SINDHI ADAPTATION OF A PLAY "CAN'T PAY WON'T PAY" STAGED IN SHRI RAM CENTRE Report By Tarun Rawtani New Delhi: Shriram Centre was packed to the full with the audience on 27th & 28th Oct 2012 as the Sindhi Academy Presented a Play namely "Chukaeedaasi Kaun" an adaptation of italian Noble Laureate Dario Fo's play "Can't Pay Won"t Pay" . The play was directed by Renowned Director Manohar Khushlani. Jagdish Rawtani played as Govind, Harish Kotwani as Jagdish, Usha Shahani as Laxmi, Mamta Chawla as Mohini , Ravi Khurana as Inspector , Akshay Kurseja as Hawaldar, Shiva Vohar as Father and Pawan Bajaj as Taboot wall. Live instruments were played by Tarun Rawtani and Ravi Khurana. Performances were par excellent . The audience thoroughly enjoyed the comedy and could appreciate the underlined social message. Laxmi, govinde, Mohine and Jagdish are neighbors in the same run-down apartment block. The cost of living is spiraling out of control and with neither couple having paid their rent or utility bills for months the threat of eviction is looming close. However it is only wives that know of the impending doom, as the housekeeping money they receive from their ever-trusting husbands is being swallowed up by the cost of living. Things are so bad that all of the women in the area lay siege to the local supermarket and relieve it of its stock without paying. Obviously this incurs the wrath of the police who begin to search for any of the stolen goods. Laxmi knows that Govind would not condone any of this action and needs to hide as much as she can. This is just the start of a sequence of events that include phantom pregnancies, ideology touting policemen, tomfoolery and impromptu celebration. It also involves charters appearing and disappearing out of windows and doors- the kind of facial business of which Fo is a master. Initially Govind is shown as a gullible law abiding citizen, but when he and jagdish are about to lose their jobs and are rewarded by free provisions due to a freak truck accident, they succumb to temptation and bring the booty home. Both the husbands and wives are hiding their groceries from each other until the situation creates an interesting anti-climax. Throughout the play the audience is also educated about economy and market forces as understood by the playwright