Australian Classic Summer of the Seventeenth Doll at Cronulla

Photographer: Graham West

For its first production of 2025, Arts Theatre Cronulla is staging Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. The play, which rapidly became known as simply The Doll,premiered in Melbourne in 1955, toured cities and regional towns in Australia, had a short run on Broadway, and a long season in London, winning the London Evening Standard Best New Play of the Year for 1957.

Possibly the most famous Australian play, The Doll explores the long-term relationship between two larrikin Queensland cane cutters - Roo and Barney - and the women they visit every year in the off season - Olive, Bubba and Pearl. In this final Summer all awaken to middle-age and realise that things have or must change. The title refers to kewpie dolls, tawdry fairground souvenirs, that they bring as gifts.

Photographer: Jeffrey Gall

Ray Lawler wrote this compelling play in the Melbourne Public Library. He had just returned to Melbourne after working in Brisbane, where he noticed two canecutters wooing chorus girls, and was struck by the comparison between the wild lifestyle that had developed in Brisbane during the war years and the staid nature of Melbourne. He wrote unmistakably Australian characters, speaking with their own accents, and telling their own stories.

Director Tom Richards has cast a wealth of talent, with strong performances from all the actors. The company reports that preview audiences are loving the show, identifying with the Aussie characters and appreciating the 1950’s set.

Photographer: Karen Swanson

Ray Lawler left school at thirteen to work in a foundry. He developed an interest in amateur dramatics and play-writing in his twenties. He wrote a number of plays, but it is The Doll  for which he is most admired, and its impact cannot be overstated. Its success both here and abroad was recognised as a defining moment in Australian theatre history. Ray Lawler passed away in 2024 at the age of 103, with The Doll a legacy considered to be a turning point in Australian theatre history.

Photographer: Karen Swanson

The production opens on Friday 14 February and runs till Saturday 22 March, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, with four Sunday matinees at 2pm.

Tickets are $33/$30 and can be booked online via the theatre’s website: 

https://www.artstheatrecronulla.com.au/

Cast

Barney             Peter David Allison  

Pearl                Rachel Lauren Baker

Roo                  Gary Clark

Emma              Narelle Jaeger

Johnnie            Michael Monk

Olive                Ally O'brien

Bubba              Eliza Spowart

Photo credits: Port Hacking Camera Club