Don's Party

Don's Party
DVD cover
Directed by	Bruce Beresford
Written by	David Williamson
Starring	Ray Barrett, Candy Raymond, Clare Binney, Pat Bishop
Release date(s)	1976
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Don's Party is a 1971 play by David Williamson set during the 1969 Australian federal election. The film based on the play was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival.^[1]

Plot

Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and baby son in suburban Melbourne. On the night of the 1969 federal election Don invites a small group of friends to celebrate a predicted Australian Labor Party (ALP) election victory, much to the dismay of his wife. To the party come Mal, Don’s university mentor, and his bitter wife Jenny, sex-obsessed Cooley and his latest girlfriend, nineteen-year-old Susan, Evan, a dentist, and his beautiful artist wife Kerry. Somehow, two Liberal supporters, Simon and Jody also come.

As the party wears on it becomes clear that the ALP, who are supported by Don and most of the guests, are not winning. As a result the drinking goes up a few notches, and the sniping between Don and his male friends about their failed aspirations gets uglier, as does their behaviour toward the women. Mack, a design engineer whose wife has just left him, pulls out a nude photo of her for his friends' approval. Crass womaniser Cooley pursues the available women. The disillusioned wives exchange tales of their husbands' subpar sexual performance. By the end of the night, Don and some of his friends have begun to grasp the emptiness of their compromised lives.

Film version

The play was adapted to a 1976 film by the playwright and directed by Bruce Beresford. John Hargreaves plays Don Henderson with Jeanie Drynan as Don's wife Kath. Ray Barrett plays Mal, Don's mentor, and Pat Bishop is his wife. Graham Kennedy plays Mack, Graeme Blundell is the repressed Australian Liberal Party supporter and Veronica Lang his obedient wife. Candy Raymond is an attractive and assertive artist and Kit Taylor is her uptight and possessive partner. Cooley is played by Harold Hopkins and his young girlfriend Susan is played by Claire Binney.

In the film the setting is relocated to the suburb of Westleigh in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The film also deviates from the stage version by increasing the level of profanity and contains full frontal nudity. Pat Bishop won the Best Leading Actress award, Veronica Lang won the Best Supporting Actress, Bruce Beresford won the Best Direction award, David Williamson won the Best screenplay award, and the film won the edit and sound award.

The video clip to You Am I's 1998 single "What I Don't Know 'bout You" is a tribute to 'Don's Party'. It features classic scenes from the movie re-enacted by noted Australian actors, including Stephen Curry, Ben Mendelsohn, Matt Day, Tania Lacy and Nadine Garner.

Cast

• Ray Barrett as Mal
• Clare Binney as Susan, Cooley's 19-year old girlfriend
• Pat Bishop, who was awarded the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, as Jenny, Mal's wife
• Graeme Blundell as Simon, a Liberal supporter
• Jeanie Drynan as Kath Henderson, Don's wife
• John Hargreaves as Don Henderson
• Harold Hopkins as Cooley
• Graham Kennedy as Mack
• Veronica Lang, who was awarded the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, as Jody, a Liberal supporter
• Candy Raymond as Kerry
• Kit Taylor as Evan
• John Grey Gorton as himself (Prime Minister of Australia 1968-1971)

Box Office

Don's Party grossed $871,000 at the box office in Australia,^[2] which is equivalent to $4,503,070 in 2009 dollars.

Sequel

In 2010 Williamson wrote Don Parties On, which opened the 2011 season of the Melbourne Theatre Company. Directed by Robyn Nevin, this sequel premiered on January 13, 2011 at the Arts Centre Playhouse.^[3]

Don Parties On revisits many of the original characters as Don and Kath throw another party on the night of the 2010 Australian federal election. 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.^[4]

Cast

• Diane Craig - Helen
• Georgia Flood - Belle
• Darren Gilshenan - Richard
• Robert Grubb - Mal
• Frankie J. Holden - Cooley
• Sue Jones - Jenny
• Garry McDonald - Don Henderson
• Tracy Mann - Kath Henderson
• Nikki Shiels - Roberta

See also

• Cinema of Australia

References

1. ^ "IMDB.com: Awards for Don's Party". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074422/awards. Retrieved 2010-07-22. 
2. ^ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office
3. ^ "Don Parties On Media Release" (PDF). Melbourne Theatre Company official web site. Melbourne Theatre Company. http://mtc.com.au/uploadedFiles/About_MTC/Media/Production_Media_Releases/DON%20PARTIES%20ON%20MEDIA%20RELEASE%283%29.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-20. 
4. ^ Watts, Richard (2011-01-19). "Don Parties On review". ArtsHub.com.au. ArtsHub. http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/don-parties-on-183158. Retrieved 2011-01-20. 

External links

• Currency Press - David Williamson's Don's Party
• Don's Party at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Teacher's Notes on David Williamson's plays including Don's Party
• You Am I singles on the official You Am I web site
• Don's Party at the Internet Movie Database
• Don's Party in the Australian Screen