Style, technique and themes in 'Gary's House'

EXAMPLE ESSAY
QUESTION:

With reference to Gary's House , discuss the techniques devised to realise the playwright's artistic and social goals.

ANSWER:

Gary's House illustrates many of the issues and predicaments confronted by Australians today, especially those people who are marginalised by society. The play primarily does this through a style which can be described as selective realism, with naturalistic dialogue counterbalancing the archetypal characters and overtly theatrical devices. The playwright's humanism infuses the play.

All the characters represent the 'little Aussie battler' who tries, by his/her own efforts, to rise to a higher social class and survive in a harsh land. The isolation of the bush setting is a metaphor for the emotional and social state of the characters at the start of the play. Gary and Sue-Anne are the first two 'ragged edges' (Act II scene 8) who come together through mutual need to build a community. While Gary, Christine and Dave at firs...