Need a good laugh? Then No Pay? No Way! could be just what you need.

Let’s face it – the news headlines are pretty depressing right now, what with the aftermath of the bushfires, climate change, the coronavirus, sports rorts, banking misconduct, stagnant wages, and self-interested, sloganeering politicians, for starters.

Italian playwright Dario Fo had plenty to put the boot into when he wrote his political satire Sotto Paga! Non Si Paga! with his wife Franca Rame in 1974. Originally translated in English as Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay, Marieke Hardy has done a new adaptation for Sydney Theatre Company called No Pay? No Way!, which sticks faithfully to Fo’s story, while putting more of an emphasis on the two central women.

Helen Thomson, Catherine Văn-Davies and Glenn Hazeldine. Photograph © Prudence Upton

More than 40 years since it was written, it’s disconcerting how relevant Fo’s farcical story about exploited workers, greedy politicians, ruthless employers and corrupt banks remains. But at least it makes us laugh, uproariously at times, at the things that so often rile us. In fact, the production is a riotous, ridiculous delight with a sting in its tail.

Set in an outer suburb...