“Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!" by Dario Fo is incredibly funny and a complete surprise. I’d seen one other hilarious play based on a Daniel Fo script, “Accidental Death of a Black Chicago Motorist,” but that liberally adapted work by The Conspirators hadn’t prepared me for how funny this 1997 Nobel Laureate’s writing is.
In a fresh translation from the 1974 Italian original, “Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!” is a two-act political farce that zings in the hands of the Gwydion Theatre troupe, some of them recent arrivals from their native Los Angeles, and whose style and performances are unlike other Chicago companies—as good as the best Chicago has, but with a fresh approach.
Directed by ensemble member Nena Martins, the story centers on Antonia (Audrey Busbee) and Margherita (Ellie Thomson), two working-class Italian housewives who participate in a women-led action wherein they steal from the supermarket as a response to an unconscionable rise in prices. Fearful of the police, and criticism from their husbands Giovanni (Caleb Petre) and Luigi (Jason Pavlovich), they try to cover their misdemeanors in a most amusing way.
The performance relies on a world-premiere translation adapted by Ember Sappington, laced seamlessly with contemporary American idiom. Fo taps a European tradition of commedia dell'arte and farce, so its humor is at times broad but still funny. The performers are uniformly excellent, each in their own way, Antonia, played excellently by Audrey Busbee (a product of Chicago’s Columbia College) gives the play its weight.
A real standout is the performance by Jason Pavlovich as Luigi, who is completely natural and believable, and seems to be acting on another plane from the rest, but it works. Also notable is Andrew Shipman in three roles as Officer/Carabiniere/Senior, also with a style all his own.
Gwydion Theatre, with Grayson Kennedy as artistic director, formed in LA in 2019 by a group of actors fresh out of training soon tackling full scale productions at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. They say that following the pandemic, they decided to move to Chicago “in order to connect with a more artistic theater landscape.” Well, welcome!
It’s a sign of the seriousness of Gwydion Theatre that they selected a work by Fo—once a popular and highly regarded contemporary playwright (he died in 2016).”Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!” is said to have inspired a real-life protest in Milan in which housewives took over the checkout stations at a Milan grocery store. Gwydion’s inaugural season in Chicago opened with Edward Albee’s "The Zoo Story," and will finish with the American classic ‘Waiting for Lefty’ by Clifford Odetts."Can't Pay? Won't Pay!" runs through December 17 at The Greenhouse Theater Cemter, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago.
