A classic returns

In 1955, Australian theatre became familiar with a man named Ray Lawler, a young man from Footscray. He wrote a play called Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and, under the direction of John Sumner, the play became a hit in Melbourne, forging a path for national and later international success.

This season at Melbourne Theatre Company, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll returns to the stage, directed by Neil Armfield, with all the power it has maintained for the past seventy years. Taking place on a wonderfully rustic set designed by Ralph Myers, it is a seemingly simplistic tale of two lovers who spend months apart and reunite once a year.

Steve Le Marquand plays Rueben “Roo” Webber, who for the past seventeen years has spent seven months of the year up north cutting cane, and returns for the five month off season to be with his partner Olive (Alison Whyte), each year bringing her a new kewpie doll as a gift. He is joined by Barney (Travis McMahon) who has returned to Carlton every year to see the elusive Nancy. However, this year he returns with a broken heart as Nancy has finally fled the group and married another man. In her place, Olive has provided Pearl, (Helen Thomson) a potential romantic substitute and the four of them attempt to spend quality time together pretending that nothing has changed and that they are all as happy as they ever were.

Support comes in the form of Robyn Nevin, who plays Olive's cantankerous mother Emma. Nevin's performance is flawless – the character of Emma is many years older than herself, but everything about her oozes wisdom and endless life experience. Her voice creeks in all the right places and her muttered ramblings have all the sincerity of a cynical but loveable older woman. Eloise Winsetock is sweetly irresistible as the innocent girl next door, Kathie “Bubba” Ryan. Bubba is twenty years younger than the protagonists, and she is used to demonstrate the innocence and optimism of youth – something that Olive and her friends used to be. But Bubba is foolish, coveting a life of restrictions and false happy ever afters and coming dangerously close to falling prey to it. Winestock is wide-eyed and beautiful, bubbling over with enthusiasm and passion as she dates her way through the men of Carlton, happily oblivious to what awaits the dangers of indecision.

Despite the heavy tensions and mounting risk of heartbreak, Roo and Olive are magic to watch. Their chemistry is easy and back and forth as they adopt the lifestyle of a long married couple, even though they have have neglected to ever take their vows. Pearl is gleefully coquettish and superbly disdainful as the hoity toity barmaid who believes herself to be above such affairs, but nevertheless becomes involved in them. And no one can help but fall madly in love with Barney, who on paper, is the most sexist, womanising casanova in Melbourne, with a flock of illegitimate children scattered far and wide across Australia. The four of them interact with a yearning nostalgia and a quiet sense of desperation as they gradually bow to the inevitable – nature's cruel restrictions of age.

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a long play. With a running time of nearly three hours, it is not only time consuming, but it is also satisfyingly emotionally exhaustive. The climax of the story is vigorously injected with rage and heartbreak as a culmination of events leave every character with their own brutally exposed cross to bear. As vividly poignant and exquisitely Australian as it ever was, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll runs at the Arts Centre until February 18th.

Haylie Pretorius

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