Historically the play is set in a specific time period – the Christmas of 1967 and New Year of 1968. The late sixties is a period of Australian history where there was a great deal of political and social change. One significant event was that Australia was at war with North Vietnam. Australia also had a large migrant population. Economically it was a prosperous time for Australia especially in the areas of Agriculture and Mining. These historical events influence the behaviour and attitudes of the characters. The historical aspects of the play would have deeper meaning to people of that generation and time frame. People from this era would be able to relate to the events better than people from younger generations would.

Australians views and values differed on the subject of Vietnam War. Opinion was divided about whether or not we should be there. While the characters do not debate thi

As well as considering the plays historical contexts the audience also needs to identify with the social issues of the play. Social issues are once again represented through the characters and these issues include social position, mental health and death.

Away is a play about ordinary Australian life and ordinary Australian people. It explores some Australian cultural traditions such as holidaying at the beach, cooking hot Christmas lunches and putting up plastic Christmas trees. By making the beach holiday the main setting of the play Michael Gow can express aspects of Australian culture through his characters and their actions. Australian colloquial speech is used throughout the play. The characters use expressions such as “dunny”, “slogged me guts out”, “I could’ve throttled them”, “pot luck”, “the nuddy” and “got the huff”. Prominent Australians such as Chips Rafferty and Dame Pattie Menzies are referred to. Australian products such as Bex, Rinso and Pine-O-Clean are also mentioned. These cultural references make the setting of the play unique to Australia and may need some explanation to audiences outside of Australia. However even though Gow makes observations of Australian society and uses familiar Australian expressions the actual events that occur in the play are not unique to Australian society and portray a larger world. The events and themes of the play are universal and could occur in any setting. Australian’s will find it easy to appreciate the culture that is present in the play. The audience needs to be able to identify with the culture in order to appreciate the play. It helps if the audience has some idea of Australian culture though it is not a necessity. It is still possible to appreciate the play if Australian culture is foreign to you because the themes and the characters problems are universal.

The play Away has been created in historical social and cultural contexts. The creation of these contexts is not enough but and the writer relies on the audience to make sense of them. Since every ones values differ people are going to understand the contexts in different ways. Some people will be able to appreciate the play more because their values agree with or conflict with those values represented in the play. Even if the contexts are foreign to some readers they are still able to interpret them to some extent.

Some topics in this essay:
Gwen Jim’s, Harry Tom, Australia Gow, Roy Carol, Papalapa…Papalax…oh I’m, Gwen Gwen’s, Michael Gow’s, Britain Gwen, Michael Gow, Agriculture Mining, appreciate play, australian culture, social position, audience understand, social issues, loss son, audience able, poorest family loving, historical aspects, poorest family, audience understand characters, view understand, vic harry tom, culture characters actions, situation empathetic view,