Shift Swapping
Thu, 22 July 2004, 04:15 pmGreg Ross19 posts in thread
Shift Swapping
Thu, 22 July 2004, 04:15 pm“Shift Swapping” could just as easily have been titled “Shape Shifting,” although the chicks were in and out of their shifts quite often – now there’s a PR line to get the blokes in!
An excellent script, with more than a ring of truth about the vagaries of reunions. Those of us who are a certain age, understand only too well what it is like not to recognise, or be recognised by old schoolmates.
The phantom mirror was a nice touch in terms of explaining the uniform – shift? - although one later scene-in-uniform had me a little confused. The juxtaposition between order taking and gossip was wonderfully believable, as was the youngest friend desperately trying to be as grown-up as her work mates and part of the inner circle.
Jenny McCann captured the pathos of age and lost dreams perfectly, whilst Leah Maher was – the perfect bitch, readily recognisable from Claremont to Toorak. When the others asked her why she was questioning things, I had to refrain myself from yelling out, “Because she’s a lawyer.” Which is not to say Ms Maher is a real life bitch! No, no, no, no! Just a bloody good actor. Perhaps the most difficult part to play, was that of Sarah (the-bride-to-be), played by Julia Dalby, she did seem a little bland, compared to the other characters. This may be a fault of the script, in that people about to be married, are almost inevitably tense and nervous. Rayann Condy was fantastic as the “I call a spade a F$#$# shovel” film maker, loved the dagger look at the resident bitch.
Lighting was excellent, however I felt there was room to make more use of music, in terms of creating nostalgia and snapping the audience back to the future. As with the Rechabites, the Blue Room does have a problem when it rains heavily and the forecast is for further heavy rain, so the more softly spoken need to be ready for those unfortunate times. But hey, IÂ’m being picky. Great stuff people, male or female, weÂ’ve all come across the characters involved, a thoroughly believable vignette of life, after the chicken has crossed the road and the sky has fallen. Go see, you wonÂ’t be disappointed.
Disclaimer: Jarrad and Leah are friends of mine, my ticket was free and Amber helped me get dressed for a couple of weeks, some time ago.
All Good Things
Greg Ross
An excellent script, with more than a ring of truth about the vagaries of reunions. Those of us who are a certain age, understand only too well what it is like not to recognise, or be recognised by old schoolmates.
The phantom mirror was a nice touch in terms of explaining the uniform – shift? - although one later scene-in-uniform had me a little confused. The juxtaposition between order taking and gossip was wonderfully believable, as was the youngest friend desperately trying to be as grown-up as her work mates and part of the inner circle.
Jenny McCann captured the pathos of age and lost dreams perfectly, whilst Leah Maher was – the perfect bitch, readily recognisable from Claremont to Toorak. When the others asked her why she was questioning things, I had to refrain myself from yelling out, “Because she’s a lawyer.” Which is not to say Ms Maher is a real life bitch! No, no, no, no! Just a bloody good actor. Perhaps the most difficult part to play, was that of Sarah (the-bride-to-be), played by Julia Dalby, she did seem a little bland, compared to the other characters. This may be a fault of the script, in that people about to be married, are almost inevitably tense and nervous. Rayann Condy was fantastic as the “I call a spade a F$#$# shovel” film maker, loved the dagger look at the resident bitch.
Lighting was excellent, however I felt there was room to make more use of music, in terms of creating nostalgia and snapping the audience back to the future. As with the Rechabites, the Blue Room does have a problem when it rains heavily and the forecast is for further heavy rain, so the more softly spoken need to be ready for those unfortunate times. But hey, IÂ’m being picky. Great stuff people, male or female, weÂ’ve all come across the characters involved, a thoroughly believable vignette of life, after the chicken has crossed the road and the sky has fallen. Go see, you wonÂ’t be disappointed.
Disclaimer: Jarrad and Leah are friends of mine, my ticket was free and Amber helped me get dressed for a couple of weeks, some time ago.
All Good Things
Greg Ross
Re: Shift Swapping
Fri, 20 Aug 2004, 02:17 pmWalter Plinge
hmmm.... not sure which show you were watching, but this review could not have been further off the mark if it was for the performance of shift swapping i saw. you cited the script as exellent... once again, hmmm.. it started out with promise yes, then petered out into a disarray of unfinished ideas. having said that though if the author took time to second act the piece to explore the underlying sub plots the show may very well have held the audience better than it actually did. provided the sub plots were explored and not left as half done concepts. I do agree with your take on the individual performances of the girls except for that of julia dalby. I felt she gave grounding to a character thrown into an awkward situation, and take my hat off to her for seeing it through to fruition as it was by far the most under developed character of the piece.. its a shame the same cannot be said for a certain review writer who failed to see a show to curtain up at harbour. how we are expected to take seriously a mans understanding of theatre in this situation is beyond comprehension.
all good things... yes, it could have been.
all good things... yes, it could have been.
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···