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'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' (a tribute to Ray Lawler)

23/8/2024

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​Our play for August was “Summer of the Seventeenth Doll” by Ray Lawler.  We chose the play as Ray Lawler recently passed away and we thought it a fitting tribute.  It is set in Australia, in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, in the summer of 1953.

Barnie and Roo have just returned from Queensland, where they have been working as sugar cane cutters.  This is the period of “the layover”, five months of sex and fun which they traditionally share with two city women, named Olive and Nancy.  This has been the pattern of the past seventeen years.  As always, Roo has brought Olive a kewpie doll as a present – the seventeenth doll!  

But things have changed.  Nancy has married, so Olive has invited Pearl Cunningham – a rather hoity-toity woman – to take over as Barnie’s date.

Also on the scene are Kathie "Bubba" Ryan, a 22-year-old girl who has been coveting Olive and Nancy's risqué lifestyle from her neighbouring house almost all her life, and Emma Leech, Olive's cynical, irritable, but wise mother.

The Summer is full of tensions.  Roo and Barnie are feeling old.  The new-comer Pearl is much less fun than her predecessor.  Roo has had a bad season up north.  He is broke and is forced to take a humiliating job in a paint factory.  His mateship with Barney is under strain following a dispute between them back in the cane-fields.

Roo is tired.  He can’t face another season of cane-cutting and he asks Olive to marry him and settle down.  But Olive is furious.  She wants her old life, her old freedom, back.  For her, marriage is the very opposite of life.

In the final scene, the two men leave together, the Summer prematurely ended. And we know that there will be no eighteenth doll. The party is over.

The play was enjoyable to read using Australian vernacular of the era.  It is quite intense, covering the breakdown of the relationships.  Each character viewed the events from a different direction.  Only Pearl and Emma saw that the fun and freedom were coming to an end.

​...News just in from Shirley “Our play for September is Strangers on a Train by Craig Warner.  It sounds interesting, it’s based on a book by Patricia Highsmith”.


Joy Shirley
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July - a very touching ending to "The Doll"

29/7/2016

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In my last report of our Group, it was clear that the relationships between members of “The Doll” characters were breaking down.  Barney and Roo have a huge fight which breaks up house furniture and the Dolls of 17 years.  Pearl walks out permanently as she is not prepared to behave in the manner of previous girl friends.  Roo wants to know whose fault it is for the “dust up” and is promptly told by Emma that it is no one’s fault, it is that he and Barney are simply too old for this kind of conduct.
 
Not only that, young Johnny Dowd is the new cane cutting “gun”.  Dowd and the gang decide to head to Mildura in the off season and Roo won’t go and Barney decides to stay with Roo as they are mates.  Roo reluctantly accepts this. Olive leaves in a drunken state.
 
The final scene is extremely emotional as Barney puts his hand on Roo’s broad shoulders; the men look into each other’s eyes and walk out of the house together. Several of our Group shed a tear at this stage & some others were very touched by the ending – including the convenor !!
 
Our next reading is “Winter Glory” by Peter Cloke.  This play is one in a series involving the redoubtable quartet of Dame Beatrice and her lodgers - Nan, Hattie and the Brigadier - who feature in earlier comedies by Cloke.  This play may well be the last in the series because, in an unfortunate slip-up in the quartet’s scheme to put a pathetic pet out of its misery & to help an ageing actress fade away at a peak of happiness,  they dispatch themselves heavenwards as well.
 
Another fun play for our Group
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June - 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' (Part 1)

4/7/2016

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Our Group is currently having a wonderful time reading an all time classic Australian play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler.
 
At the risk of under-estimating the play, it is about growing up and growing old and failing to grow up.  Set in the ‘50s, it is a crucial period in the development of the Australian identity.  It was a time of post-war reconstruction and immigration, of materialism, a wool boom, of suburban comfort and conservatism.  It was also a time new skills were needed to administer our new found prosperity.  Industry began to answer the call of art, literature, music and drama; and among others Ray Lawler emerged. 
                          
The play, set in the Melbourne suburb of  Carlton,  details the events in the lives of six central characters in the summer of 1953.  The structure of the play is such that the nature of these characters and their situation and history is not revealed immediately, but rather gradually established as the story unfolds.  By the end, the story and all its facets have been indirectly explained.
​
The summer that the story spans marks the 17th year of an annual tradition in the lives of the characters, wherein two masculine sugarcane cutters, Barney and Roo, travel south to Melbourne for five months of frivolity and celebration with two city women, Olive and Nancy (Roo bringing with him as a gift for Olive a kewpie doll hence the name). One of the women, Nancy, had apparently married some months ago.  In her place Olive has invited Pearl Cunningham to partake in the tradition. The other women present in the play are "Bubba" Ryan, a 22-year-old girl who has been coveting Olive and Nancy's lifestyle from her neighbouring house almost all her life, and Emma Leech, Olive's cynical, irritable, but wise mother.
 
