“It’s very much about that period and young people dying before their parents. It was during rehearsals for the Sydney Theatre Company’s 1987 production of Away that Gow became aware that it was also an AIDS play.
Americans see it as a ‘Vietnam play’ because the collective trauma of that is still so enormous.” Gow recalls a production in Sacramento, California: “After the show a man came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘I never realised you Aussies were in Vietnam.’ It was complete news to him. Everyone talks about what a restorative play Away is, but to me it’s always been about death Michael Gow It has also been produced in Scotland, England, the United States and in translation by the students of a drama academy in Hanoi, Vietnam. We feel like we have a responsibility.”Īway has been produced in every Australian state and territory since 1986. That’s why we feel really motivated to do this show. But Away shows us that grief can be a transformative experience. We’re all grieving not seeing our families or friends. If you’re young, you are grieving all the things you’ve missed. “If you’re an artist, you’re grieving opportunities lost. “At its heart the play is about grief and grieving, and we are all grieving a little bit at the moment,” Evans says. But Away seems to appeal across the generations in ways other plays cannot, Evans says. Gow’s portrait of summer holidays in beachside shacks, cheap camping grounds and a high school production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is powerfully nostalgic for some. The season sold out within a couple of days and Away went on to become not just one of the most-performed plays in Australia but also the “the most-loved”, according to Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre, which is staging a 35th-anniversary production of the play. There were no wasted words or characters. “I was in my 20s then and it felt like a play for the age I was – for the time it was – about how Australia was and how families are. Mitchell would later feature in the 2017 Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company co-production of Away. “I was blown away, deeply moved,” she says. Heather Mitchell was in the audience that first night. Meanwhile, the angry Gwen is determined to have a perfect holiday with her husband, Jim, and daughter, Meg – who met Tom in a school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.Īll are drawn together when a wild storm lashes the campsite, a cathartic intervention that opens the door to reconciliation, acceptance and healing. Harry and Vic want one last happy holiday with their terminally ill son, Tom. Roy and Coral are grieving the loss of a son killed in Vietnam.
Everything rang true.”Īway focuses on three families, all of whom have brought their cares and woes on holiday. But I remember knowing from the start it was all going to work. We were getting new scenes while we were rehearsing. “Peter had asked Michael to write the play in about three weeks. “I remember it being one of the most joyous rehearsals of anything I’ve ever done,” she says. Photograph: Branco Gaica/Griffin Theatre Company Christian Hodge and Vanessa Downing in 1986 in Griffin Theatre Company’s production of Away.
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