Away belongs to a growing tradition which integrates other sources into the fabric of new works. But in its very use of classic material, the play is of a classical nature. From the times of the ancient Greeks through to the Renaissance, legends and foreign literary works were introduced into local art forms and became part of an indigenous body of works. The fact that Away, as he has himself pointed out, is set at the time of Gow’s own early adolescence means that he is dealing with a period he can now see in perspective. The Shakespearean connotations provides a retrospective view in the same way that looking at events from a distance and in the same light of a wider knowledge and experience can heighten the understanding and meaning of those events. The resonances brought to the action by classic texts add a dimension to the character’s reality. The magic rites of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the fairies’ tempest enhance the events of ordinary lives and take them beyond the realm of surface experience. We see the characters in terms of magic and poetry, as if their own lives gain new meaning through dreams and visions played out on stage. Another Australia emerges, a country which is no longer an isolated island but part of an extended world. It has the beauty and freshness of a new world and the wisdom and mythology of a very old one.

On the one hand, the scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream which opens the play tells us that life is filled with mystery and poetry, but on the other, the scene’s execution by a group of high school students adds a measure of humour and irony to the statement. In the middle of fairy lights and tripping fantastical school-elves appears Puck, as if by magic, but he is soon revealed to be Tom, their own Chips Rafferty.

Just as Puck ‘directs’ the dance of the fairies in the school performance, so it is that Tom’s character channels the play’s action. Within the mythology of Away it is Tom who conjures up the fairies’ tempest which destroys the caravan park, as if in terrible revenge on injustice and insularity; and it is the tempest which brings the families together on a secluded, unspoilt beach. It is Tom who creates a magic play for amateur night, a play about loss and hope which restores Coral to life. At the end of the play, Tom reads the role of King Lear, bringing death into life, with the paradox that in death there is reconciliation and hope. This play about the experiences of a dying schoolboy is a celebration of life and the power to heal through gaining insight. It is a celebration of sun, sand, water and fire, the vital energies of Australia, energies which have the power both to destroy and restore.