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Interviews With 10 Australian Authors, Ch 10: David Williamson's The Removalists

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Author David Williamson
Interviews With 10 Australian Authors, Ch 10: David Williamson's The Removalists

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


Violence still permeates Australian society, from the actions of sporting figures, to police corruption, to high levels of domestic violence.

For these reasons, David Williamson's The Removalists remains as relevant to Australian audiences as when it was first performed. Listen to Williamson speak to Tom Tilley about the story behind the play and his early life as a writer.

Williamson's writing offers a commentary of Australian life and a satire of contemporary culture. The Removalists is an investigation of the Australian male ego, focusing on sexist attitudes towards women and the prevalence of violence.

The role of The Removalist is to witness the events of the play. Instead of acting to prevent the police violence against Kenny, he stubbornly refuses to intervene, even enjoying the scenes of brutality. In this way, he mirrors the audience watching the play – they are also passively witness to the police abuse of power.



Production Date: 2015


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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