1. Discovering Away

2. Notes from BOSTES
Study of Away provides opportunities for students to reflect on their own discoveries of new and changing relationships and the ways different contexts encourage this reflection. Students will examine the way that class distinctions in Australian society, and the particular social and historical context, are represented in the play by the three families’ respective domestic and holiday settings, and through aspects of characterisation and dialogue.

3. Let’s discover Discovery
This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of Discovery is represented in and through texts.
Ways in and through:
Characters’ own discoveries and reactions
The context and specific setting and how it affects discovery or is part of the discovery itself
Specific language techniques of the text which unfold the discovery or build the process
Ideas about discovery
Your own discoveries

4. Links to Discovery
The play becomes a vehicle for what we discover about:
Ourselves
Our family
Our lives
Others
Our world
Australia in 1968 and now
Our frailties

5. Thoughts...
Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something:
For the first time
Rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed
Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected
They can emerge from a process or deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder

6. More Thoughts...
An individual’s discoveries and their process of discovering can vary according to:
Personal
Cultural
Historical
And social contexts and values
The impact of these discoveries can be far reaching and transformative for the individual and for broader society.

7. Even MORE Thoughts...
Discoveries may be questioned and challenged when viewed from different perspectives
The worth of the discovery may be reassessed over time
The ramifications of particular discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds

8. Discovery: These will not all be in Away, but the HSC question will come from this rubric.
Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be:
Emotional
Creative
Intellectual
Physical
Spiritual
Discoveries can also be confronting and provocative
They can lead us to:
New worlds and values
Stimulate new ideas
Enable us to speculate about future possibilities

9. Away... Away? This single word is the title of the play.
What could it mean?
What are the connotations of the word
Away?

10. Personal Reflection...
Think about an experience you’ve had of going away.
Capture the thoughts and feelings you had before, during and after the experience.
Write this in your English book – 10 minutes.

11. Why do you think people value the experience of going away?
Class Reflection...
Why do you think people value the experience of going away?
Think
(on your own)
2 mins
Pair
(with a pal)
2 mins
Share
(with the group)
2 mins

12. The Title
Away indeed is a spiritual self discovery. Going ‘away’ is a vehicle for the change of each character’s view of self and the world in which they live. Throughout the play, the characters build upon their weakness no matter how small or how large. By the end, they all have found their place in life and how to cope with their situation regardless of the harshness of reality.
References to the idea of being away and going away. Some people are away from each other and for some, being away offers insights and new discoveries.

13. Now, go AWAY! And enjoy reading the play!!