Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!
Reviewed by Taylor Kass
The Actors’ Gang
Through March 28 [NOTE: Remaining shows postponed due to COVID-19]
RECOMMENDED
After their acclaimed production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist last year, The Actors’ Gang has lovingly embraced another play by Nobel Prize–winning Italian playwright Dario Fo. Fo’s script, written in 1974 but intended for adaptation, could not be more timely. Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! is a fast-paced screwball comedy with a message — think a Bernie Sanders campaign speech performed in the style of commedia dell’arte.
“Even suckers can get pissed off. Even suckers can take action.” The zany cast of characters in Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! have had enough of the capitalist hellscape that unfortunately mirrors our own. One morning, the freshly unemployed Antonia (an exuberant and quick-witted Kaili Hollister) participates in a protest of sorts — she joins the neighborhood women who, frustrated by prices that rise by the day, have banded together to raid the supermarket.
When Antonia arrives home with bags of stolen food, she enlists her friend Margherita (Lynde Houck) to help her hide the goods from her law-abiding factory-worker husband Giovanni (Jeremie Loncka). Add an anarchist police officer (Steven M. Porter), Margherita’s dim-witted husband (Thomas Roche), and several faux pregnancies to the mix, and the result is two hours of unpredictable and unbridled hilarity.
The actors volley sarcastic quips at one another with breakneck speed, sometimes tripping over their words in the process. While each member of the cast brings a uniquely electrifying energy, Steven M. Porter in particular gets funnier with each specifically crafted, absolutely kooky character he plays. His dead-pan delivery, improv skills, and physical comedy make his performance endlessly watchable.
The three-quarter thrust set, designed by director Bob Turton, makes the grand open space and tall ceilings of the Ivy Substation feel intimate enough for the audience participation that this show requires.
Actors’ Gang company member Cam Deaver’s translation conveys Fo’s irreverent sense of humor and pointed satire, peppering just the right amount of contemporary references into the text to create a wholly original tone. Theatre is an art form that is often rightfully criticized for its frequent inaccessibility to everyone except the wealthy. Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! proves that theatre can be both class conscious and wildly entertaining.
The Actors’ Gang Theater at the Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., Mar. 22, 2 p.m.; through Mar. 28 [NOTE: Remaining shows postponed due to COVID-19]. (310) 838-4264 or www.TheActorsGang.com. Running time: two hours with a 15-minute intermission.
