Writer: Nicole Gulasekharam
Director: Fiona Harris
The world of an Australian commercial gym reception area is conjured brilliantly by Nicole Gulasekharam in her Edinburgh Fringe debut. She interacts with a steady stream of imaginary customers, charming them, solving their problems with little back-up and being a receptacle for their rage.
As the solo show progresses we discover what can happen when a demanding and unrewarding day-job lasts too long. Nicole is a classical musician but needs her meagre earnings from the gym to stay afloat financially. She’s a people pleaser who isn’t given time or space to take care of her own needs.
Despite this she’s expected to front a company video that’s being made in celebration of International Women’s Day. In a show full of sparkling wit and poignancy this element produces some of the most glorious ironic touches.
But there’s more to it than that: this piece eloquently shows up the exploitation of people working in customer-facing service roles. It pleads for everyone to be more considerate of the human being behind the counter and not just view them as someone to be mean towards in order to get a discount.
At the same time that the corporate video is being shot the company is getting rid of its casual staff, forcing Nicole into a dilemma. Should she dive even deeper into her thankless role by going full-time, potentially killing off the last vestiges of her musical career, or break free?
While we can all hazard a guess at the more likely outcome, we can’t predict a little bit of magic Nicole produces from under the counter – and for once it’s not just a carefully rolled towel.
By drawing us into the world of the Casual Receptionist, Nicole Gulasekharam has shown an ability to write and perform with biting humour, involving the tiniest bit of non-scary audience participation. Hers is a perfect show in an imperfect world. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with next.
Runs until 31 August (not 17) | Image: Contributed
