The Shifting Heart is a play written in 1960 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 by Richard Beynon, it is an insight to the psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 of racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 and its victims. In the background of 1950s Collingwood

Collingwood, Victoria

Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...

, Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

.

Characters

• Poppa Bianchi
• Momma Bianchi
• Gino Bianchi
• Maria (Bianchi) Fowler
• Clarry Fowler
• Leila Pratt
• Donny Pratt
• Detective-Sergeant Lukie

Setting

The Shifting Heart is set in 1956, Collingwood, Melbourne on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

. Collingwood is a poor suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 populated by lower class Australian families and Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 immigrants

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

.

The play published in 1960 by Angus & Robertson

Angus & Robertson

Angus & Robertson is a bookstore chain in Australia. Its first bookstore was opened in 110½ Market Street, Sydney by Scotsman David Angus in 1884; it sold second-hand books. In 1886, he went into partnership with fellow Scot, George Robertson with whom he had worked earlier.- Bookselling history...

 begins with two pages of stage direction. It describes the home of Italians Mr. & Mrs. Vicenzo Bianchi, the stage is their backyard. On stage left there is a large garbage can that is overfilled, the overflow is in a small household bucket. On each side of the stage is the wall of the neighbours.

On stage left is the wall between the Pratt family, Leila and Donny. The wall is a fence that relaxes in the wind and shows an air of dilapidation

Dilapidation

Dilapidation is a term meaning in general a falling into decay, but more particularly used in the plural in English law for# the waste committed by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical living...

. The boards are able to be pushed apart enough to let the Pratts enter the Bianchis' backyard.

On stage right there is a wall described as a formidable

Formidable

Formidable is the soundtrack to the show performed at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France by American singer La Toya Jackson. Only 3,000 copies were created and it has become one of the most sought-after albums by La Toya's fans....

 barrier

Barrier

A barrier or barricade is a physical structure which blocks or impedes something.Barrier may also refer to:-Physical barriers:* Automatic full barriers, which serve to block roads at railway crossings...

, complete with a length of barbed wire

Barbed wire

Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...

across the top. It is low enough for the woman living there to toss garbage over. In the first pages of dialog and notes in the stage direction, it is clear that there is a “war” going on between the family living stage right against the Bianchis because they are Italian. The Pratt family is on the side of the Bianchi family.