Don Parties On
Written byDavid Williamson
Date premiered13 January 2011
Place premieredArts Centre Playhouse
Original languageEnglish

Don Parties On is a 2011 play written by David Williamson. It was a sequel to Don's Party and opened the 2011 season of the Melbourne Theatre Company. Directed by Robyn Nevin, this sequel premiered on 13 January 2011 at the Arts Centre Melbourne Playhouse.[1][2]

The same characters 40 years on plus a few new arrivals. Don is now a retired school teacher.

Plot

The Scene: 21 August 2010, Don invites old friends around for a party the night of the federal election.

It’s 21 August 2010, the night of yet another federal election and, of course, yet another election night party at Don’s place. Over the decades, as he and his friends watched governments come and go, they have also closely followed the incoming results from each other’s lives: the tallies of luck and misfortune, the unexpected swings for and against. And through it all, the lesson that this crowd of superannuated Baby Boomers never seemed to learn is that politics and strong personalities should never be mixed with alcohol.

The relationships between the returning characters have changed, and there are also new characters: Cooley's wife Helen, Don and Kath's son Richard, Richard's lover Roberta, and his daughter Belle.[3][4]

Background

Williamson said he wrote the play for two reasons:

One was, what had happened to Don and his friends? The 20-somethings of Don’s Party were starting to ask themselves how their lives were going to pan out. Would their hopes and dreams be realised? Forty years later they know exactly how things have panned out – who has succeeded and who has failed and what criteria do you use to evaluate such questions in any case? Secondly, what has happened to Australia politically and socially in the intervening years? How has the landscape changed? [4]

Cast of Original Production

Reception

The play received mixed reviews but proved popular.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Don Parties On Media Release" (PDF). Melbourne Theatre Company official web site. Melbourne Theatre Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  2. ↑ "dailytelegraph.com.au: David Williamson launches Don's Party sequel, Don Parties On". dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  3. ↑ Watts, Richard (19 January 2011). "Don Parties On review". ArtsHub.com.au. ArtsHub. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  4. 1 2 Greg Gallaghan, "10 questions - David Williamson", The Australian 18 December 2010 accessed 5 April 2014
  5. ↑ David Williamson, "No Apology for My Play but for My Generation", Crikey, 21 January 2011 accessed 1 December 2012
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