Phil & Jill & Jill & Phil
Stage Play by Alex Jones.
Play Synopsis
The original sex swap play! Do you find yourself wondering what life is really like for members of the opposite sex? Does your partner hear you exclaim 'you never see things from my point of view!' Would you want your partner to experience life as you know it? These are some of the questions posed in this comedy Phil & Jill & Jill & Phil - which deals with familiar contemporary issues: marital disharmony, employment pressures, infidelity and sexual harassment. Phil and Jill are your average 30-something couple; stuck in a rut, their lives revolve around Phil's demanding job as a marketing executive. Jill struggles through life as a wife, mother and shelf-stacker at the local supermarket. Frustrated and brow-beaten, Jill seizes an opportunity to change her life - with extraordinary results; she willingly trades Phil's E-Type jaguar (not surprisingly, the love of his life) for a magic potion from a passing traveller. What Jill doesn't bank on is the extent to which her life is changed - Jill becomes Phil and Phil becomes Jill! Confused? - Not half as much as they are! Entrapped in each other's bodies, they discover first hand some unimaginable truths. Jill (as Phil) learns that her husband is guilty of sexual harassment and Phil (as Jill) experiences unwelcome advances from the creepy supermarket boss. The tables slowly turn as each adjusts to his/her new role. Jill thrives in a high flying environment whereas Phil finds that he enjoys shopping for pretty dresses and frilly underwear ... The story reaches a bizarre and unexpected climax, with something of a twist in the tale. Jill Barker is a loving wife and dedicated mother, stacking shelves in a supermarket to make ends meet whilst coping with Phil, her chauvinist, insensitive and unappreciative husband, the unwelcome advances of his best friend and sexual harassment from her boss. When the opportunity to change things comes along, in the guise for a magic potion acquired from a traveller in exchange for Phil's E-Type Jaguar, how could she resist? But what actually happens is not quite what she expects as the spell turns Phil into Jill - and vice versa. Confused? Not half as much as they are! A madcap surreal comedy of gender reversal that challenges the identity of conventional stereotypes. It'll change your life! Phil Barker, up and coming marketing executive for Wellerby & Willis is a chauvinist of the first order. His long-suffering wife, Jill is a shelf-stacker at Wundashop Supermarket. Constantly brow-beaten by her husband’s massive ego, she takes the opportunity of swapping his treasured E-Type Jag for a potion from a passing traveller/witch. The potion transforms them into each other - Jill is Phil and Phil is Jill! Confused? Not half as much as they are! Jill quickly discovers that her husband has been trying to seduce his secretary when she takes over his job, and Phil learns first-hand what sexual-harassment really feels like. See a grown man fail his wife’s driving test, witness his personal horror when experiencing his first period, and watch a confused woman with an erection finding her own body strangely attractive. A mad-cap, surreal comedy of gender-reversal that constantly strives to challenge the identity of conventional stereotypes. The play contains some strong language and is not suitable for children!Joint production with Swan Theatre and Coventry Belgrade Theatre, April- June 1999. And tour of Chile.
Reviews
Play Reviews:
Joint production with Swan Theatre and Coventry Belgrade Theatre, April- June 1999 The Guardian, The Guide - Critics Choice Watch this! Phil & Jill & Jill & Phil Belgrade Theatre, Coventry - zany new comedy by Alex Jones in which a husband and wife learn the hard way to see things from each other's point of view. The Birmingham Post: Trading places in the sex war'. Alex Jones, the author of this bright little play, may have been considering the ambiguities within his own abbreviated Christian name (Alexandra/Alexander) when he conceived the Victor/Victoria theme of his comedy. The subject is trading places. A frustrated housewife called Jill is saddled with a boorish husband. Phil is a caricature of a male chauvinist pig with grotesque table manners to boot. He is rude, patronising, big-headed, over sexed and over paid. These things do not necessarily connect to a political "take" on feminism. Our hero works for an advertising agency and has a fourth-rate attitude to most things in skirts. His secretary is perceived as fair game for a jack-the-lad sexual come on and resents it. This has a certain relevance to life as we live it today at home and in the work place. But Mr. Jones has written a comedy, not a psychological study of a marriage, and therefore there is perception but no particular probing since what he has come up with is given a comic twist, although he does seem to take the line that women have a superiority over men - something I would be anxious to debate. Phil and Jill change places after Jill gives Phil's beloved E-type jag to an itinerant gypsy fortune teller who supplies a magic potion (the one thing that is unbelievable - at