Away by Michael Gow


Book Description

This book provides detailed information on the play 'Away', by Michael Gow, in the context of the specific requirements of the HSC. Contents include: - Detailed summary and analysis of the play - 'Physical Journeys' focus area - Background information about Michael Gow and the context of Australia in the 1960s - Analysis of characters and their physical journeys - Summary of key themes and issues.




All Stops Out


Book Description

Text of a play which was commissioned by the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney and deals with young people facing end-of-year exams. This author's previous works include The Kid', The Astronaut's Wife', On Top of the World' and Away'. Away' won the 1986 Premier's Award for Best Play, the Sydney Theatre Critics Award and the 1987 Awgie Award.




Last Man Out


Book Description

From the #1 bestselling author of Heat, Travel Team and Fantasy League comes a story of heroes, family, the thrills of skateboarding, and football. When the Brighton Bears suit up on game day, 12-year-old Tommy Gallagher is the toughest kid on the football field. And the bravest. After all, his father Patrick is a Boston firefighter--one of Boston's bravest. Tommy's dad taught him everything he knows about football--and life. Yet even Tommy isn't strong enough for what happens when the sirens ring and, for the first time, they're racing away from the fire. "First man in; last man out" had always been his dad's motto . . . yet he never said anything about leaving in an ambulance. Now Tommy's biggest battle has nothing to do with football. And the kid who always had such respect for risk on the gridiron finds himself drawn to it off the field. Set in New England, home of the Patriots' football dynasty, Mike Lupica shows off his trademark knack for spinning a tale that's equal parts sports action and heart. Last Man Out is a thoughtful tribute to the bravery of firefighters and the need we all have to live up to the level of our heroes. "As is characteristic of Lupica’s books, the sports segments, most particularly the football portions, are exceptionally well written." —VOYA "In the best traditions of sports writing, this will leave readers both breathless and thoughtful." —Booklist




The Kid


Book Description

The play that launched Michael Gow's playwriting career returns to the stage. In blazing heat, a stolen Mini hurtles towards Sydney. Inside, three unstable teenagers from the country -- Snake, Aspro and Dean -- plan a future that will begin when they collect Aspro's accident compensation from the Department. Joined by Donald, an opera fanatic desperate for a change of scene, they travel to the city to take up residence in 'the largest block of flats in the Southern Hemisphere'. As bush fires rage on the edge of the city, they meet Desiree, a young girl from downstairs with apocalyptic predictions. Sparks fly. Tensions escalate. Twilight approaches...




The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus


Book Description

"The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus" by William Shakespeare is a gripping and intense drama that explores themes of revenge, betrayal, and the destructive consequences of violence. Set in ancient Rome, the play follows the tragic downfall of the noble general Titus Andronicus and his family as they become embroiled in a cycle of vengeance and bloodshed. At the heart of the story is the brutal conflict between Titus Andronicus and Tamora, Queen of the Goths, whose sons are executed by Titus as retribution for their crimes. In retaliation, Tamora and her lover, Aaron the Moor, orchestrate a series of heinous acts of revenge against Titus and his family, plunging them into a spiral of madness and despair. As the body count rises and the atrocities escalate, Titus is consumed by grief and rage, leading to a climactic showdown that culminates in a shocking and tragic conclusion. Along the way, Shakespeare explores themes of honor, justice, and the nature of humanity, offering a searing indictment of the cycle of violence and the capacity for cruelty that lies within us all.




Swallow the Air


Book Description

In 2006, Tara June Winch's startling debut Swallow the Air was published to acclaim. Its poetic yet visceral style announced the arrival a fresh and exciting new talent. This 10th anniversary edition celebrates its important contribution to Australian literature. When May's mother dies suddenly, she and her brother Billy are taken in by Aunty. However, their loss leaves them both searching for their place in a world that doesn't seem to want them. While Billy takes his own destructive path, May sets out to find her father and her Aboriginal identity. Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong. Swallow the Air is an unforgettable story of living in a torn world and finding the thread to help sew it back together.




Sweet Phoebe


Book Description

Cast ages: adult.




Fly Away Peter


Book Description

For three very different people brought together by their love for birds, life on the Queensland coast in 1914 is the timeless and idyllic world of sandpipers, ibises and kingfishers. In another hemisphere civilization rushes headlong into a brutal conflict. Life there is lived from moment to moment. Inevitably, the two young men - sanctuary owner and employee - are drawn to the war, and into the mud and horror of the trenches of Armentieres. Alone on the beach, their friend Imogen, the middle-aged wildlife photographer, must acknowledge for all three of them that the past cannot be held.




Eucalyptus


Book Description

Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year On a property in New South Wales, a widower named Holland lives with his daughter, Ellen. Over the years as she grows into a beautiful woman, Holland plants hundreds of different eucalyptus trees on his land, filling the landscape, making a virtual outdoor museum of trees. When Ellen is nineteen, Holland announces that she may only marry the man who can correctly name the species of each and every gum tree on his property. A strange contest begins, and Ellen is left unmoved by her suitors until she chances on a strange young man resting under the Coolibah tree whose stories will amaze and dazzle her. A modern fairy tale, and an unforgettable love story, that bristles with spiky truths and unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. Eucalyptus affirms the seductive power of storytelling itself.




Cloudstreet


Book Description

‘A fragmented, hilarious, crude, mystical soap opera. In a rich Australian idiom, Winton lets his characters rip against an evocation of Perth so intense you can smell it’ Sunday Telegraph Cloudstreet – a broken-down house of former glories on the wrong side of the tracks, a place teeming with memories of its own, a place of shudders and shadows and spirits. From separate catastrophes, two families flee to the city and find themselves sharing this great sighing structure and beginning their lives again from scratch. Together they roister and rankle in a house that begins as a roof over their heads and becomes a home for their hearts. In this fresh, funny novel, full of wonder and dreams, Tim Winton weaves the threads of lifetimes, of twenty years of shouting and fighting, laughing and grafting, into a story about acceptance and belonging. ‘Imagine Neighbours being taken over by the writing team of John Steinbeck and Gabriel García Márquez and you’ll be close to the heart of Winton’s impressive tale’ Time Out