Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly single work   musical theatre   - Three acts
  • Author:agent Dorothy Hewett http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/hewett-dorothy
Issue Details: First known date: 1972... 1972 Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A musical look back at the 1930s, Bon-bons and Roses for Dolly is set in the Crystal Palace movie theatre, now a left-over dream factory, where for almost all of her life Dolly has sought consolation from the world at the sleazy alter of Hollywood. Dolly's life has also seen her surrounded by several symbolic female figures: Mary Corker, the strong intellectual grandmother who represents emotional sterility; Dolly's mother, Maddy, the older victim-dreamer without province; and Ollie Pullett, described by Hewett in her 1979 Hecate article as both the 'indomitable survivor and the final apotheosis of lower middle class suburbia... the voice of commonsense gone berserk' ('Creating Heroines' p77). When Dolly's dream world finally crumbles she finds herself middle aged, searching desperately in the blackened mirror of the old suburban fleapit for the ghost of the girl she once was. The reality is too much for her and she shoots herself during a re-run of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Production Details

  • First produced by the National Theatre Co, at The Playhouse, Perth, 4 October 1972. The music for this production was composed by John Williamson (q.v.). A revised version, with music by Mervyn Drake (q.v.), was produced at Sydney's Jane Street Theatre beginning 28 June 1973. Graeme Blundell (q.v.) also directed a production for Hoopla in 1978 (Playbox Theatre, Melbourne)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Westerly no. 4 December 1972 Z587909 1972 periodical issue 1972 pg. 22-36
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly / The Tatty Hollow Story : Two Plays Dorothy Hewett , Sydney : Currency Methuen Drama , 1976 Z307781 1976 selected work drama musical theatre (taught in 6 units) Sydney : Currency Methuen Drama , 1976 pg. 1-67
      .
      Extent: 68p.
      Description: Photopcopy.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • Has subtitle: A musical play in three acts.

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: H0780B
      .
      Extent: 68p.
      Description: Typescript (duplicated).
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • Version as performed at Jane Street Theatre 1973. Prompt copy.

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: H0780A
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

Recent Australian Women's Writing for the Stage Helen Thomson , 1998 single work criticism
— Appears in: Our Australian Theatre in the 1990s 1998; (p. 104-116) Helen Thomson surveys Australian women's writing for the stage, from 1970 to the 1990s, illustrating the diversity of feminist concerns and the forms these take in performances.
Dorothy's Reception in the Land of Oz: Hewett Among the Critics Lawrence Bourke , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Dorothy Hewett : Selected Critical Essays 1995; (p. 236-255)
`Up in the Bio-Box': The Use of Hollywood Myth in Some Early Dorothy Hewett Plays Harry Garlick , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Dorothy Hewett : Selected Critical Essays 1995; (p. 217-235)
`Dreams... Visions... Spells... Stoies': Representations and Identity in `Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly' Bill Dunstone , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Dorothy Hewett : Selected Critical Essays 1995; (p. 202-216)
Seeking Woman : Dorothy Hewett's Shifting Genres Susan Lever , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Dorothy Hewett : Selected Critical Essays 1995; (p. 147-162)
Presenting First, Middle and Last Picture Show H. G. Kippax , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30 June 1973; (p. 19) Creme de la Phlegm : Unforgettable Australian Reviews 2006; (p. 149-150)
— Review of Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly Dorothy Hewett , 1972 single work musical theatre
Plays of Hewett and Sherman Helen Van der Poorten , 1976 single work review
— Appears in: Theatre Australia , October-November vol. 1 no. 3 1976; (p. 56)
— Review of Melba Paul Sherman , 1974 single work drama ; This Old Man Comes Rolling Home Dorothy Hewett , 1967 single work drama ; Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly Dorothy Hewett , 1972 single work musical theatre
Review M. Leask , 1976 single work review
— Appears in: Theatrescope , June no. 1 1976; (p. 16)
— Review of Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly Dorothy Hewett , 1972 single work musical theatre
A Soft Centre of Nostalgia T. Schick , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: Nation Review , 20-26 July 1973; (p. 1243)
— Review of Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly Dorothy Hewett , 1972 single work musical theatre
Dorothy Hasn't Found the Land of Oz F. Kelly , 1977 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 9-10 July 1977; (p. 9)
— Review of Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly Dorothy Hewett , 1972 single work musical theatre
Recent Australian Women's Writing for the Stage Helen Thomson , 1998 single work criticism
— Appears in: Our Australian Theatre in the 1990s 1998; (p. 104-116) Helen Thomson surveys Australian women's writing for the stage, from 1970 to the 1990s, illustrating the diversity of feminist concerns and the forms these take in performances.
Trouble in Toe Nail Land 1972 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Australian , 18 October 1972; (p. 9)
'Me is Not a Stable Reality' : Dorothy Hewett Marie-Louise Ayres , 1994 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: 'Me is Not a Stable Reality' : Negotiations of Identity in the Poetry of Dorothy Auchterlonie, Rosemary Dobson, Dorothy Hewett and J.S. Harry 1994; (p. 189-245)
Seeking Woman : Dorothy Hewett's Shifting Genres Susan Lever , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Dorothy Hewett : Selected Critical Essays 1995; (p. 147-162)
`Dreams... Visions... Spells... Stoies': Representations and Identity in `Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly' Bill Dunstone , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Dorothy Hewett : Selected Critical Essays 1995; (p. 202-216)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (25)

Awards

VIEW ALL AWARDS (1)
Last amended 24 Aug 2006 13:30:29
Subjects:
Settings:
  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Western Australia,
  • 1890s
  • 1930s
  • 1970s
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X