La Boite Theatre Company finish their 2021 season with an outstanding production of Michael Gow’s summer classic Away, directed by Daniel Evans, 35 years after it was first performed by Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company.

Michael Gow's Away at La Boite, 2021.

Michael Gow’s Away at La Boite, 2021. Image © Morgan Roberts.

One of the most widely produced Australian plays, Away is set in 1967 and follows three families from the same school as they go away to the coast for the summer holidays. Roy and Coral’s marriage is struggling after the death of their son, who was conscripted to fight in Vietnam; Harry and Vic have worked hard to take their terminally ill son, Tom, on a happy family holiday that may be their last; and Meg pushes back against her neurotic mother Gwen, who is determined to have the perfect Christmas holiday with her daughter and her husband, Jim. As a freak storm upsets and intertwines these individual holidays, the characters must face painful truths in order to begin redeeming themselves and reconciling with one another.

There was a strong sense of nostalgia in Away, from the languid heat and...