The much loved and studied Australian play 'Away' is in revival in a co-production between the Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre. It tells the story of two families and a third couple who enjoy Christmas time beach holidays in the 1960/70s. Each group is trying to make the best of the holidays against a background of personal tragedy.
First performed in 1986, the play has had a permanent place in school curricula pretty well ever since. I have to admit I had never seen it and given that my schooling ended more than twenty years before its premiere it certainly never figured in my mostly Shakespeare based education.
This production is very entertaining. The staging is striking in its simplicity.
✮✮✮1/2
A classic Australian play......that I have never heard of. It sounds quite interesting. I like those sort of character based plays.
ReplyDeleteBefore seeing 'Away' I had always thought it was a musical. This production does feature music and dance but it is not a musical. It seems to me to be a play well known to the 'millenials' and parents thereof but less so to we childless 'baby boomers'.
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