Trial Shifts and Tribulations

Friday 14 November - By Thomas Jones for The Student

Starting a new job is always difficult, but has your first day ever involved being whacked on the head with a stale baguette? Or, dislodging an elderly woman from a freezer full of peas? These are just some of the traumas experienced by protagonist James in EUTC’s third Freshers Slots show Trial Shifts and Tribulations, which takes the typical anxieties of a trial shift at Tesco, puts them in a pressure cooker, and turns the heat up to maximum.

Written and directed by Sonia Ostrovsky, the play is a masterclass in slapstick comedy and witty dialogue, with the audience laughing from start to finish. We see James meet his sadistic manager, who collars him for a lecture on how much a job at Tesco means – and his equally unwelcoming colleague, who announces her smoke break before delivering the warning “piss now or forever hold your piss” with expert comedic timing. Punchy one-liners like this are packed into the script, with there never being a dull moment.

After these introductions, the play uses situational comedy to its full potential, with the Tesco entrance becoming a revolving door of increasingly absurd customers. My favourites include the man who delivers a doting Shakespearean monologue about the Tesco meal deal and the woman who purchases a cucumber, olive oil and rope for her girlfriend, which James is assured is totally normal under the store’s “bondage memo.” No matter how ridiculous their character, every actor’s performance is completely convincing. The simple set – a backdrop, some shelves, and a table – did not limit the cast either, instead giving room for their exaggerated performances to shine.

Amongst all the chaos – which culminates in a brutal brawl involving every actor on stage – the play still manages to stay grounded in a romance between James and a customer nicknamed “cookie girl.” The chemistry between these actors stands out, with the pair charming the audience. The line between punchy comedy and genuinely interesting story is difficult to straddle, but in this play is proof that it is not impossible. The only downside is its forty-five-minute runtime, with such a creative premise deserving an expansion in the future. Where the audience might expect mundanity typical of a setting like Tesco, Trial Shifts and Tribulations instead offers up a brilliantly unhinged blend of slapstick, wit, and charm, proving it is a play worth clocking in for.