Why does the phone ALWAYS RING AT DINNER TIME?
In September 1996 Australia had a small call centre industry. It was the Howard Government that removed import restrictions on Telecommunication Equipment: and the call centre industry went from about 10,000 to over 250,000 employees.
So, it would seem that we have John Howard to thank both for this musical and for the constant interruptions to our daily life. What a legacy!
Over time a pretty consistent public perception of the "toxic call centre" culture has emerged: call centres are places with high staff turnover and low staff morale - the factories of the future. Whether this is the case or not, I can't be sure. However, we have all received an obnoxious call as we have sat down to watch our favourite TV show and let's just say that no-one has fun either taking or making a call like that.
Some of us have even hit a point where we have had to work in a call centre. In the case of this production, back in 2004 Tracy Harvey found herself flat broke. She got a job in a St.Kilda Road call centre raising funds for charities - helping humanity and herself.
"I'm surrounded by 'phonies'. One fellow has a spoon around his neck with a sign 'teaspoon for hire'. Another eats fresh oysters while we play Trivial pursuit to build team morale. Our supervisor prowls the aisles looking for slackers."
This experience was the beginning of the heightened world of We Care Marketing, home to a bunch of Phonies (a term that Tracy has created with a real sense of endearment, which we hope becomes part of Australian national lingo.)
The story follows Jean Brown on her first day at this shonky customer contact centre populated by flawed characters, including a money hungry man-eater boss from Caroline Springs, a wheeler dealer salesman of dubious reputation, a vacuous air-head brat and a desperate to prove himself team leader with zero training.
Despite Jean's own reluctance to fleece the customers and sabotage the careers of entrenched employees, Jean puts her best foot forward. Thus, we have the setting for a musical in a call centre. But, as in any good musical, there must also be a love interest and a greater morality tale to be told.
Jean Brown is a mother who has been abandoned by her kids and deserted by her husband for a younger woman: all because she is a compulsive volunteer who is always trying to do good. Whether it be making sandwiches for the local SES, rescuing injuring wildlife or helping the marginalised, doing good and making the world a better place is Jean's life.
Jean is an Australian character we all know, but often don't appreciate enough: it could be your Mum or the woman sitting in front of you. Heaven forbid it could be you. This show is a celebration of the Jean Browns of our world: a celebration of people like my own Mum, who has worked tirelessly to make the community a better place by sitting on every possible committee and sacrificing greatly for her own children.
The romance of Jean Brown and Frank McGee is not that of fantastical happy endings or unrealistic expectations .These are two fifty-something divorcees who are happy with the idea of sharing a cup of tea, or camping up at the Cathedral Ranges with only a bit of hot sex in the back of the camper van to keep them going. (We will leave that image to your imagination.)
The desires of both Jean and Frank actually say a lot about the world of Call Girl the Musical - which has been sincerely and delicately constructed by the brilliant Tracy Harvey and Doug MacLeod.
It is indeed a beautiful thing to be working on a musical in an accent that is so familiar, with a story that is so local. It is a show for Australian Mums and Dads, for anyone who has ever had a job or has compulsively volunteered. It is a musical that celebrates the quirky beings that inhabit our St.Kilda road offices slogging away at what some perceive to be the more 'mundane' jobs.
Tracy Harvey has succeeded, where few before her have: Tracy and Doug have written a fully fledged Aussie musical.
Let's hear it for the Jean Browns in our community. Stand up and be united, and remember helping helps heaps!
Bryce Ives
Director, Call Girl the Musical
April 2009
