Fly In Fly Out Play Analysis

Fly In Fly Out directed by Howard Cassidy and performed by Tammy Weller, Peter Cossar, Stephanie Tandy, Toby Martin and Timothy Potter is a play about the lives of people living in Fly In Fly Out communities across Australia. The story follows the character of Jenny and how the ‘Fly in Fly out’ workers are affecting her life as well as the town. Jenny’s life suffers from a work/home life imbalance and Tammy Weller who performed the role used the dramatic languages to convey the central theme of work/home life imbalance. Through the elements of situation, relationship, voice, movement and tension, the dramatic meaning was successfully communicated to the audience.
In the first scene of the play the main character Jenny is running late for work

Her relationship with her father doesn’t cope well with their busy lives as neither of them appreciates what the other is trying to do. Weller and Peter Cossar who plays her father bring this to the stage using relationship and the tension it creates between them. Their relationship is affected by a work/home life imbalance in both their lives, the father is only home at night and Jenny is working two jobs. The tension of relationship is shown by the actors as they never stand close together and are snappy and raise their voices quickly. This space shows the divide between the characters and as the play progresses and they learn more about each other the space decreases. The loss of space shows the tension leaving their relationship as they both have dealt with part of the problem which is work and now their home life is better. Overall this conveys to the audience the dramatic meaning of work/home life imbalance but is also shows it is something that can be fixed.
The dramatic meaning of work/home life imbalance is evident throughout the play ‘Fly In Fly Out’. Each character is affected by either their own or someone else’s imbalance, this imbalance comes not only from themselves and the situation they put themselves in but also the fly in fly out works in the town. Through the use of the dramatic conventions of situation, relationship, voice, movement and tension, the dramatic meaning was successfully communicated to the audience by the cast of 'Fly In Fly Out