Away Speech

Good morning/afternoon students and teachers. I am here today to talk to you about discovery. Discoveries can off new understandings or renewed perception of ourselves and others. Discoveries can be physical, emotional, intellectual and creative. One simple discovery could change the way you think about everything you know. The process of discovery can be very basic or mindnumblingly complex. Discoveries can be made accidentally or can be sought out. In both Away by Michael Gow and the movie Spirited Away, the main characters all make some sort of a discovery, whether it be a discovery about themselves, other people or life in general.   And as a result of this, the audience – you - can sometimes end up making a discovery
Away is a play within a play. It follows 3 families who are going “away” for the summer holidays. Each family is quite different but deep down all have similar aspects. In each family, there is one person Michael Gow focuses on. Gwen – the rude, xenophobic, close minded wife of Jim. Tom – the son of Vic and Harry who is dying of cancer, and Coral – a mess of a woman who cannot come to terms with the death of her son who died in the war. As each character makes their discoveries, the audience can self reflect on their own values and Australian values. Gwen’s confronting and disheartening attitude helps the audience realise that her way of thinking is wrong and could change the audience’s opinions on life in general.
Gwen is the most confronting and extreme character in Away. Her first line in the play is “you were supposed to hurry, not stand around yapping’, which instantly shows you the type of person she is. Throughout the play she is like this – obnoxious, whiney and criticizes anyone who has different opinions or challenges her own. She finally loses it and has a huge rant and rage about “mad people”. Vic takes her to water and they have a swim. Both Vic and Gwen come back in tears, after Vic has told her about her dying son. Gwen has been...