William Shakespeare once wrote “All the world’s a stage” and that includes the workplace.

Shift (n) - A woman's undergarment; a slip or chemise.”

Yes, this is where we got the name from!

As well as the feminine reference (the company was founded by three women), the word has a theatrical association. In the early 1900s in Dublin, John Millington Synge’s ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ caused controversy in the Abbey Theatre. It was considered objectionable that the main protagonist in the play, Christy Mahon claimed to have murdered his father in order to impress a woman and was thus seen as a hero (‘a slur on the Irish character’). Add to this, a reference in the play to ‘peasant girls in their shifts’ and it was all too much for any ’proper society’ to tolerate!

The play saw nightly walkouts and riots until its closure but survived to become one of the most beloved in Ireland, produced all over the world in many languages and stands as a testimony to the right of theatre practitioners to portray life in all it’s aspects, both beautiful and ugly.

The word ‘shift’ has many meanings (as you’ll have noticed throughout our website) - changing gear, movement, switching perspectives - and that last one seemed to represent what we want to achieve for our clients and audiences.

It’s a little word that caused a dramatic response - we hope the name Shift will mean something positive to you, our audiences and clients.