Critics and Audiences Praise Marieke Hardy's Adaptation 'No Pay? No Way!'
Congratulations to Marieke Hardy on her new adaptation of Dario Fo's No Pay? No Way! which opened last week at the STC. It's been delighting audiences and critics alike.
What’s it about:
Prices are out of control – and so is Antonia. Sick of having barely enough to pay the gas bill, she leads an uprising at a local supermarket that sees a group of angry housewives shoplift ‘til they drop. Now, with a pile of newly “liberated” loot, Antonia and her best friend Margherita embark on a ludicrous, laugh-a-minute escapade, keeping their well-meaning but bumbling husbands in the dark and staying three steps ahead of the coppers.
What the critics had to say:
Marieke Hardy’s lively adaptation updates the language and the political references without losing the spirit of the original. This is a very funny show… Overall it is a demonstration that Fo, with the help of Hardy, has not lost his appeal. The Australian by John McCallum
…this splendid new adaptation is from Marieke Hardy. The script is beautifully true to the play’s roots with enough accordion, spoken and accented Italian and boiler-suited apparatchiks to satisfy any purist…Liberation takes many forms in this stellar offering which contorts riotously for two hours to hit the frontal lobe along with the funny bone. ★★★★★ Arts Hub by Judith Greenaway
This production is among the funniest STC has put to the stage in years. Thanks in part to Hardy’s repointing of the script, No Pay? No Way! speaks clearly to the situation we find ourselves in now, one in which political and corporate elites comfort themselves with the knowledge that ordinary folk are all working too damn hard to care about their pork-barrelling and pocket-lining. ★★★★ Audrey Journal by Jason Blake
The absurdist comedy is adapted by Marieke Hardy, who bridges gaps of time and space, for a magnificent new version that makes the story feel pertinent and surprisingly urgent. Suzy Goes See by Suzy Wrong
Hardy’s adaptation is genuinely funny, with some wonderfully witty dialogue that builds joke on joke. The opening night audience clearly had an absolute ball, in fact I haven’t heard an audience laugh so loud for a long time. ★★★★ Limelight by Jo Litson
Funny? There has to be a stronger word? Funny? If I wasn't sitting down, I'd have fallen over. I mean, at one point I was crying. Sydney Morning Herald by John Shand
No Pay? No Way! runs at the Sydney Theatre Company until the 28th of March before heading to Riverside Theatres in Parramatta from 1st - 4th of April. Tickets are selling fast, you can purchase your tickets here.
