The Department is a 1974 play by Australian playwright David Williamson. It was adapted for television in 1980.
Synopsis
The plot revolves around political intrigue at a university department,[1] which Williamson based on his experiences as a lecturer at Swinburne Tech.[2]
About the play, Williamson commented: "There are a lot of issues raised in the play but I offer no solution for them... I don't know what the solutions are".[5]
One reviewer in The Age called it "a success... some remarkable goods".[9] Another reviewer from that paper called it "an excellent production".[10]
A critic from The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "it's a long time since I've seen a better sustained performance in a locally produced TV play".[11]
Jack Hibberd, whose play A Toast of Melba was also filmed as part of the festival, called it "dreary, mundane. Awesomely so. I'm not impressed by that 'slice of life' realism style. It's just theatrical journalism".[12]
^"New Williamson play". The Canberra Times. Vol. 50, no. 14, 225. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 17 November 1975. p. 13. Retrieved 2 May 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^Radic, Leonard (16 November 1974). "Just a brief rest between his premieres". The Age. p. 20.
^Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p43
