SUMMER OF THE 17TH DOLL

Ray Lawler wrote Summer of the 17^th Doll in an Australia that, by his own admission, has since faded away. Itinerant canecutters, the six o’clock swill, separate Ladies’ and Men’s entrances to the Public Bars, community singing round the piano on New Year’s Eve, even the notion of a ‘Russell Drysdale’ red sunset – recede ever into the glowing haze of the past. For a play that essentially mourns the passing of time, it seems appropriate to view it through this double-lens of nostalgia and historical reappraisal. In this Belvoir production, director Neil Armfield and set designer Ralph Myers uproot a 1953 Carlton household to the corner stage of 2011, and gently test out whether the love and misfortunes of barmaid Olive Leech, her roving partner and canecutting gangleader Roo Webber, best-mate Barney Ibbot, plus ring-in widow Pearl Cunningham, razor-sharp Leech matriarch Emma and naive neighbour Bubba Ryan are as relevant today as they were then. Susie Porter as the guileless and blindly optimistic Olive is, as usual, pitch-perfect. As is her all-seeing mother Robyn Nevin – whipsmart, and able to see where no one else can how the dream life of their ‘lay-off’ period (five months of partying a year) is inevitably coming to an end. Steve Le Marquand as Roo, Dan Wyllie as the hapless Barney, and Helen Thomson as the sniffy widow Pearl all acquit themselves magically also. The direction is soft, subtle. It’s a success insofar as it injects life into an often rehashed and studied classic. But does it bear the stamp of 2011, does it bring it ‘slap-bang’ into the present as Armfield hoped? Perhaps not, and perhaps that’s as it should be.

Until Nov 13, Belvoir St Upstairs, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills, sold out but limited release on the day, 9699 3444, belvoir.com.au