Introductory activities

Direct students to create a wiki or blog on which they can post responses to questions below. For options, see Technology Tidbits.

Students should examine the cover of the play text. What is the dominant colour? What two symbols of authority are clearly visible?

What do students think the title might refer to? Is it suggested by the image?

This play is set the early 1970s, around 1971. Ask students to research the Australia of that period, to locate the play in its social and historical context. What were some of the differences between then now? Here are some possible focus points.

  • No colour television (and obviously no internet, computers, mobile phones etc.); what were the popular television shows at the time? Do any of them survive on Youtube? Watch the opening titles of Division 4.
  • What was the biggest selling brand of car in Australia? How much did a new one cost?
  • Who were the VFL Premiers that year? (It wasn’t the AFL then!)
  • Who was Prime Minister?
  • What was in fashion – hairstyles, clothing, etc.?
  • What sort of music might the characters of this play have listened to? Two choices (included here as suggestions – there are countless others, of course!) Masters Apprentices ‘Turn up your Radio’ and Zoot ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Clips for both are available on YouTube; those wild seventies hairstyles might raise a giggle!

Generate discussion around values and attitudes regarding social issues. Attitudes to women have changed significantly (although inequality is still an issue with regard to a range of attitudes, values and approaches in some instances). Other significant changes include, for example, the fact that homosexuality is no longer illegal (with Tasmania the last Australian state to decriminalise it in the 1990s); attitudes to indigenous questions such as land rights and recognition/reconciliation; and attitudes to the environment. These (apart from the feminism issue) are not directly connected to the play, but present for students the fact that the Australia of 1971 was a very different country to the one they have grown up in.

Who is David Williamson?

Ask students to read the bio inside the front cover of the play text. The Removalists is one of his very early plays, only his second to be produced.
(ACELT1639)   (EN5-8D)

 

Tapping into prior knowledge

Ask students to complete five-minute free writing exercises (they should write as much as possible in that time, without stopping) on the following topics.

  • Why do we have police?
  • How is a play different to a novel or film?
  • Is Australia a violent society?

Give students a further 10 to 15 minutes to tidy up their initial response; they can edit (without removing too much), fix spelling and punctuation and so on.

Divide the class into thirds. Allocate one topic to each third.

Ask or choose three students from each third to share their responses, opening up the session for discussion afterwards.

Each topic can then form the centre of a mindmap or similar, added to on a whiteboard or IWB by the teacher as responses/discussion points are raised. Students make note of anything they hadn’t covered or considered. This process should allow some of the core themes of the play, and the notion of play as text, to be explored in advance of reading the script.

 

Personal response on reading the text

Language warning: There are several instances of swearing, including the c-word, especially in Act Two. This is a matter for teacher discretion: the language is in context for both the situation and the characters and so is relevant. Students should be forewarned, though, and contact with parents might also be advisable.

Construct profiles of each of the characters as you read. This might include, but is not limited to, responses to the images of actors in the roles at the beginning of the text; highlighting/making note of dialogue that reveal motives or attitudes; and summaries of how each character evolves during the play.

Develop character webs, to illustrate how each of the main characters relates to the others. The attached graphic organiser (PDF, 146KB) can be used as a template to help with this. You might include notes on such questions as: how do the characters know each other? Are they related? Do they like one another? Does their relationship change over the course of the play? How?

Students can discuss specific lines from the play as exemplars of power, authority, manipulation etc. inherent in respective characters. Examples given under ‘Act One’ below.

Students can keep a reading journal in which the exemplar questions below can be addressed.

Reading Suggestion

Since this is a play, it was intended to be heard and seen rather than read. Select some key scenes and appoint students to the roles; depending on time and student confidence, a simple representation of the set could be created in the classroom and students walk through the action, scripts in hand.

As a rough guide I would suggest reading 10 to 15 pages per lesson; this should occur over approximately five lessons, depending on lesson length. Share the roles around if feasible, depending on the confidence and willingness of students.

Act One

SIMMONDS: (to Ross) Stuff the rule book up your arse. That’s the first thing you’ve got to learn. Get me? Life’s got its own rules. (p.32)

ROSS: . . . You’ve got be trained for all eventualities in this ‘rapidly changing world’. (p.36)

FIONA. That’s not why I went back to work. I was bored stiff. (p.43)

KATE: (about Kenny) If he’s forced to share it up he’ll most likely sell the lot for a quarter of its replacement value, split the money and drink himself stupid for a week. We’d offer him a reasonable price for his half, but we know he’d refuse. He’s that sort. (p.47)

Consider each of these lines in their context in the play. What do they reveal about attitudes, power, relationships?

