Context and Authorial Purpose (HSC SSCE English Advanced): Revision Notes
Context and Authorial Purpose
Understanding the historical and cultural context of Michael Gow's play Away is essential for appreciating its themes and authorial intentions. This revision note explores the dual contexts (1960s setting and 1980s composition), Gow's background, and his purpose in creating this work for the Human Experiences module.
Introduction to Away
Michael Gow's Away premiered in 1986 at the Griffin Theatre Company during a transformative period in Australian history. The play is set during the 1967-68 Christmas holidays, following three families on their coastal journeys. Through their experiences, Gow examines responses to grief, class conflict, and mortality, all within a framework inspired by Shakespeare. His central aim was to humanise the social fractures of his time through intimate stories of reconciliation and transformation.
Historical and cultural context
The 1960s setting (play timeframe)
The play captures the anxieties of late 1960s Australia, a period marked by significant social tensions and changes. This era saw Vietnam War conscription affecting families like Coral's, who has lost her son to the war. Young people made up approximately 40% of the population, and suburban aspiration was growing alongside the harsh realities of Australian bushfire summers.
Class divisions are central to the play's setting. Gwen represents the nouveau riche—newly wealthy individuals displaying social snobbery and materialism—while Tom embodies working-class dignity and humility. Meanwhile, migrant characters Harry and Vic bring optimism and a fresh perspective that contrasts with the established privileges of Anglo-Australian families.
Shakespearean influences permeate the play's structure. The opening features a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, whilst the overall structure echoes King Lear. These references served as cultural touchstones for Australians grappling with questions of national identity in the lead-up to the Bicentenary (1988).
The 1980s writing context
Gow wrote Away during another pivotal moment in Australian history. The Hawke-Keating government was implementing significant economic deregulation, reshaping Australian society. Simultaneously, the nation was grappling with the AIDS panic, where the disease was often referred to as the "gay plague".
Tom's unexplained illness resonates with the fears and stigma surrounding AIDS during this period. This connection adds a layer of contemporary urgency to the play's exploration of mortality and social attitudes toward illness.
The 1980s also saw national introspection following the Vietnam War moratoriums, youth counterculture movements, rising divorce rates, and the implementation of multicultural policies. These social changes contributed to family fractures that Gow explores in the play. Even the storm scenes reflect contemporary environmental concerns, echoing El Niño flood patterns.
Autobiographical authenticity enriches the play. Gow drew from personal losses, including friends who died from AIDS and his own family upheavals. These experiences infuse the work with genuine emotional depth and understanding of grief and transformation.
Authorial background
Michael Gow was born in 1955 and served as artistic director of the NSW State Theatre from 1999 to 2014. He wrote Away at age 31, shortly after directing Shakespeare's King Lear. This experience profoundly influenced his approach, particularly Shakespeare's symbolic and non-literal theatrical methods.
Gow's earlier work, including Out of the Question (1978), established his expertise in exploring family dynamics. Away matured these interests during the 1980s, when Australian theatre was actively promoting local voices over British imports.
His creative inspiration came from multiple sources: childhood beach holidays, observations of migrant neighbours, and memories of school plays. This blend of personal memory and theatrical tradition allowed Gow to combine realism with ritual, creating a work that feels both intimately Australian and universally resonant.
Authorial purpose
Central purpose: revealing human resilience
Gow's primary intention is to demonstrate human resilience through shared vulnerability. The holiday setting acts as a crucible—a testing ground—where characters are stripped of their social pretensions and forced to confront their authentic selves. Through this process:
- Gwen abandons her classist attitudes and snobbery
- Coral releases her overwhelming grief over her son's death
- Harry and Vic face Tom's impending death with dignity and grace
Shakespearean performativity is central to this purpose. The school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the climactic scene Stranger on the Shore suggest that life itself is a performance where we play various roles—snob, zombie, pretender. However, these artificial roles must eventually yield to authenticity. The storm, functioning like the "blasted heath" in King Lear, acts as a catalyst that transforms division into communion and connection.
Specific intentions
Gow pursues several interconnected goals throughout Away:
Grief's universality: Tom's leukaemia operates beyond a simple AIDS allegory. Whilst it may evoke the 1980s AIDS crisis, his illness ultimately represents mortality itself, forcing all characters into collective mourning. This universality allows audiences from any era to connect with the play's emotional core.
Class reconciliation: The developing bond between Gwen and Vic directly critiques the aspirational cruelty of 1980s society. Their friendship demonstrates that genuine human connection can overcome the artificial barriers created by wealth and social status.
Performativity as healing: Tom's direction of Coral in their improvised beach performance demonstrates Gow's belief in theatre as ritual and healing practice. Through creative expression and role-play, Coral begins to process her trauma and re-engage with life.
Purpose in the Human Experiences module
For the 2027 HSC, Away serves as an ideal text for exploring individual transformation within collective contexts. Personal crises—such as illness and loss—reflect and interact with broader societal wounds including war, migration, and inequality.
The play's layered temporal structure offers rich analytical opportunities. Its 1960s setting, viewed through a 1980s lens, and now studied from a 2027 perspective, invites examination of changing human responses across time:
Contemporary Parallels: Connecting Past and Present
The play's themes resonate across different eras:
- Vietnam War grief finds parallels in contemporary climate anxiety
- 1960s class tensions echo current housing affordability debates
- Migrant experiences remain relevant to ongoing discussions of multiculturalism
- Responses to terminal illness connect to modern healthcare and mortality discussions
Gow's five-act ritual structure teaches important lessons about dramatic craft and how theatrical form can illuminate themes of endurance. The holiday setting creates a liminal space—a threshold between ordinary life and transformation—where characters develop empathy across social divides. This liminality demonstrates how temporary displacement from routine can foster understanding and personal growth.
Key Points to Remember:
- Away operates within two historical contexts: the 1960s setting (Vietnam War, class divisions, suburban aspiration) and the 1980s writing period (AIDS crisis, economic reform, national introspection)
- Michael Gow drew from personal experiences with loss and grief, as well as his theatrical expertise, particularly his direction of Shakespeare's King Lear
- The central purpose is to reveal human resilience through shared vulnerability, using the holiday setting as a transformative crucible
- Specific intentions include exploring grief's universality, critiquing class divisions, and demonstrating performativity as healing
- For the Human Experiences module, the play models individual transformation within collective contexts, with relevance across multiple time periods and social issues