As the play progresses, it becomes obvious that, for many collective reasons, this summer is different from others; it is full of tensions, strains to recreate lost youth, and from what is said of previous years, not a fraction of the fun that others have been.  Steadily things become worse; Roo is revealed to be broke and is forced to take a job in a paint factory.  He is disillusioned with his age and weaknesses, while relations between Barney and him are in doubt, due to a recent question of loyalty.  The situation is agitated in part by Pearl's uptight indignation and refusal to accept the lifestyle she is being presented with as "proper" or "decent".
 
Our group will read the final sections of the play at our next meeting so all readers will have to wait until the next Bulletin to discover the climactic outcome.  
 
Members of our group are enjoying the various characters they play and some really fit into the characters they read.  It is a fun play read by a fun group.
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Coming up... 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'

6/5/2016

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This is a handout for 'prereading' if you have the time ... 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'.  It is the full article - the handout given out in class was unfortunately missing a page.  

Here are some other resources which you might enjoy...
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    Play Reading 


    If you enjoy drama and theatre, this is the class for you.  If you have had previous experience in a theatre environment or always wanted to, this is the class for you. 

    ​During monthly sessions, the group will read chosen plays and share news of theatre experiences in a relaxed classroom setting. You don’t have to learn lines!

    Depending on interest we may also car pool at times to see local theatre performances.

    ​We access scripts from the Victorian Drama League.  A small contribution by class members is requested to cover the costs of hiring the scripts and the postage.

    Meeting Times

    1st Wednesday
    9.30 to 12 noon
    U3A Meeting Room 1, Fawckner Drive

    Convening team members 

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    Convenor - Joy Shirley 
    ​0417 065 351

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    Shirley Swallow
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    Pat Treleaven

    Thank you, Jenny

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    In late 2022 Jenny McKenna stepped down from her convening roles in the Play Reading group after almost five years. 

    In February 2018 Jenny took over the co-convening  'admin support role'  involving liaising with the Victorian Drama League to access our chosen plays.  This involved ordering and returning plays, and collecting weekly contributions towards costs. 

    Then, as Keith Rogers scaled down his role as convenor and 'creative director', Jenny stepped up to write newsletter reports, gradually taking on the role. Jenny continued in the role of convenor for over two years with the support of a small team in helping to choose the plays. 
    ​
    Thank you so much for your passion for play reading and the energies you put into ensuring the ongoing presence of Play Reading in the U3A Program, Jenny. 

    Resources

    U3A Benalla Play Reading - list of plays 2016 to Sept 2022
    Course Information/
    Deniliquin play  recommendations by author/
    Deniliquin play 
    recommendations by date read
    /

    Plays

    All
    '84 Charing Cross Road'
    'After The Ball'
    'A Ghost On Tiptoe'
    'A Lady Mislaid'
    'Alive And Kicking'
    'Alphabetical Order'
    'A Murder Has Been Arranged
    'An Ideal Husband'
    'An Inspector Calls'
    A Poetry Reading
    'A Pound Of Flesh'
    'Breath Of Spring'
    'Brighton Beach Memoirs'
    'Bright Side'
    'But Why Bump Off Barnaby?'
    'Calendar Girls'
    'Chaim's Love Song'
    Christmas Cheer
    'Continental Customs'
    'Crown Matrimonial'
    'Daylight Savings'
    'Dear Venus'
    'Death By Chocolate'
    'Deception'
    'Dinkum Assorted'
    "Enchanted April"
    'Falling From Grace'
    'Family Party'
    'Five Freaks A'Fiddling'
    'Full Steam Ahead'
    'Here Under Heaven'
    'Hotel Sorrento'
    'Inheritance'
    John Ellis
    'Life After George'
    'Money And Friends'
    'Morning Sacrifice'
    'Move Over Mrs Markham'
    'Parramatta Girls'
    Playwright: Muriel Spark
    Playwright: Tim Firth
    'Room To Move'
    'Rumors'
    'She Stoops To Conquer'
    'Strangers On A Train'
    'Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll'
    'Table By The Window'
    'Table Number 7'
    Terence Rattigan
    'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time"
    “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production Of Macbeth”
    "The Golden League Of Cleaning Women'
    'The Importance Of Being Earnest'
    'The Lady In The Van'
    'The Odd Couple'
    'The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie'
    'The Prisoner Of Second Avenue'
    'The Putting Down Of Ned Kelly'
    'The Spider Ring'
    "The Winslow Boy"
    'Twelve Angry Men'
    'Winter Glory'
    'Witness For The Prosecution'
    'Wives Have Their Uses'

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We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
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