least I hope so). But from then on the play is splendid and provides one of the funniest evenings I have seen this season. Elizabeth Hill (as Jill) and John Flitcroft (Phil) give first class performances as they enter each other's bodies with Phil developing a penchant for sexy underwear and Jill swinging a left hook to an oversexed shop manager at the supermarket where she is a shelf stacker. - Richard Edmonds Sunday Mercury: When gender benders are one big laugh'. The battle of the sexes is alive and well and leaving people in stitches at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre. Alex Jones has created a modern fairy story with Phil and Jill and Jill and Phil - but there is no happy ever after. The idea for the play is blindingly simple: husband and wife swap bodies to experience life as their other half. We see almost identical scenes before and after the transformation and witness how their former gender affects their life in their new body. What makes is succeed is the sheer awfulness of the male characters - who conform to every rule of the Male Chauvinist Club - and the excellence of the actors. Elizabeth Hill plays Jill who becomes Phil through well-observed body movement alone. The attractive actress really did look like a man in drag and caused titters just by walking across the stage. John Flitcroft is brilliantly awful as lecherous wisecracking yuppie Phil - and he must be applauded for not "camping up" too much after the magical transformation. - Carol Hassall Evening News: 'Crass and crude but delightful'. Crude, crass and about as cultured as a tin of baked beans, Phil and Jill and Jill and Phil is the theatrical equivalent of a three-hour sitcom, with one difference - it's actually funny. A new play by Alex Jones, this comedy plumbs uncharted depths of lewdity in an attempt to both shock and delight the audience, and most of the time it hits the target. Elizabeth Hill and John Flitcroft play Jill and Phil, a married couple going through crisis as Jill slowly realises her husband is a male chauvinist pig. Drinking a magic potion (yes you do need to leave your cynicism at home), swaps husband and wife into each other's body, so they each have to experience their partner's life for a while. Their roles are more caricatures than characters - in true sitcom style they come out with clichés and one-liners while blundering through an insultingly obvious plot. But the subject of sex-swapping is rich picking for jokes, and the actors throw boundless enthusiasm into their roles, coming out with some well-observed mannerisms. And set to a pumping soundtrack, with a clever rotating set, the pace rarely flags - not giving the audience an opportunity to stop and consider what they're watching. Which is lucky, because attempting to engage the brain during this play would definitely be a bad idea. This is not for the prudish. Littered with enough swear words, sex jokes and visual humour to make Peter Stringfellow blush, Phil and Jill and Jill and Phil is brazenly offensive. Problem is, it's also funny. - PP Evening Mail: 'Changing bodies for a laugh'. When a husband and wife wake up and find they have exchanged sexes, what follows has to be painted in broad and basic brush strokes. This new comedy by Alex Jones never hints of a disposition to shy away from the challenge - and the result is the quota of belly laughs that was to be expected. But the earthiness does not entirely overwhelm other scripted moments that are more gently adroit - and in any case, the post- interval situation, with the wife in the body of her chauvinistic husband and vice-versa affords boundless scope for the inventiveness of Elizabeth Hill and John Flitcroft. With a galumphing stride and a distinctly unfeminine approach to sitting down, she meets the opportunities head-on. He however is far better as being an oaf than a woman in man's clothing. Rob Swinton and Bella Merlin contribute substantially to the fun, which happens on a revolve with three settings. Mark Babych's production runs till April 17 and will then open at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. - John Slim Coventry Evening Telegraph: There is nothing subtle about this modern comedy. Phil is a thrusting executive who sexually harasses his secretary, talks beer and football with the lads and doesn't value his wife. Meanwhile Jill, his feisty wife, juggles housework with a job stacking shelves in a supermarket for a sex pest boss, looking after their baby, Pippa and fulfilling Phil's demands. She is disillusioned, knows she could get more out of life and says men "chisel away at you until you become a cross between Mother Teresa and a Barbie Doll." But a chance encounter with a witch enables her to change places. Phil has to cope with wearing women's clothes, looking after a baby, catching the bus and deal with undesirable advances from men. And Jill does a great job furthering her husband's career. Elizabeth Hill, who plays Jill, stole the show with her portrayal of a man. But it is not the sort of play you would take your prudish grandmother to see. But the audience laughed raucously. You'll either love it or hate it. - Samantha Brankin
