Shopkeepers in Putney should be on their guard this week when Putney Arts Theatre puts on Dario Fo's Can't Pay Won't Pay.

When the famous Italian playwright first put on the farce in his home country in 1974 it sparked a consumer phenomenon that saw customers refuse to pay what the shops wanted them to.

However, the theatre's artistic director, Barney Hart Dyke, insists Putney's supermarkets and cafes can rest easy.

"When Fo first put the play on, what happened in the play actually started to happen in Italy," he says.

"People said we are not going to pay your prices, we are going to pay this.

"I don't really expect, or hope, that that happens here though."

The play is a farce that follows working class women rebelling against the cost of living by taking goods from a store without paying.

The plot concerns their efforts to conceal their bold stance from their men folk and the police who are, as is often the case in Fo’s plays, blundering figures of fun.

As is also often evident in Fo's plays there is a underlying political message that attacks the system and in particular the police force and abuse of the law, but Barney, who has been with the theatre almost 20 years, has tried to keep that to a minimum in his version.

"Fo is communist and there is always a political message in his plays," he says.

"The political message isn't as relevant in Italy today but the subject matter is.

"That's the reason I chose it, economic strife, prices on the up and everyone getting upset about it.

"It's about taking everyday topics and bringing them together into a story."

Can't Pay Won't Pay, Putney Arts Theatre, Ravenna Road, September 15 to 19, 7.45pm, £10. Call 020 8788 6943 or visit putneyartstheatre.org.uk.