Away (MUST), at Monash University - 1 hour 40 minutes, plus interval

It is the summer of 1967. Young Australians are being drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. Back home, life continues.

Tom (Patrick Leong) and Meg (Grace Jackson) are in a high school production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Photos by Elena Rufenacht

Tom takes a fancy to Meg and engages her in awkward conversation.

When their respective parents arrive to collect them, it becomes clear that Meg’s mother Gwen (Lucy Fraser) doesn’t want her daughter to hang around with Tom.

Gwen is strongly opinionated, belittles others, complains incessantly and is forever turning to a Bex powder for relief from one ailment or another.

She has had a harsh upbringing and her biggest defender is her subjugated husband Jim (Will Beechey).

Tom’s parents – Vic (Thimuthu Dassanayake) and Harry (Will Goldman) – are caring, if not well-to-do, immigrants.

They arrived in Australia eight years ago and worry about their son.

Both families, along with the school’s headmaster Roy (Quinten van Dalen) and his wife Coral (Felicity Barrow) are planning to celebrate Christmas on the Gold Coast.

Roy is embarrassed by Coral’s “weird” behaviour – staring and often saying nothing – and calls on her to rein it in.

In truth, she hasn’t been the same since the couple lost their son who was conscripted to fight in Vietnam.

On the Gold Coast, Coral tries to befriend a young married wife and mother, who it turns out has issues of her own, and a newly hitched tradie.

Coral’s relationship with her husband deteriorates.

Humour, conflict, turmoil and anguish sit comfortably alongside each other in Michael Gow’s incisive look at Australia more than half a century ago.

Familial relationships and generational differences loom large.

Monash University Student Theatre (MUST) has crafted an engaging production, with director Max Pickering capitalising on the light and shade inherent in the prose.

There are several strong performances among the enthusiast cast of 12.

I appreciate the nuance that Grace Jackson and Patrick Leong imbue into their pivotal roles. I speak not only about their delivery, but the way they connect and carry themselves.

Felicity Barrow is another standout as a woman trying to find a way forward from the traumatic death of her son.

Some of the others – who are given strong lines – push a little too hard, when less would have been more.

Well choreographed by Konon Kuboi, colourful and evocative costuming from Kirra O’Keefe is another feature of the offering.

The imagery of the land in the mind’s eye remains potent throughout.

Nearly 40 years after it was first staged, Away remains a formidable play about the human condition under duress.

It has been playing at Monash University.

For more information about MUST’s 2025 season, go to

https://monashstudentassociation.com.au/theatre/