Stream free On Demand
While The Men Are Away
series • drama
MA15+
series • drama
MA15+
Sure, war is hell, but as another well-worn saying goes, there are always silver linings, even in the darkest depths. That leapt out for Alexandra Burke, co-founder of Arcadia, the Orange-based production company behind hit Aussie horror movie Sissy, when she sat down with fellow While the Men Are Away (WTMAA) showrunners Kim Wilson and Monica Zanetti to plot out the dramedy that follows women stepping into power positions on the homefront during WWII.
“That was the paradox,” Burke says. “Every time you read the two lines that women were allowed to have in history books, it was always like, ‘War was serious and it was very tragic, but we also had the time of our lives’.”
She could see opportunity through these little gaps. “When my grandparents speak about this time and the best friends that were formed then, there was something quite special that was galvanised, like a 1940s YOLO,” Burke says.
Gwen (Max McKenna), Esther (Jana Zvedeniuk), Kathleen (Phoebe Grainer), Frankie (Michela De Rossi), and the Gingham Ladies in While the Men Are Away Credit: Lisa Tomasetti
Burke says the eye-popping photography of Max Dupain partly inspired this approach. “You always think that you’re living in the most progressive time, but we were flicking through these amazing home magazines and we’d come across these stunning nudes shot by Max that were going out to every housewife in Australia, as both art and titillation,” she says. “There’s this whole thing now where violence is so accepted [on screen], and it would be great if we were as cool with nudity as we are with guns and bullets.”
Dora (Anna Skellern), Kathleen (Phoebe Grainer), Gwen (Max McKenna), Sadie (Gemma Ward) and the Glamour Picker cast in While the Men Are Away.
Funnily enough, Wilson was initially reluctant to come on board because she thought this period was already over-explored on screen. “But once we looked into it, it was such an extraordinary time in history where change was happening so fast,” she says. “Like when [the characters] hear a woman talk on the radio for the first time, that actually happened that year, and it meant we could really push them. They could take risks because the patriarchal eye is kind of off them for a second. So what happens in that freedom?”
A lot of hanky-panky is at least part of the answer in an effervescent show with a lot going on in the very best way, that’s driven by a diverse and proudly queer writer’s room. “We all were very honest about our shared experiences as queer people, but also our differences,” Wilson says. “That helped these characters go from trying to squash themselves into the little box they are supposed to be in, to ‘Hang on, the box is gone. What shape am I without this box?’”
Frankie (Michela De Rossi), Robert (Matt Testro) and Gwen (Max McKenna) in While the Men Are Away.
Wilson says the writers didn’t let themselves get too boxed in by the history books, either. “We did the research, and in the end, I started to feel a little paralysed through constantly fact-checking things and I just suddenly thought, ‘I can’t write like this’. So we read it all and then put it away. The things that stayed with us stayed in the show.”
Including low-key anxiety over what the future may hold. “We had to keep reminding ourselves that our characters didn’t know who would win the war or when it would end.”
In a conscious act of reclamation, co-creator Zanetti – who shares directorial duties on WTMAA with Elissa Down – and the team were keen that the show hold onto queer joy, even when the relationships depicted are platonic.
Kathleen (Phoebe Grainer), Frankie (Michela De Rossi), and Pesticide Pete (Daniel Krige) in While the Men Are Away.
“We had this ethos, when we were talking about this world and creating these characters, that they were in a bubble and they were kind of each other’s community,” Zanetti says. “That’s what queerness is, to me. It’s community and joy, and anytime you get to explore that on screen is so important. Particularly during a time when many people would assume it didn’t exist, or if it did, it was something very dark and hidden.”
WWTAA wears its big, queer heart on its sleeve, but it doesn’t airbrush out the adversity faced by LGBTQIA+ people during this period. A frisson of risk heightens the drama, after all. “Obviously, there is a sense of danger to this,” Zanetti says. “And for some characters, the stakes are higher than others.”
Frankie (Michela De Rossi) in While the Men Are Away.
Of course, historical problems have their echoes now, Burke notes. “You’re looking at the universalities and using the historical context to comment on today and what we, as humans, are facing together as a society, all the pressures on different groups, and have a bit of fun with that.”
For all the hectic plot twists, dropping cliffhangers like bombs, WTMAA is always fun. As Burke says, “I feel like our show is the bridge between the Matildas and seeing lesbians on screen constantly. It’s literally ‘sex before soccer’ for SBS.”
While the Men Are Away premieres Wednesday 27 September at SBS On Demand. Double episodes air weekly on SBS 27 September from 8:30PM.
