Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre’s newly minted production of Dario Fo’s We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! is something of a sprawling mess. To some extent this is intentional. To some extent it’s not.
Thursday’s opening night drew the curtain on a show in need of additional rehearsal. There were, in particular, problems with tone and pacing. Overall, this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink extravaganza gave the impression of trying too hard — never a good thing in comedy.
That said, We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! — a 1974 Italian political farce adapted by director David Ferry — has undeniable strengths. Chief among them is Britt Small, a dynamic Chaucerian delight who, as salt-of-the-earth Toni, channels such comedy legends as Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball. In a highly physical performance, Small made Toni a female Falstaff: ribald, cunning, happily slatternly (at one point she squeezed her breasts together to mock an acquaintance with a “mono-boob”). Confident stage turns by R.J. Peters (Lou) and Trevor Hinton (in various roles) also impressed.
The late Fo, a Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright, is a towering figure in global theatre. His plays are performed world-wide. We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, steeped in the tradition of commedia dell’arte, has been produced in more than 35 countries.
The satire — unashamedly broad, gleefully crude — portrays the comic travails of hapless proles struggling to makes ends meet. Inflation is out of control; meanwhile, heartless corporations continue to make fortunes off the backs of the hard-working poor (sound familiar?).
We learn Toni (Small) joined a gaggle of penniless housewives who pilfered groceries from a supermarket. Fearing her husband’s disapproval, she persuades pal Margie (Yasmin D’Oshun) to hide the plunder. In a routine reminiscent of I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners, the pair stuff the goods under their clothes and trick their spouses into believing they’re pregnant.
In understanding We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! it’s useful to consider the play’s context. In the late 1960s Italians rebelled against low pay and bad working conditions — a general strike broke out in 1968. Meanwhile the country’s feminist movement was coming to the fore. One sees evidence of all this in We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! where the women, especially Toni, spur the action while duping gullible men, whether husbands or policemen.
We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! is very European. Fo was influenced by medieval street performance, French farce, circus performance. It results in a style unfamiliar to many North American theatregoers. This presents an additional challenge for theatre companies in terms of connecting with audiences weaned on Netflix and HBO.
To provide punch and immediacy Ferry has worked hard to localize We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!. The comedy is transported from Italy to 1980s Nanaimo, the time of the Solidarity Movement. In the play the men work at the Harmac mill and hang out at the Queen’s Hotel. Topical references abound: Bill Bennett, Grace McCarthy, Jack Munro, Arsenio Hall, Matt Dillon in Rumblefish, SCTV’s Bob and Doug McKenzie.
There’s certainly a lot going on — and at times it seemed the show staggered under the sheer weight of it all. Achieving a consistent comic tone was a problem. For example, Small’s heightened theatrical performance was at odds with that of Laurence Dean Ifill playing her husband Johnny. Ifill, a veteran TV actor, opted for an understated acting style. There was little chemistry between the two.
The brisk and frothy pacing essential for a successful farce (someone once said a good farce is like champagne bubbles popping) was sporadic in Act I. And the second act often dragged.
Some will find the unrelenting broadness and physicality of the play a delight. Others may find it a trial. Jokes about the women hiding food under their coats while pretending to be pregnant go on ad nauseam. (To be fair, perhaps it’s one of those George Costanza “It’s not you, it’s me” situations. Certain styles of broad farce don’t appeal to me and many in the audience did laugh long and often.)
This show is book-ended by added protest songs with actors playing guitar, violin and mandolin. It does lengthen an already long play but also provides a sense of labour-movement authenticity
We Can’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! continues at the Roxy Theatre to July 17.
