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'The original work on which this production is based is the classic Australian play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. This play put Australian theatre on the international map in the 1950's, and remains a seminal work in the Australian canon with its evocative rendering of lost time. Playwright, Ray Lawler, gave permission for Jacqui Carroll to reconfigure his most famous work as a theatrical fantasy. This work has a mystical aura through the use of imagery that is both cartoon-like and surreal. Ninety percent of the dialogue has been replaced by movement and music that is entertaining, poignant and witty.
'Olive, Roo, Barney, Pearl remain as the dreamy main characters and, surrounded by the vocal and musical chorus of the three probing realists, they continually search for past happiness in a world that has changed forever. In this production the Doll has morphed into a life sized fairy that flits in and out, casting her charming, eccentric spell over everyone.'
Source: Artfilms website, Doll Seventeen entry: http://www.artfilms.com.au/Detail.aspx?ItemID=2096.
Sighted: 03/03/ 2015.
Excerpt from director's statement: 'It is my intention not to present the play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, but a designed impression, a fantasy of the play driven by the language of the senses. I offer here an intuitive impression, rich in movement and music. Olive, Roo, Barney, Pearl and the Kewpie Doll all drift through enmeshed in their dreams and nightmares. Surrounded by the vocal and musical chorus of the three probing realists, the main players continually search for equilibrium in a tilting world. Popular songs, movie themes, tangos, mambos, blues, etc. intersect throughout with the principal protagonists' world allowing them time for reflection on their interior life.'
Source: OzFrank website: http://www.ozfrank.com/index.php?MMID=25&SMID=29.
Sighted: 03/03 2015.
Performed as part of the Energex Brisbane Festival at the Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, 18-25 September 2002.
