Plot Overview (HSC SSCE English Advanced): Revision Notes
Plot overview
Away is a powerful Australian play by Michael Gow that first appeared on stage in 1986. The play unfolds during the summer holidays of 1967-68, a significant period in Australian history marked by the Vietnam War and social change. Set along the Australian coast, the play follows three families whose beach holidays become a journey of self-discovery, as they confront profound issues including death, grief, social class tensions, and the search for authentic connection.
The three families
The play centres on three distinct families, each carrying hidden burdens that will gradually be revealed:
Tom's family consists of Harry and Vic, working-class English migrants who demonstrate warmth and enthusiasm. They are secretly dealing with the devastating knowledge that their teenage son Tom has terminal leukaemia, though they try to maintain a cheerful facade to protect him and preserve some sense of normalcy during what may be their last family holiday together.
Gwen, Jim, and Meg's family represents middle-class aspirations and anxieties. Gwen is particularly focused on social status and material possessions, often using these concerns to mask deeper insecurities about her own working-class background. Her husband Jim tries to keep the peace, whilst their daughter Meg increasingly rebels against her mother's superficial values and class prejudices.
Headmaster Roy and his wife Coral appear respectable on the surface, but Coral is deeply traumatised and emotionally withdrawn following the death of their son in the Vietnam War. Her grief has left her in a catatonic state, barely able to engage with the world around her, whilst Roy struggles to cope with both his loss and his wife's breakdown.
Each family's hidden burden becomes the driving force for their character development throughout the play. The contrast between public appearances and private struggles is central to Gow's exploration of authenticity and human connection.
Act 1: School play and holiday plans
The play begins in a theatrical setting, backstage after students have performed Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. This opening is significant because it establishes the play's connection to Shakespearean themes and theatrical performance as a means of exploring truth.
When the three families emerge from the performance, their different social positions and hidden struggles quickly become apparent. Tom's family celebrates enthusiastically, with Harry and Vic showering praise on Tom's performance whilst carefully concealing their anguish over his illness. In contrast, Gwen immediately begins bickering with Jim and Meg about forgotten Christmas gifts, using this petty complaint to vent her anxiety and to make disparaging comments about Tom's "poor" family. Meanwhile, Roy and Coral stand apart from the celebration, with Coral appearing distant and disconnected from her surroundings.
The opening theatrical setting is not merely a backdrop—it establishes theatre as a space where truth can be revealed through performance. This metatheatrical element becomes crucial in the play's resolution, where performance ultimately provides catharsis and healing.
As the families discuss their holiday plans, we learn they will be heading to different locations: Tom's family will camp modestly at various beaches, Gwen's family has booked a caravan at a holiday park, and Roy has arranged a stay at a luxury Gold Coast resort. These separate destinations foreshadow the journey each family must take before their paths eventually cross.
Act 2: Separate struggles
During Act 2, each family's holiday becomes a stage for their deeper conflicts to surface, as the changed environment strips away everyday distractions.
Gwen's family descends into bitter arguments at the caravan park. The conflict over "forgotten" Christmas presents escalates, revealing Gwen's passive-aggressive behaviour and her need to control others through guilt and material expectations. Meg becomes increasingly frustrated with her mother's obsession with social status and begins to actively challenge her classist attitudes, creating a growing rift between mother and daughter.
Coral and Roy's relationship fractures at their Gold Coast resort. Coral's disconnected, aimless wandering disturbs other guests and embarrasses Roy, who cannot accept his wife's psychological state. The situation reaches a crisis point on New Year's Eve when Coral kisses a honeymooner named Rick, an action that represents her desperate attempt to feel something or connect with life. Roy's response is to threaten her with electroshock treatment, showing his inability to understand her grief and his desire to "fix" her through control rather than compassion.
Tom's family camps humbly from beach to beach, with Harry and Vic constantly encouraging Tom to "act happy" whilst privately sharing the burden of his diagnosis. This enforced cheerfulness creates its own strain, as they cannot openly acknowledge the terrible reality they face, leaving Tom isolated in his knowledge of his own mortality.
Act 2 reveals the fundamental conflicts that will drive character transformation: Gwen's materialism versus authentic values, Roy's need for control versus Coral's need for emotional freedom, and Tom's family's protective silence versus the need for honest acknowledgement. The physical separation of the families mirrors their emotional isolation and the barriers preventing genuine connection.
Act 3: Storm convergence
Act 3 marks a crucial turning point in the play's structure. A massive storm destroys the caravan park where Gwen's family is staying, forcing them to flee and seek shelter. By chance, they stumble onto the secluded beach where Tom's family is camping. This physical convergence, brought about by natural forces beyond anyone's control, creates the circumstances for emotional truths to emerge.
As the families take shelter together, private confessions begin to unfold. Harry tells Jim about Tom's leukaemia, a revelation that shifts Jim's perspective on what truly matters in life. Vic takes the opportunity to counsel Gwen about life's brevity and the futility of her materialistic concerns, gently challenging her to reconsider her priorities. Meg learns the truth about Tom's fate, which deeply affects her understanding of him and herself.
Significantly, Coral also appears at the beach, having escaped from Roy's attempts to control her recovery. She arrives disguised as a campsite artist, finding refuge and anonymity in this simpler setting. Her presence adds another layer to the convergence, bringing together all three families in this liminal space between their old lives and potential transformation.
