| 1. Introducing the play |
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Don's Party arrived on the theatre scene in Australia in 1972 with the same sort of impact that the character Cooley has when he arrives at the party in the play. It was energetic and fun; it was exhilaratingly frank and, in the process, gloriously ob
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| 2. The play as a social document |
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There can be no doubt about the accuracy of the play's comment. The political detail behind it is described by H.G. Kippax in his introduction to the published script. (In fact the election, and the rising and falling hopes for a Labor victory, provide th
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| 3. The play as a human document |
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In this, as in other plays, David Williamson is interested in the way people struggle and conflict in group situations. The characters in Don's Party represent a wide range of ways of coping with social life. Don, the schoolteacher and failed novelist, co
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| 4. The play as a play |
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How does David Williamson achieve this subtle alternation between humour and sympathy? How does he give to such a carefully arranged selection of details the appearance of a loose, chaotic party? For the play is carefully structured and contrived to give
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| 6. Questions for discussion and further reading |
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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
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