The Shifting Heart Play Summary

As an immigrant myself watching the play for the first time, I was drawn to the shockingly realistic similarities my family encountered as immigrants, emotional as they maybe. It lifted the veil on past and current immigration issues plaguing Australia and the western world (Blake, 2018). The play's liberal usage of reference to the Bianchis family as "New Australians" reflects the general attitudes of that period especially since some of those "Old Australians" felt uncomfortable integrating with new cultures, languages and customs while fearful of becoming tainted. I do find it rather ironic that these "Old Australians" would refer themselves as natives or the stance, "I was born here," when they themselves were at one time immigrants whilst

Recent news with the country turning away Syrian refugees show how this unethical and immoral cycle of the dominant community's stance and fears towards refugees constantly repeats itself within Australia. Thus, the Shifting Heart's relevance in contemporary Australia is simply too hard to ignore and which I believe is the main reason for its return back into the theatre scene.

It is undeniable that the Shifting Heart is and was part of the Australian theatrical repertoire since its premiere at least until the late 90s. Questions are raised why it suddenly disappeared from almost all the major theatre companies save for a pair of local amateur productions in 2007 and 2016. The latter which was produced by the Geelong Repertory Theatre Company raised some interesting theories; especially as Geelong as a suburb does have a considerable migrant population from World War II. In 2016 the Australian government made major headlines across the globe for their decision to turn away Syrian refugees arriving by boat, "The Boat People". Widespread protests and news coverage were prevalent on social media platforms as a result. It is unquestionably an anti-immigrant stance