A play, titled ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ directed by Kaveh Mahdavi is underway at Tehran City Theater.
Translated by Jahed Jahanshahi, the 1974 play is originally written by Dario Fo, Italian actor, playwright, comedian, singer and theater director, Honaronline reported.
Regarded as Fo’s best-known play internationally, it documents the refusal to comply with price increases of essential commodities during the severe economic crisis in Italy, wherein women (and men) would take what they wanted from the markets by only paying for what they could afford.
“This is a timeless play,” said the director. “The economic situation in Iran where prices of essentials keep shooting up, make it easy for the audience to comprehend the play,” Mahdavi said.
Commedia dell’arte, a form of theater characterized by improvised performance, and “distancing effect,” a theatrical concept coined by German playwright Bertolt Brecht, are approaches used in the performance.
“Distancing effect is defined as acting on a conscious plane, instead of, as hitherto, in the audience’s subconscious,” he said.
Pointing to the possibility of merging different approaches, Mahdavi said the combined theater method has received positive feedback earlier and hoped the same for the current play.
Mahsa Mahjour, Shahram Qaedi, Alireza Mehran, Faramarz Qelich-Khani, Masoumeh Sheikhzadeh, and Ghazaleh Jazayeri are the cast.
The play will be on stage until May 8 at the hall, located at the junction of Vali-e Asr and Enqelab Avenues in Tehran.
