''Don's Party'' is a 1971 play by

David Williamson David Keith Williamson (born 1942) is an Australian playwright, who has also written screenplays and teleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic drama '' Don's Party'', and other well-known plays include '' The Clu ...

set during the

1969 Australian federal election The 1969 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 25 October 1969. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister John Gorton, won the election with a severely diminished majority over the opposition ...

. The play opened on 11 August 1971 at The Pram Factory theatre in Carlton.

Plot

Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and baby son in the Melbourne suburb of

Lower Plenty Lower Plenty is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east from Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Banyule Local Government Areas of Victoria, loc ...

.Pat Dreverman, "Young will act out life's absurdities", Melbourne ''Age'', 4 August 1971 p. 20 On the night of the 1969 federal election Don invites a small group of friends to celebrate a predicted

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(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 Labor party, which is supported by Don and most of the guests, is not winning. As a result, alcohol consumption increases, 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' sub-par sexual performance. By the end of the night, Don and some of his friends have begun to grasp the emptiness of their compromised lives. The play led to a 2011 sequel, '' Don Parties On''.

Film version

See ''

Don's Party ''Don's Party'' is a 1971 play by David Williamson set during the 1969 Australian federal election. The play opened on 11 August 1971 at The Pram Factory theatre in Carlton (Victoria), Carlton. Plot Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with ...

References

{{David Williamson 1971 plays Plays by David Williamson Australian plays presented by J.C. Williamson's Australian plays adapted into films 1970s Australian plays Plays set in Victoria