Culch.ie

Dario Fo and Devious Theatre Company

The prolific Devious Theatre Company announced yesterday that they will be doing yet another production before the end of the year, and this less than two weeks after the end of their last production, a very successful and enjoyable run of Willy Russell’s Stags and Hens.

The ever more ambitious guys and gals have decided to do not just a play, but a season of plays by author, Dario Fo.

Dario Fo is an italian Nobel prize-winning playwright, satirist, director, actor and composer. A very accomplished fellow to say the least. And now the lads at Devious Theatre will perform two of his plays, the first in December 2009 and the second in early 2010.

First up is ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’- after the apparent suicide of an anarchist from a fourth floor police HQ window, the policemen involved are having difficulties remembering the details of the event. That is, until a nameless, deranged madman shows up and proceeds to wrap the authorities around his finger in a master class performance of utter logic.

Sounds intriguing, right?

The second choice then, and their first production for 2010 is Fo’s ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ a story of two frustrated housewives who, fed up with the rising cost of living, particularly supermarket prices, decide to rebel against it by taking the goods without paying. However, hiding this from their husbands and the authorities chasing them might prove a little trickier than expected.

Despite the fact that both of these plays were written by Fo in the 1970s they seem to fit today’s current climate of discontent and rebellion against authority (however mild) particularly well. Fo himself maintains that his work belongs to every citizen who is downtrodden by oppressive systems such as governments, the Catholic Church and the police forces.

If you like the sound of these plays you can keep abreast of castings, auditions, rehearsals and everything else on the Devious Theatre blog. Mark Wednesday 2 – Sunday 6 December in your diaries for ‘Accidental Death of An Anarchist’ and keep an eye out for the announcement of dates for ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ in Spring 2010.

Both shows will be performed in the new Set Theatre on John Street, Kilkenny, a step away from their usual home at the Watergate.