What attitudes, perhaps typical of Australia in —8, does Roy reveal in his speech after the school play? What mood is created through the dialogue between Tom and Meg backstage? How does Gwen kill that mood? Compare the responses of the four parents to the school play. What do we learn about each of them?
Compare the holidays planned by the three families. What do these plans tell us about each family? Why does he do this? What do students learn about Coral through her soliloquy? Her son, you know , can they see any particular significance to her speech? Act 2 Students could create a comparison table such as the one below identifying the similarities and differences of the three families in the play.
What event has occurred in the lives of Coral and Roy? How have they reacted differently? Act 3 In this act, there is a sense of otherworldliness and things not being as they seem.
Explain why Coral is so able to see the reality beneath this glitzy veneer. What attitudes are being satirised through this part of Scene 2? What threats does Roy make to bully Coral into behaving appropriately?
How does Gow stage the storm in Scene 4? What is the effect of the storm on Gwen, Jim and Meg? Act 4 Ask students to map the emotional high points of this act, identify the climax of the play and justify their choice. How does Gow contrive to bring together all the main characters in this act? What do we learn about Tom? What evidence is there that Gwen has changed in Scene 1? How can you explain the change?
In Scene 2, what discovery has Tom made? Tom says of Coral: I told her a thing or two that helped. What did Tom tell her that made such a difference? How does Gow add realism to the amateur night in Scene 3? What is the significance of this play within the play? What is the significance of the stage directions at the end of Act 4, when all characters leave to look at the bonfire except Vic and Harry, who leave in the other direction?
Act 5 Before commencing this act, ask students to speculate on different ways in which the action might be resolved. Make a list of significant actions and gestures in the Scene 1 mime. Can you explain the significance of these actions and gestures? How is the end of the play like a return to the beginning? What point is Gow making by this cyclical structure? Despite this connection between beginning and end, what has changed by the end of the play?
Ask students to study the summary of the plot below, and then answer the questions that follow: What are the conflicts within each of the three families that drive the plot? In your opinion, what is the climax of the play? How effectively does Gow resolve the conflicts in the play? Draw a graph depicting the rise and fall of tension in the play, with perhaps a separate line for each of the families.
Label the graph with key incidents. How does Gow present these relationships through the play? List five key characteristics of the character.
Find evidence from the play to illustrate each characteristic identified. How do you know? Identify one key action by the character in the play and explain why it is important. Identify one key speech by the character in the play and explain its significance. Does the character change or develop through the course of the drama in response to events, or is the character simply further exposed?
Find evidence. Create a visual representation of the character that evokes their characteristics. Overall, what role, or roles, does the character play within the drama? Do you agree? In your answer, refer to three characters in detail; or Students should engage in an imaginative recreation of the story from the perspective of a character by choosing a character of interest.
After they have completed the play, they should rethink the story from the perspective of this character. Ask students to relate the story from the perspective of the character, writing either in letter or diary format.
The following questions will assist groups to investigate the idea: Review the work already done on plot. How does the idea connect broadly to the story? Review the work already done on character. How does this idea relate to particular characters in the play? Find quotes from the play that reflect this idea.
Are any images or symbols used to depict this idea in the play? A theme is a statement about an idea. Each group should review its information to propose what statement is being made about the idea. Note that Gow bookends his play with scenes from Shakespeare and incorporates Shakespearean elements throughout the play.
In her introduction to the Currency edition of the play, May-Brit Akerholt says:. Away is about reconciliation and the power of healing through love and compassion.
Her comments were written in but reconciliation is still very much a theme in Australian literature today. Can you explain why there has been so much focus on reconciliation in Australia over the past three decades?
What role does drama play in reflecting or shaping the concerns of the nation? Lighting Designer: Paul Jackson. David Franzke. Choreographer: Stephanie Lake. Produced at Brown's Mart Theatre from 12 March Director: Kyle Walmsley. Publisher: Currency Press ; Playbox Theatre. Publisher: Currency Press.
Numerous reprints. Alternative title: Di xa Language: Vietnamese. Publisher: The Gioi Publishers. Hanoi , c. Other Formats. Related Works. Through the war affected nation, three families, each from different social classes, depart on an iconic Australian holiday to the beach. In the play, Gow utilises the characters to demonstrate that going away physically is intrinsically linked to their mental developments.
The three gain sight and knowledge into their. The play Away by Michael Gow, illustrates discovery as reassessing knowledge, beliefs and shapes relationships between families as it becomes necessary to revaluate and self- reflect. Away by Michael Gow Essay. Page 1 of 3 - About 30 essays. The Shakespearean themes of suffering and reconciliation persist as three families on separate holidays are united during a fierce storm.
Roy is unable to console a grief-stricken Coral over the death of their only son in Vietnam.
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