Reviewed by Jordan D'Arcy
The Shifting Heart is a play that tells the story of the Bianchi family, who are Italian immigrants who have lived in Australia for eight years, post the Second World War. This particular script is a staple in drama and English ATAR classes – I would have loved the opportunity when I was in year 12 and studying this text to have had an example like this to watch.
This play is set in a quaint backyard in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood in the 1960s. The set (built by Pauline Gibbs and painted by Ursula Kotara), down to the wooden fences low enough to see over, was every bit the suburban Australian backyard.
Peter Boylen was excellent as Poppa Bianchi, he anchored the show beautifully. Kezia George as
Momma Bianchi was also excellent. Both characters were thoughtfully acted, and very much gave the impression that they felt like outsiders in their community. Rhys Lander was a particular stand out as Clarry Fowler, portraying the internal struggle of alienating himself from the white Australian community by marrying an immigrant. There was clearly work put into the Italian accents that many of the cast had to carry – in fact, the Australian accents were significantly harder to understand due to a lack of diction in some places.
The first act felt a tad flat – in particular the flow of the show was interrupted by the scene change in act one. Although I understand that there are limitations to how many crew members you can assemble for any given production, this set change needed to have something to distract from how long it took to set the 16-odd empty bottles to show the passage of time. My feeling is that it needed music, in the same vein as the Christmas carols from other various points in the show, over the change. The second act was tangibly heavier emotionally than the first act and, as an ensemble, it felt stronger than the first act. I have a feeling this was down to opening night nerves in the first half.
Overall, The Shifting Heart was an excellent production, and will hopefully see much bigger audiences than the one that attended with me on opening night.
Reviewer Note: Jordan is currently in rehearsal for the next show at Stirling Players. Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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