''Away'' is a play written by Australian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Michael Gow. First performed by the

Griffin Theatre Company Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new works, based in Sydney. Founded in 1979, it is the resident theatre company at the Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. the artistic director is Declan Greene. Artistic directors ...

in 1986, it tells the story of three internally conflicted families holidaying on the coast for Christmas, 1968. ''Away'' has become one of the most widely produced Australian plays of all time and is part of the Higher School Certificate syllabi or general High School Curriculum in many states, including

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. With the play's conscious nods to

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

(it opens with the school's production of ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' and ends with ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

''). Gow emphasises the performativity of individual human responses to death, racism, class and relationships. Gow sees the play as largely autobiographical.

Synopsis

To conclude the year, a high school stages a production of ''

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. The play is directed by Miss Latrobe, whose work is praised by the headmaster Roy. Among the performers are Tom and Meg, who form a polite friendship and show a mutual attraction to each other. Backstage after the production, Tom's parents, Harry and Vic, give the show an enthusiastic reception, whereas Meg's parents, Gwen and Jim, react with indifference. The two families discuss their plans on going away for the holidays, although after his parents depart Tom is hurt when he overhears Gwen slandering his family's lack of wealth. Gwen also shows disdain towards Coral, Roy's aloof wife. Following the death of their son in the Vietnamese War, Coral suffers from severe bouts of depression and

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

which is revealed to be causing a great strain on her marriage to Roy. Although staying in different accommodation, the three families eventually converge on the same location at the Gold Coast for their holiday. Jim, Gwen and Meg are staying at a caravan park, and on Christmas Day, Jim is upset that the box of Christmas presents for the family has been left at home. Although he tries to hastily change the subject, Meg deduces that Gwen left the box of presents at home on purpose and angrily confronts Gwen. Gwen retaliates, offended and hurt as she explains her logic, immediately departing to lie down. Privately, Jim shares a memory to Meg of when he saw Gwen recite

Scarlett O'Hara Katie Scarlett O'Hara is the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 in literature, 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind (novel), Gone with the Wind'' and the 1939 Gone with the Wind (film), film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Le ...

's famous monologue from ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'', and places emphasis on Gwen finding solace in the film and aligning her life with the quote. Coral and Roy stay at a luxury holiday hotel, where Coral endeavours to interact with other guests, although she ends up alienating them. Away from dinner, she engages in a surreal conversation with housewife Leonie, who confesses her husband is cheating on her. She then encounters Rick, a young man who is on his honeymoon at the hotel. They begin to form a connection with Coral after he indulges her conversations about marriage and her son. Their connection turns to attraction on New Year's Eve, as they kiss at midnight. Roy discovers them and threatens Coral with

electrotherapy Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment. In medicine, the term ''electrotherapy'' can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological disea ...

to cure her perceived insanity. Harry, Tom, and Vic set up camp next to their car and progress along the coast from beach to beach. While desperate to ensure a happy holiday for Tom, Harry and Vic cautiously emphasise their holiday is humble. Eventually, they travel to the beach where Jim, Gwen and Meg are staying. After Gwen has an outburst, she goes on a walk with Vic as Harry privately confesses to Jim that Tom has

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

. The treatment has caused their family a great deal of pain and brought a new appreciation of life, although they are prepared to accept that this is their last holiday together. The encounter ends with plans to attend the campsite talent show later that evening. Tom and Meg spend time together, with Tom disclosing that Coral has run away from the hotel and is now masquerading as an artist at the campsite. He awkwardly propositions Meg, revealing to her that he is aware he is dying and pleading with her to let him try having sex with her, before she gently lets him down and leaves. Later at the campsite talent show, Tom and Coral perform a symbolic piece about freedom resilience and letting go. In the closing scene, at the start of the next school year, an excited Miss Latrobe introduces the students to

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

'', before looking around the class to find someone to read the first lines*. ''*In the original production, the first lines were delivered by Tom. Gow revised the ending to optionally have Tom noticeably absent, and implied to have died due to his illness.''

Productions

Original Australian production

''Away'' was first performed by the

on 7 January 1986 at the

Stables Theatre, Sydney The Stables Theatre is a 105-seat theatre in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The intimate theatre has a kite-shaped stage. The theatre was built in , converting an old stables. It was originally called the Nimrod Street Theatre, giving its name to the Ni ...

