Shift Swapping

“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