The Mercury Theatre in Colchester is fast becoming one of the country’s most exciting and prestigious producing houses, thanks mainly to Creative Director Ryan McBryde’s varying programme and vision.

Its McBryde who directs their current production ‘They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!’, a political farce from the pen of Franca Rame and Dario Fo, the latter mainly known for his well-known play ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’.

This modern-day adaptation, cleverly updated for Colchester specifically by Deborah McAndrew, mixes political satire with wise-cracking dialogue, larger-than-life characters and modern-day references to create a comedy depicting the lengths the public will go to when they’re desperate, low on money and with mouths to feed. 

Zoe Hurwitz’s innovative, practical set design really comes to life in the second act and Paul Herbert’s musical supervision adds sprinkles of melodies and background music to some nice physical moments and routines.

The story is a simple tale of a cash-strapped housewife Anthea (Laura Doddington) who makes the most of a riot at her local supermarket by stealing as many provisions as she can carry. 

Knowing her hard-working husband Jack (Joseph Alessi) will be furious at her theft, she asks the help of her best friend Maggie (Tesni Kujore) to hide the evidence all around her flat, causing many acts of farcical, frantic lies and secrets to Maggie’s husband Lewis (Jack Shalloo) and the local police Sergeant and force (Marc Pickering).

It’s bizarre, ridiculous and of course far-fetched but McBryde’s direction breaks the fourth wall and brings the audience right into the heart of the story. Purposeful mistakes on stage, actors corpsing, moustaches falling off and Doddington’s constant winking at the audience makes it hard to tell at times whether this is a full-blown pantomime. But the audience are behind the actors throughout which gives the feel of a unique night at the theatre.

Doddington’s feisty and fast-paced Anthea is the glue that holds the piece together and it’s her energy which keeps driving the piece forward aptly. However, stealing the show at every opportunity he has is Marc Pickering, who multi-roles as five characters (although he quips ‘I’m doing my best here playing seven characters’). His Alan Partridge-esque delivery and impeccable comic-timing leaves us breathing a sigh of relief whenever he enters the stage and he has the wonderful ability of rinsing every funny moment for everything it’s worth. A joy to watch. 

A musical finale with Pickering on electric guitar and a plethora of placards filling the stage, together with a rousing final political speech by Doddington, makes this a well-rounded piece of theatre bringing entertainment and laughter to a world struggling. Since the play touches on issues surrounding food poverty, the Mercury have decided to collect donations for local food banks at each performance.

A silly but entertaining production littered with gags and surprises.