oblivious to their partners’ wrongdoings, Simon Jessop’s street cleaner John and Steve Simmonds cabbie Lol superbly capture the disgruntled ordinary working class citizen, desperate for overtime and fuelled on injustice. A cuisine concoction involving the hunger-stricken pair would make even Heston Blumenthal squirm.

When not humorously lamenting his lot outside of character, Jonathan Markwood has his hands full juggling an array of stereotypical roles, further adding to the production’s escapades portraying bobbies on the beat, an undertaker and a senile old codger.

Although many of the best interactions occur earlier between the female and male pairings, as farce levels increase, Act Two hits you like a frenetic whirlwind, coinciding with the full cast quintet finally coming together to a chaotic culmination.

Yes it’s surreal mayhem and pure absurdity, yet it really is a topical riot to be savoured.

Hilarious farce brings light relief following summer riots

Plot has rampaging women shoppers in store free-for-all

The London riots is not far off from our memories so Bob Carlton’s decision to set his racy version of Dario Fo’s classic Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! in the heart of Romford was ideal.

The result was a fast and hilarious comedy bursting with plenty of local references about our famous Queen’s Hospital at the theatre in Billet Lane, Hornchurch, on Monday, March 12.

The drama unfolds when hysteric housewife Antonia, who has been spending her money on shopping rather than paying the bills for her ex-council flat, gets caught up in a riot a supermarket.

She is one of hundreds of women to walk away from the store with a handful of goodies, but it’s not the bread or milk that you would think of but instead rabbit heads.

Antonia is played by Georgina Field, who comes up with different ventures to hide the theft from socialist husband John, played by Simon Jessop.

Mayhem

Her attempts to keep her theft away from her husband has audiences rolling in their seats from start to finish.

Her naïve friend, Maggie, who she makes pretend that she is pregnant by stuffing the goodies up her shirt is played by Kate Robson-Stuart.

Add to that there is also Maggie’s husband Lol played by Steve Simmonds and a host of other characters, the policeman, John’s dad and the inspector – which just add to the mayhem of the production.

The simple but effective set design by Claire Lyth was as much part of the drama as the actors, with food products being stuffed under the sofa and people being thrown into closets.

I can’t ever remember ever laughing so much at the theatre.

The production was topical and most importantly bursting with lots of humour.

A possible favourite with the audience was the final scene with all the characters on stage with a triumphant dance number.
-Lee-Ann Richards, Fri 16 Mar 2012
 

PAY-OFF TIME: DARIO FO'S ANARCHIC FARCE IS TOTALLY REWARDING

ITALIAN playwright Dario Fo won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997 for "scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden."

Can't Pay? Won't Pay! does precisely that in this version by Joseph Farrell, transposed from '70s Milan to contemporary Romford. No wonder the Vatican and the Wall Street Journal waxed indignant at Fo's Nobel award.

In this delirious scenario, housewife Antonia (Georgina Field) is persuaded by an anarchist student to "liberate" a trolley full of food during a mass riot at a supermarket against intolerable price rises in the Essex town.

Her desperation to hide the acquired goods from law-abiding former Ford shop steward husband John (Simon Jessop) is thwarted as the house is turned over by the police.

The absurdist comedy is unrelenting as the gas and electricity is cut off too and a repossession order looms.

That farce is rooted in the tradition of commedia dell'arte, which in Italy, has always been popular for its satiric, anti-authoritarian sentiments and Farrell's introduction of local reference entirely matches Fo's spirit and intention.

It delights the audience throughout as they are goaded, pantomime-style, to support left or right agendas as the interaction between actors and audience builds.

At one point John, a road-sweeping Hammers fan, is desperately hungry but uneasy about the edibility of a nicked tin of dog food. He seeks the advice of the audience by conducting smelling tests. To the accompaniment of mass belly laughter, it's decided it only needs an extra twist of lemon.

Minicab driver Lol gets a huge cheer as he tells us that - pissed off by their bragging about bonuses - he's just left two rail executives on a motorway hard shoulder.

Police harassment, riots next door in Tottenham and bills they cannot pay will not keep them down as their growing understanding of their predicament turns into defiance and, in one final stab at "grand theory", John asks Lol if he's ever come across Marx.

Lol thinks he means Groucho's films and it is left to John to explain, in appropriately philosophical mode, that Marx correctly predicted the fall of capitaliism but did not foresee that it would fall on people like themselves.

Under Bob Carlton's inspired direction, the cast excels. There's impeccable comic timing aided by a superb grasp of the physical demands of farce, at which Georgina Field stands out.

Bouquets to the Queen's for getting the timing of this production spot-on. It surely merits a national tour.

Michal Boncza, Tues, 20 March 2012