. The production was directed by Peter Kingston, designed by Robert Kemp with lighting design by Liz Allen. The cast included Christian Hodge, Angela Toohey, Benjamin Franklin, Geoff Morrell, Julie Godfrey, David Lynch, Andrea Moor, and

Vanessa Downing Vanessa Downing (born 5 May 1958) also known as Vanessa Ryan, is an Australian actress and singer, voice artist and lawyer Downing was appearing with singing group ''The Madrigals'', an acapella group who were performing at the Sydney O ...

2005 National tour

In 2005, a national Australian tour commemorated the play's 20th anniversary. It was a co-production with

Queensland Theatre Company Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Brown Theatre and the Queensland Performin ...

and

. Then Artistic Director of the

, Michael Gow also directed the production which later embarked on a sold out national tour. Completing the creative team included Brett Collery as composer and sound designer, Robert Kemp as production designer, and Damien Cooper as lighting designer. The cast included Leon Cain, Sue Dwyer, Barbara Lowing, Joss McWilliam, Daniel Murphy, Francesca Savige, Richard Sydenham and Georgina Symes.

2017 Malthouse and Sydney Theatre Company production

A new adaptation of the play was staged in 2017, co-commissioned by

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...

and

Malthouse Theatre Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD ...

. This production was recorded for film by Australian National Theatre Live, and was broadcast on digital streaming platforms during the 2020

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The cast included Liam Nunan,

Naomi Rukavina Naomi Rukavina is an Australian television and theatre actress. Her career began playing various stage roles whilst studying at the Victorian College of the Arts. She took roles in various short films and her film debut was in the 2012 comedy '' ...

, Glenn Hazeldine, Wadih Dona, Julia Davis, Marco Chiappi, Heather Mitchell, and Natasha Herbert. The production, directed by Malthouse Artistic Director Matthew Lutton received generally positive feedback. Cameron Woodhead of

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

awarded the play four and a half stars, stated the production was "magnificent on every level", praising acting, design and direction, with sentiments being echoed by Daily Review's Ben Neutze, who commended the production as "inventive, tightly-wound, warm, passionate, and compassionate rendering. In less favourable reviews, the production was criticised as "flat" and "disconnected from the classic" in ArtsHub, and Limelight Magazine commenting that "some of that magic is missing and the tears stay away" although praising the production on "still resonat ngon many levels". The

Australian Book Review ''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are " ...

delivered a two star review, with reviewer Ian Dickson critical of Lutton's direction and "incoherent muddle that was presenting itself on the Drama Theatre stage with bewilderment". Nevertheless, the production enjoyed immense popularity in both Melbourne and Sydney during its engagements. Under Lutton's direction, creatives on this production included set and costume design by Dale Ferguson, lighting design by Paul Jackson, sound design by J. David Franzke and choreography by Stephanie Lake.

Casts

Additional characters include a quartet of campers, and several other minor characters with small lines. These roles are usually played by one of the eight cast members.

Awards

* Winner of the 1986 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award

Bibliography

*Beckett, Wendy. ''Michael Gow's Away'' (Glebe: Pascal Press, 1993) *Bramwell, Murray. 'Dreamtime', ''Adelaide Review'', No.46 January 1988 : pp. 21–22 *Gay, Penny. 'Michael Gow's Away: the Shakespeare connection', ''Reconnoitres: Essays in Australian Literature in Honour of G.A. Wilkes 1992'' pp. 204–213, * *Hough, David. 'Away off the Mark', ''The Bulletin'' 1992, Vol.114 No.5838, 22 September. pp. 82–83 *Mitchell, Heather. ''Brodies notes on Michael Gow's Away'' (Sydney: Pan, 1988) *Payne, Pamela. 'Gow goes for less sentimentality, more power', ''Sydney Morning Herald'' 12 June 1992 : p16 *Radic, Leonard. ''The state of play: revolution in the Australian theatre since the 1960s'', (Ringwood: Penguin, 1991) *Webby, Elizabeth. 'Away', ''Modern Australian Plays 1990'' pp. 54–64 *Beverly Baptist College 2012 "modern Australian plays 2012"

References

*{{cite book, last=Gow, first=Michael, authorlink=Michael Gow, title=Away, publisher=Currency Press, year=1986, location=Sydney, isbn=978-0-86819-211-6
Maley, Jacqueline. 'Moan and Away', ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 4 June 2004
Retrieved 24 August 2005. 1986 plays 1980s Australian plays Fiction set in 1968 Fiction set in 1969 Plays by Michael Gow Plays set in the 1960s Fiction about post-traumatic stress disorder Vietnam War in popular culture