Nobody pays here

Author: Dario Fo.

Translation: Josemari Velez de Mendizabal.

Director: Vene Herrero.

Actors: Maider Alcelay, Itziar Rosado, Xabi Latorre, Garbiñe Nuñez, Arantza Ezkurra, Mariasun Pagoaga, Itsaso Nuin, Asier Alonso.

Company: DOKE Theatre Group

When: 8 October.

Where: Sala Zaraia de Aretxabaleta.

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Dog food may be due to eating, hunger or laughter between the beginning and the end of the action: gut pain.

Dario Fo: Italian actor and playwright, famous for his political works, with the ability to express serious issues with satire, humor and quite explicitly. For all lovers of performing arts it is a gift Here you do not pay to see a work like today, and also in Basque. It was published in 1974. It places history in an economic crisis. Prices are constantly rising, wages are falling and evictions are taking place. Antonia, along with the other women in the neighborhood, will steal food in the supermarket, causing a stir. She tells her friend Margarita what happened and offers her food. They both start to guess at the police an early pregnancy, even before their husbands, and they will increase the lie by trying to reach excess and absurdity. Juan, the partner of Antonia, prefers to go hungry than stealing food in the name of the sacrifice and obligation of the worker. Everything starts to get complicated, as the police are in charge of examining the houses by door. Laughter will take the size of lies.

We have characters with contrasts, well-settled, that give countless strokes to the drama, towards a more interesting development of the characters and trying to show something closer to the viewer, forming part of the story: an irritated woman, a friend who is afraid but the same, a husband who considers himself leftist, a friend who struggles to raise the salary, the empathetic police and the civil guard.

The work has a clear objective: to point out capitalism and to appropriate the power of the working class, to identify it with this subject. Talk of rebellion on the pretext of unemployment and inflation, of the need to take control, while political parties and trade unions try to manage all old chaos, keep calm and that order. It speaks of the voice of women, who are the ones who, in general, buy and therefore know the price rises from the front line. They are the protagonists and those fighting for the proletariat. In this sense, the title is perfect because when it says “nobody” means “everyone”. Because although they do not appear on the scene she mentions all the women of the neighborhood, because they end up talking to their husbands, because she puts the entire proletariat at the height of the employers’ exploitation and capitalism. Everyone lies before the police and prejudice. This gives meaning to the work of Darío For, who not only remains in the story, but every artistic decision has a political and social basis. It is a agile, fun, profound and meaningful work at once.

If you can't see the play, I recommend you read the script.