The storm functions as both a literal and symbolic catalyst. Like the storm in Shakespeare's King Lear, it strips away pretence and social structures, forcing characters into raw confrontation with fundamental truths. The convergence on the beach is not coincidence but necessity—the natural world intervenes to break down the barriers the characters have erected.
Act 4: Beach epiphanies
Act 4 explores the personal revelations and connections that emerge once the families are together. The beach setting becomes a space for honesty and vulnerability that was impossible in their normal lives.
Tom propositions Meg for sex, revealing his illness directly and expressing his desire to experience this aspect of life "before I go." Meg refuses and withdraws, overwhelmed by the confrontation with Tom's mortality and her own feelings. This interaction, though awkward and painful, represents Tom's attempt to assert some control over his life and experience.
Perhaps the most significant development is the bond that forms between Coral and Tom through collaborative play-making. Both characters are confronting death—Tom as something approaching, Coral as something she cannot move beyond. Their artistic collaboration becomes a form of therapy and communication that transcends conventional conversation.
Gwen begins to soften through her interactions with Vic, eventually admitting her fears about poverty and revealing the working-class background she has spent years trying to hide and escape. This confession represents a crucial moment of authenticity for her character.
Jim performs his own small act of rebellion by burning a list of campers' complaints, symbolically rejecting the conformity and pettiness that has characterised his family's holiday. This gesture shows his growth towards valuing substance over appearance.
Roy arrives at the beach searching for Coral, setting up the final act's resolution of their relationship.
The beach functions as a liminal space—neither home nor destination, but an in-between place where normal rules and roles can be suspended. This allows for transformations that would be impossible in the characters' everyday environments. The natural setting strips away social pretences and creates opportunities for genuine human connection.
Act 5: Talent show and resolutions
The play reaches its climax and resolution during a New Year's talent quest, where Tom and Coral perform The Stranger on the Shore. This performance is not mere entertainment but a powerful theatre-within-theatre that becomes transformative for both performers and audience.
In the performance, a mermaid transforms herself to join her dead sailor lover, then reverts to her original form. This story symbolises the journey through grief—the temptation to follow the dead, the transformation that grief forces upon us, and the necessary release that allows the living to return to life. For Coral, performing this role becomes a cathartic experience that allows her to process her grief in a way that psychiatric treatment could not achieve.
Through the performance, Coral awakens emotionally, finally able to begin genuine reconciliation with Roy. She has found a way to honour her son's memory whilst returning to the living world.
Gwen apologises to both Meg and Jim, demonstrating her newfound ability to embrace imperfection and recognise what truly matters. Her transformation shows that even deeply entrenched attitudes can shift when confronted with mortality and authentic human connection.
Harry and Vic exit silently after Tom's play, their carefully maintained pretence finally shattered by the public acknowledgement, through art, of what they have been hiding. Their silence speaks volumes about their pain and the impossibility of truly protecting their son from his fate.
The final image shows the characters scattering, renewed by their experiences but shadowed by the knowledge of Tom's inevitable death. The resolution is bittersweet—growth and healing have occurred, but not without cost, and Tom's approaching death remains an unchangeable reality that colours all other achievements.
Structural significance
Gow's five-act structure deliberately mirrors the pattern found in Shakespeare's King Lear, creating a journey from order through chaos to partial restoration. The progression moves from the school setting in Act 1, through separate estrangement in Act 2, to the storm as catalyst in Act 3, beach reconciliation in Act 4, and finally transformative ritual in Act 5. This classical structure elevates the seemingly ordinary story of Australian families on holiday into something more universal and profound.
The Five-Act Journey Pattern:
- Act 1: School setting—order, social structures, hidden struggles
- Act 2: Separate estrangement—isolation, conflict escalation
- Act 3: Storm catalyst—forced convergence, barriers break down
- Act 4: Beach reconciliation—honesty, vulnerability, connection
- Act 5: Transformative ritual—catharsis through performance, bittersweet resolution
This pattern mirrors King Lear's journey from order through chaos to partial restoration, creating a universal narrative structure that transcends the play's specific 1960s Australian setting.
The play uses minimalist staging techniques, including a cyclorama sky and Shakespeare quotations, to frame 1960s Australia as it grapples with Vietnam War grief, class divisions, and questions of mortality. The sparse staging focuses attention on character relationships and emotional truth rather than realistic representation, emphasising that the play's concerns are timeless and universal despite its specific historical setting.
The holiday setting functions as a crucible—a contained space where normal social structures break down and deeper truths can emerge. By taking characters "away" from their everyday environments, Gow creates opportunities for transformation that would be impossible in their regular lives.
Remember!
- Away follows three Australian families during the 1967-68 summer holidays, using their beach vacation as a catalyst for confronting mortality, grief, and authenticity
- Tom's terminal leukaemia, Coral's grief over her son's Vietnam War death, and Gwen's class anxieties form the play's central conflicts
- The five-act structure mirrors Shakespearean tragedy, moving from order through storm and chaos to partial reconciliation and transformation
- The convergence of the families on the beach creates space for honesty, vulnerability, and personal growth that was impossible in their normal lives
- The final performance of The Stranger on the Shore provides catharsis and healing, particularly for Coral, whilst the play ends with bittersweet acknowledgement that growth comes alongside inevitable loss