The Shifting Heart Play

  I have just read the powerful play' The Shifting Heart' by Richard Beynon.
The Shifting Heart is a play that deals with assimilation and immigration issues of the 1960s in Australia. Originally from Italy, the Bianchi family now reside in Australia and consider themselves proud and true Australians. The play is set in the post war period, a time when immigrants landed on Australian shores. By 1961 immigrants made up around 26% of Victoria’s population.

In my blog I will be discussing how the director of 'The Shifting Heart', Richard Beynon, showed Australian citizens attitudes towards immigrants.

Are the Bianchis really accepted as Australians?
As the drama unfolds the Bianchi family must come to terms with the ugly face of Australia's racism.

Before getting involved in the Bianchis’ story in the play, I would like to explain the attitude Australians had towards immigrants, particularly those of European heritage.
- Refugees were given menial jobs as labourers, regardless of their skills.
- It was considered that new immigrants should change their way of living to the Australian way and ignore their cultural background.
- Migration to Australia was strictly determined by race.
Just from these points, the attitude towards immigrants was pretty low, their skills were not valued, their culture and heritage was frowned upon and they were told to basically act Australian and leave their cultural beliefs behind.

The beginning of the play introduces the main characters, Momma and Poppa- which in Italian means mum and dad, Maria and Gino, their children and Maria's husband Clarry. 'The Shifting Heart' takes place from the afternoon of Christmas Eve to the early morning of Christmas Day. The climax of the play is reached during the night of Christmas Eve and the play finishes on early Christmas morning.

Throughout the play many stereotypes are represented, the Bianchis are represented as a typical Italian family, which is conveyed particularly through their dialogue, their house and their attitudes.  Even before the dialogue begins the audience is given a visual clue of the Bianchis’ untidy backyard and untended lawn with a barbed wire fence on one side separating them from their neighbours.  The use of stereotypes helps portray the story, Beynon uses typical stereotypes of their Italian culture e.g. Spaghetti so the audience can identify with them.

In the play the Bianchis are faced with a lot of stereotypical slang, even from their own friends. Leila who is a neighbour of theirs continuously makes jokes to Poppa about their heritage, continuously tells Poppa that he is “too soft” and “if you keep taking it, she’ll keep giving it”. Leila is a confusing character, where sometimes she is their friend and sometimes she makes racist jokes, for example in one scene Leila keeps implying all Poppa and Momma make for her and her husband is spaghetti. Another character that plays a small part in the play and makes stereotypical, racial comments is the butcher Mr Wilson; Mr Wilson’s butchery is a source of gossip. One thing that is clear in the play is Momma thinks that Mr Wilson likes her as he calls her Momma Macaroni, although this is not the case. Mr Wilson will not defend momma when their unfriendly neighbour complains about their family’s behaviour. The reason he does not stand up for momma is he does not believe in the rights of migrants, this is evident in the play by the way he treats them as if their feelings don’t matter.

 A main character in the play is Clarry; Clarry is the husband of expectant mother, Maria, who is the daughter of Momma. Clarry is a typical Australian, who works in a scrap metal business. Maria, Momma and Poppa pressure Clarry to take Gino as his partner in his business. This is a big conflict in the play and shows that even Clarry who loves and is married to Maria still thinks about the racist remarks he will get from making a partnership with an Italian. The introduction of Clarry into the plot is important as it is Clarry whose heart ‘shifts’, this means that Clarry is torn between his Australian culture and his wife.
Gino and Clarry’s relationship in the story becomes a very confusing at times, Gino being Maria’s little brother is always getting into conflicts in the story.  Clarry tells Gino to start acting like a man and to stop buying trouble (pg27). Although Clarry still cares for Gino he is again torn between his beliefs and his family. Beynon shows Maria slowly distancing herself from Clarry throughout the play due to the loss of respect Clarry has for her family.

Throughout the play the younger son Gino faces many conflicts and racial issues of his own. Gino being the youngest of the family was always treated like a child by Poppa, by saying things like “where you go?” pg29, Poppa would continuously ask where are you going and what are you doing. Throughout the play Benyon represents Gino as trying to show his maturity by flirting with Leila their neighbour and getting into fights in defence of his culture.

Each character plays an important role in the play, Momma being the leader of the house, Poppa being the quiet one, Gino being the misunderstood one, Maria being the pregnant daughter and Clarry being the main character whose heart ‘shifts’.
The play ends traumatically and all the characters learn a lesson about accepting people no matter where they come from. The events in the play change the Bianchi family forever.

The Shifting Heart represents the racist attitude that Australians had towards immigrants from the 1960s until even today, although many stereotypes are not as mean and cruel people still use them in everyday life. You may even say them yourself without realising, from things like Indian taxi drivers! To Asians are really smart, stereotypes are used everyday. Although these stereotypes and racist statements may seem harmless things like culture differences can affect families and even ruin lives.

This play may have a profound effect on some people in the audience who may think that they are not racist but use some of the racist comments mentioned above without thinking of the impact they may have on people.  This play certainly makes you think about people’s attitudes toward immigrants in the past and how those attitudes still exist today for some people while other people have learned from the past and embrace new immigrants to Australia.

Written By Tegan Mccard