1. Williamson has said: 'There is an awful Australian uniqueness, and for the first time the Australian theatre is getting down to the business of finding out what it is'. Does Don's Party find out what it is? What is it? Are the characters representative of the whole Australia , or only a limited part of our society?
2. Take one or more of the characters and try to find evidence in the play that shows their inner human sensitivity or suffering. Obviously it is there in Jenny, because she breaks down, but what about, for example, Kerry? Or Cooley?
3. Do the male characters get more sympathetic treatment than the female ones?
4. How does the opening conversation, between Don and Kath, anticipate the later gloomy degeneration of the party?
5. 'Subtext' is the word given in the theatre to what the characters really mean when they say something. For example, 'Hello!' can mean 'I'm really glad to see you' or 'Oh no, not you again' or any number of other things. Show how the characters use sociable remarks to convey a hidden meaning in, for example, the scene between Evan, Mal, Mack and Don on page 24. Why does Evan leave?
6. What does Don's Party show us about 'mateship' between Australian men? What does it show us about the relationships between the women, in comparison?
7. Discuss the different images of marriage in the play. Refer also to the relationship between Cooley and Susan, the only unmarried couple. Is the play anti-marriage?
8. Is Don's Party an objective study of society? Discuss whether it appears to approve or disapprove of the antics of its characters. Discuss different production possibilities which might make an audience approve or disapprove of them.

Further Reading

Other published plays by David Williamson
All published by Currency Press, Sydney

After the Ball
Amigos
Birthrights/Soulmates
Brilliant Lies
The Club
Collected Plays Volume II (The Department, A Handful of Friends, The Club and Travelling North)
Dead White Males
The Department
Emerald City
Flatfoot
The Great Man/Sanctuary
Influence/Operator
The Jack Manning Trilogy (Face to Face, A Conversation and Charitable Intent)
Money and Friends
The Perfectionist
The Removalists
Siren
Sons of Cain
Third World Blues
Top Silk
Up for Grabs/Corporate Vibes

 

General
Fitzpatrick, Peter, After 'The Doll': Australian Drama Since 1955. Melbourne, Edward Arnold, 1979
Holloway, Peter (ed.), Contemporary Australian Drama: Perspectives Since 1955. Sydney: Currency Press, 198 1. (This book is a useful general sourcebook for Australian drama. It also has articles by Roslyn Arnold, Katharine Brisbane, Brian Kiernan, Margaret Williams and David Williamson himself which have things to say about Don's Party.)
Palmer, Jennifer (ed.), Contemporary Australian Playwrights, Adelaide, A.U.U.P., 1979. (See particularly the interviews with David Williamson and Katharine Brisbane.)
Brisbane, Katharine, New Currents in Australian Writing, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1978
Dutton, Geoffrey (ed.), The Literature of Australia, Penguin, Melbourne, revised ed. 1976. (See particularly Part 1, 'Australian Drama' by Katharine Brisbane.)
Rees, Leslie, A History of Australian Drama, Volume II, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1978
Sturm, Terry, 'Drama' in The Oxford History of Australian Literature, (Leonie Kramer ed.), Melbourne, O.U.P., 1981
Williams, Margaret, Drama in Australian Writers and their Work Series, Melbourne, O.U.P., 1977
See also: 'Interview with David Williamson', Meanjin 2/1979, Don's Party: From Play to Film', Theatre Australia, Vol. I, no. 5 (Christmas, 1976)