Non si paga! Non si paga!

Non si paga! Non si paga! ("Can't Pay! Won't Pay!") is a farce by Dario Fo (1926-2016)[1]

The original text

Written in Italian in 1974, it is a comedy about consumer backlash against high prices and was the first theatre piece performed in the Palazzina Liberty on 3 October 1974.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English as Can't Pay? Won't Pay! by Lino Pertile in 1975. (It has also been translated as We Can't Pay? We Won't Pay! and Low Pay? Don't Pay!.)

An adaptation of Pertile's translation by Bill Colvill, Robert Walker and Sam Smiley, called We Can't Pay? We Won't Pay! was performed by The San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1978 and published.

Another adapted version of the translation (or possibly of the Colvill et al. the adaptation), was commissioned by Omega Stage and presented at the Criterion Theatre, London on July 15, 1981.

There is also mention of a North American English-language adaptation, created by R.G. Davies around 1984, also performed by the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Performance history in South Africa

1982: Performed at the People's Space, Cape Town, opening on 19 January.

1982: Performed Upstairs at the Market, opening 22 March and directed by Dieter Reible.

1993: Produced as Can't Pay? Won't Pay! by CAPAB Drama, opening 21 August at the Nico Arena directed by Mavis Taylor, set design by Keith Anderson, lighting design by Jack Arnott. The cast: Camilla Waldman (Antonia), Jamie Bartlett (Giovanni), Anthony Bishop (Luigi), Gail Reagon (Margherita), Peter Butler (Sergeant, Inspector, Undertaker, Old Man).

1993: Performed at the National Arts Festival Fringe, directed by Warren Nebe. It was performed by a predominantly deaf cast using sign language.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can%27t_Pay%3F_Won%27t_Pay!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo

Typed copy of an English version called We Can't Pay? We Won't Pay!, credited to Lino Pertile (translation), Bill Colville and Robert Walker (adaptation), The San Francisco Mime Troupe and Sam Smiley, with Copyright 1978 assigned to Dario Fo. Found in the Stellenbosch Drama Department archive in 2022.

1789 programme, 1981.

Market Theatre Annual Report 1983.

Can't Pay? Won't Pay! programme, 1993

Stellenbosch University Library Catalogue.

National Arts Festival programme, 1993. 173.

Go to ESAT Bibliography