Michael Gow's Away: What You Actually Need to Know
Away is a 1986 Australian play by Michael Gow. It follows three families at a beach holiday, exploring how grief and family strain play out across one summer. The play was commissioned for the Queensland Theatre Company and has been done constantly in Australian schools and amateur productions ever since. It is still very much under copyright. You want the script. Here is the straightforward part. The official publisher is Currency Press in Sydney. They hold the performance rights and they sell the printed script. You can order directly from their website, and you can also find it through major Australian booksellers. If you are outside Australia, Currency Press does ship internationally. It is not cheap, but it is the legitimate route. There is a stage management version and a regular actor's version. The actor's version is what most people need. It has character names and lines. The stage management copy has blocking notes and cue information baked in. If you are mounting a production, budget for both. They come out to around $45 to $60 AUD each depending on your print run and whether you need multiple copies.
I got tripped up once ordering for a school production because I didn't realize that the script fee is separate from the licensing fee. The script itself is just the text. You also need a performance license from Currency Press if you are staging it publicly. Schools sometimes miss this. I learned it the hard way when a coordinator asked me about it two days before rehearsals were supposed to start. The licensing process takes about a week if you are organized. Get the license first, then the scripts. That saves you from awkward conversations with your department head.
What the Play Actually Contains
The structure is simpler than most people expect. There are three interweaving storylines. One follows a teenage girl dealing with her father's illness. Another tracks a couple going through a separation. The third is about a mother and daughter whose relationship has become strained by years of unspoken tension. All three families end up at the same beach resort in northern New South Wales. The play moves between realism and memory sequences. The memory sections use lighting shifts and minimal set changes rather than elaborate staging. Characters total roughly fifteen across the three families. That is manageable for small companies because multiple roles are commonly doubled. At my production we had twelve actors and every doubling worked without confusing anyone in the audience. The key is clear costuming notes and consistent character voices so people can track who is who during the memory sequences.
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Common Issues When Working With This Script
The biggest problem directors face is the tonal shift between scenes. Some moments land as gentle comedy, others as heavy drama, and the transitions between them are sometimes abrupt on the page. The script assumes the director will make those transitions feel natural through pacing and actor choices. If you leave it all sitting flat, the middle section drags. I found that giving actors explicit business during scene transitions — picking up towels, folding blankets, small physical tasks — solved most of the awkwardness. It keeps the energy moving between the dramatic beats. Another thing nobody warns you about: the dialect work. The play is set on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. The characters do not speak in broad caricature, but there are specific vowel sounds and rhythmic patterns that read differently on the page than they sound when spoken aloud. Actors who default to general "Australian" tends make everyone sound like they came from the same suburb, which flattens the contrast between the families. I had my actors watch footage of the 1996 TV adaptation and the 2023 stage revival. The vocal differences between the families are subtle but important. The more educated characters speak with tighter consonant work. The working-class characters let their vowels open up more. It is worth five minutes of listening practice per actor.
Performance Rights and Practical Sourcing
If you are in Australia, go straight to Currency Press. If you are in the UK, Music Theatre International holds the licensing. In North America the same company handles it. You will fill out a questionnaire about your venue, seating capacity, cast size, and number of performances. They respond within a few business days with a quote. Prices scale with your venue size. A school production in a 200-seat hall pays significantly less than a professional theatre in a 600-seat house. There are reading editions available cheaper than the performing scripts, but those cannot be used in public performances. If you buy a reading copy and then decide to stage it, you still need to purchase the performance license and the full performing scripts. I have seen people skip this step. It is not worth the risk. A compliance check before a performance costs you far more than buying the right materials upfront.
Production Notes That Actually Matter
The set is intentionally simple. The beach setting works with a few platform levels, some draping, and lighting. Do not overbuild it. The play depends on audience imagination for the beach atmosphere. I once saw a production that spent thousands on a full sand-filled set and it actually made the play feel smaller and more confined. The simplicity is a feature, not a shortcut. Lighting is where this script earns its money. The memory sequences require precise cues. The script marks them, but you need a good light plot to pull them off. Budget time for technical rehearsals here. The transitions between present and memory are the moments where the play can either shine or stumble. Rush them and you lose the emotional continuity. Take the time and the audience stays locked in. The music rights are separate from the script. Several songs appear in the play and they require their own licensing. Budget extra time and money for this. I always add it to my pre-production checklist because it is easy to forget until you are three days from opening night.
Overall, Away is one of the more achievable plays for small companies. The cast is flexible, the set is simple, and the themes are universal enough that even inexperienced actors can find something real to play. Just get your paperwork in order first. That part is the only thing that actually gets complicated.
