REVIEW: Sydney Theatre Company's NO PAY? NO WAY! Returns Even Better And More Relevant

Wednesday 10th April 2024, 7:30pm, Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House

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In 2020, pre-Covid, Sydney Theatre Company staged NO PAY? NO WAY!, Marieke Hardy’s adaptation of Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s political farce SOTTO PAGA! NON SI PAGA!  This production, directed by Sarah Giles has been given an encore season with new performers stepping into three of the five roles, resulting in an even more captivating and comical evening of theatre that resonates even louder in the current economic climate.

For the 2024 season, Mandy McElhinney and Emma Harvie step into the lead roles of the recently unemployed fast-talking middle-aged housewife Antonia and her young naïve neighbor and accidental accomplice Margherita while Roman Delo takes on young factory worker, Margherita’s husband of 5 months, Luigi.  Glenn Hazeldine and Aaron Tsindos return as Antonia’s trusting, dimwitted, but utterly devoted husband Giovanni and the plethora of smaller characters whose likeness becomes a running gag.

The premise of the NO PAY? NO WAY!, the source material originally written in 1974 in response to a severe economic crisis in Italy, is that Antonia has just returned from the supermarket where the local housewives have caused a riot in response to learning prices were being increased yet most of the community could barely pay their bills.  On the way home she enlists Margherita to help her carry her ‘liberated’ loot leaving the young devout catholic with a dilemma about her ethics and her loyalty, all the while putting her own financial security in jeopardy in a society where women have no rights in the workplace, able to be fired for any number of reasons.  Attempting to hide her less than legal activities from her highly moralistic husband leads Antonia to create an ever-increasing web of absurd lies which Giovanni surprisingly accepts, either from ignorance or understanding not to challenge or upset his wife, and gradually more people are drawn into the farcical story of a community coming together to revolt against management and government that reaps the rewards of the working class labor yet refuses to compensate accordingly. 

Charles Davis’ expression of low budget, high density housing returns in all its concrete and linoleum glory with a few updates for even bolder visual contrast.  The most significant update to Davis’ design is the reworking of Antonia and Margherita’s costumes, particularly their winter coats to bold solid colors of magenta and chartreuse leading to a bigger visual impact. 

For this season, Mandy McElhinney excels as Antonia as she manages to strike the right balance between realistic intuitive expression and ensuring the weight of the absurdity lands leading to a performance that makes it believable and relatable as she ensures people can see someone they know in Antonia.  She ensures that Antonia doesn’t feel forced or playing for laughs but genuine in her belief that what she is doing is right and necessary and that she really is making up the stories on the fly.  As with all the other characters, she presents Antonia with an Australian accent, anchoring the work in a place that allows it to resonate more easily with the Sydney audience while off scene chatter with neighbors is replied in Italian, honoring the play’s origins.  McElhinney has an easy texture and variance to her voice and her physicality that makes Antonia an easily likable ‘every woman’ while still conveying the confidence that makes her think she can pull of the subterfuge.  As Margherita, Emma Harvie gives the younger woman a wonderful air of innocence and anxiety with a similar innate understanding of Margherita’s reactions, so they are presented naturally with a belief that they are spontaneous.  She captures the nervousness and the deer in the headlights bewilderment brilliantly ensuring that nothing is overplayed.  Roman Delo is a good match for Harvie, presenting Luigi as an equally naive newlywed who has a high degree of anxiety, particularly when he’s drawn into the web of lies, relayed as secondhand news from Giovanni. 

With four years between seasons, Glenn Hazeldine and Aaron Tsindos return to their roles with a greater depth of understanding, adapting their performances to match the energy and earnestness presented by the new performers.  Hazeldine’s turn as Giovanni relies on his physicality as much as Marieke Hardy’s text and he ensures every opportunity is taken while ensuring that actions are presented with natural realistic reactions.  He has a brilliant comic timing enabling a long sequence of physical comedy to land perfectly, even for the audience that know what is coming.  Tsindos retains the over the top caricature for his various role which works even better than before because of how naturalistic the core characters and now played. 

NO PAY? NO WAY! Is a brilliant piece of farcical theatre that is anchored in weighty issues of economic crisis and the working class struggle against the white collar management of big institutions and governments.  For those that haven’t experienced this production, secure a ticket.  For those that saw the 2020 season, go see NO PAY? NO WAY! again and experience how the power of the piece changes with the new cast and the benefit of time.

https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2024/no-pay-no-way

Photos: Daniel Boud

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