How does Williamson illustrate Simmonds’ attitude to his job? (See p. 33: ‘The workload around here . . .’ and p. 37 ‘I have never made an arrest . . .’)

How would you describe the relationship between the two sisters? Who has the power? Why?

Act Two

Read p. 51. What are your first impressions of Kenny? How does Williamson establish his character?

How would you describe the role of The Removalist? Why is he in the play? Why does he keep referring to his ‘ten thousand dollars of machinery’?

How would you describe the situation and dialogue on pages 76-77? There are elements of humour – Kenny’s sarcasm and so on. What role does this provide in the wider context of Act Two?

Why is Simmonds angered by Kate’s adultery? What is Kate’s attitude to Simmonds as a result of this?

The play effectively has a ‘double ending’; when Ross thinks he’s killed Kenny (p. 83-4), and when Kenny actually dies (p. 95). What dramatic possibilities does this create for Williamson?

How does Ross attempt to cover his actions (p. 86-7)? What do these reveal about Ross’s character and his relationship with Simmonds as the play builds towards its ending?

How would you summarise Fiona’s attitude to the events of Act Two?

The ironic phrase ‘a few love pats’ is used a couple of times in Act Two, by Kenny and by Simmonds. Explain this phrase in the context of the play’s depictions of violence. Also a good opportunity to discuss Australian vernacular and our propensity for understatement.

Discuss the ending of the play, with regard to Williamson’s phrase ‘a frenzied ritual of exorcism’ (p. 96). What are the two men exorcising? Why is this kind of behaviour considered a ritual?

Personal connection with own experience

Have you ever been in a fight? What happened? How did you feel afterwards? What was the fight about?

Research police powers of arrest. How would it feel to be arrested? If you are arrested, what are your rights?

You don’t expect police to behave the way Simmonds and Ross behave. What are our expectations of the police force and their standards of conduct? What happens when these are breached? (Note: there are some insights into these questions in the Galbally/Milte introduction to the play, ‘Police: Authority and Privilege’.)
(ACELA1565)   (EN5-7D)

Identification with characters and situations

The Removalists portrays a fairly unpleasant domestic scenario. Without going into details, who can relate? (Clearly such a question needs to be handled sensitively; but there are very likely to be students with divorced parents who might offer some insight into the lived experience of coping with a split family arrangement.)

Of all the characters in the play, who do you feel sorry for at the end? Why?

What are some of the responsibilities that come with a position of power? Think of people in such positions – school principals, policemen, doctors, sports’ coaches. Does Simmonds abuse the position he’s in? If so, how/why?

Reflections on completion of the text

Sum up the core message of this play to its audience in one sentence.

There are some conflicting or contrasting moral behaviours at work in this play, focusing on the characters of Ross, Simmonds, Kate and Kenny. Choose one of these characters and comment on their moral position. For example:

  • At the end of the play, do you feel sorry for Kenny? Is his treatment at the hands of the policemen justified, given his violence towards Fiona?
  • Why does Ross ‘snap’ at the end, attack Kenny, and then fight with Simmonds?
  • Do you judge Kate for her infidelity? If so, why? If not, why not?
  • Are any of the characters in this play hypocritical? Who and why?

 

Outline of key elements of the text

Plot

Summarise the plot of this play in about 200 words. What happens, to whom?

Create a visual representation of the play’s plot – introduction, exposition, rising action, conflict, double ending, resolution. An example – ‘Removalists Plot Sequence’ – (PDF, 177KB) has been provided.

This will also be useful in discussing the play’s structure, in the next phase of this Unit.

Character

For each character (perhaps except The Removalist), write a statement as follows:

“At the beginning, Simmonds is . . . and at the end, he’s . . .”

Use these statements to track how each character changes throughout the play.

Choose the character who you think changes the most, and explain why. Refer to the character web you created earlier.

Themes

Choose one of the themes below and write a paragraph beginning:

The Removalists is a play about [insert chosen theme]. This is because . . .”

Use at least one quote from the play as evidence of your chosen theme.

  • Violence
  • Authority
  • Marriage
  • Masculinity
  • Power.

 

Synthesising task

Choose one of the following:

  1. You have been asked to design the set for a new production of this play. You only have one space to work with and so you have to incorporate both locations and represent at least three of the themes dot-pointed above. Include two views of the design, a bird’s-eye view and a front-on view, and provide notes explaining your set’s major features and ideas.
  2. Are there any likeable characters in this play? Discuss in one page with reference to specific events in the plot and quote dialogue as evidence for your assertions.
    (ACELT1644)   (ACELT1814)   (EN5-6C)   (EN5-5C)