The Genesian Theatre Company. Genesian Theatre, Sydney. 13 Aug 2022
It’s widely acknowledged that Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll changed Australian theatre forever when it premiered in Melbourne in 1955. It’s the first play – or the first popular play - to put working-class Australians and their sturdy vernacular centre stage for an exploration of the search for happiness in unconventional domestic arrangements.
While presently a time capsule of social norms of the ’50s – feminism hadn’t reached Carlton yet – forgive him this trespass as the emotional quotient of misunderstood love and nostalgic yearning in the play is as relevant today as it ever was. The Doll is far deeper than any one theme and compels endlessly debatable questions for the trip home. After opening in Melbourne to critical acclaim in 1955, productions in the UK and New York commenced before the end of the decade. Ray Lawlor is still collecting royalty cheques at the rare age of 101.
Canecutters Roo and Barney return to Melbourne for the seventeenth layoff from the season up north. Olive, happy with love only five months a year and eschewing conventional domestication, anticipates the boys breathlessly but, this time, with some agitation. Her beau is Roo, but Barney’s Nancy has married elsewhere. Olive sets up a blind date between Barney and her fellow barmaid at the local pub, Pearl. Pearl’s primness and uncertainty around the arrangement foreshadows the fading of the romantic mirage.
Olive’s shabby home is well-conveyed by Tom Fahy’s set design and Barry Neilson’s decoration. But this veracity is shattered by Grace Swadling’s bitchy and unpleasant Pearl. Who could stay in a room five minutes with this person, let alone work with them? A viewable nuance of trepidation mixed with vulnerability went wanting. Jodine Muir’s Olive has hard work dealing with this deadweight and what could have been an empathetic but challenging encounter was delivered as unattractive anger. Director John Grinston here employs a technique repeated through the production – characters on opposite sides of the stage delivering out front. This heightens disengagement where a dialogue simmering in subtext could be more interesting. I don’t think people say what they mean in the 1950s any more than they do now.
All was forgiven when the boys arrive. Lawlor has Olive build them into demi-gods and like “a couple of eagles descending out of the sky” – to paraphrase a line from the play – their entrance signals the game is on. The boisterous boys bounce around the tiny room and the relationships are realised with alacrity. Harley Connor has the best role as the robust larrikin Barney. No wonder Lawlor himself played Barney in the initial Melbourne, Sydney, UK and New York productions. Barney’s seduction in the Taming-of-the-Pearl scene is masterful, as are Pearl’s subtle and self-surprising hot flushes in reaction. Bravo! Martin Grelis is a formidable Roo, hulking, sulking, and coming to grips with this challenging layoff. Grace Swadling develops her Pearl into a far more complex and interesting persona as the play progresses and Jodine Muir excels in Olive’s climactic outburst.
The nostalgic routines of the seventeenth layoff are falling apart and Lawlor has given us three observers to the tragedy, each with a unique viewpoint. Heather Tleige’s Bubba was five at the first layoff and is now confronted with losing the magic and the need to rekindle it elsewhere as Kathy, her real name. Liz Grindley as Olive’s sardonic mum provides comic relief and caps the proceedings with bouts of wisdom. Her contumelious Emma, however, is more caricature than authentic. Johnnie Dowd is a young cane ganger who worked with the fellas up North, and now intruding on the foursome, reflects on the unreality of their situation. Hamish MacDonald gives a sweet performance.
Besides the aforementioned physical/emotional distancing, director John Grinston needs to pay more attention to detail. Like the lack of festive decorations on New Year’s Eve and the pre-mature fireworks. Roo apparently was looking for a job in the Financial Review and wears tennis shoes when he should be putting his boots on. And would it be that hard to have labels on the beer bottles, like Carlton? Small beer, but details do matter. On the other side of the ledger, the physical business is very good, and Susan Carveth’s costume design (and hair?) distinguishes the period. Bravo!
Ray Lawlor has constructed a near perfect play in which all the characters realise they have to change. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a dynamic rendering of its time yet crammed with modern emotions. Highly recommended for both.
P.S. Saint Genesius is the patron saint of actors.
David Grybowski
When: 16 Jul to 20 Aug
Where: Genesian Theatre, Sydney
Bookings: genesiantheatre.com.au
Photography Credit: Craig O'Regan
