Seventeen

A great idea, beautifully acted and staged, this production left the audience captivated. The idea was to cast stage legends, aged over seventy, as seventeen year olds on the night of their last day of school.

They drink to excess, jump freely onto play equipment in a park, make a mess with their junk food in no time at all, play truth or dare and confront their demons.

Set today of course they take selfies and dance awkwardly to a Taylor Swift song, that the company got the rights to after a social media campaign.

The joy of escaping school is mirrored in the joy of the actors in being able to cut loose. Tom (Peter Carroll) and Mike (John Gaden) are mates who make light work of a carton of beer, Anna Volska (Edwina) is the bright one who is going to miss the inter school debating, Maggie Dence (Sue) has a sense of fun but also a maturity beyond her years and Genevive Lemon (Lizzy) plays the cheeky younger sister with aplomb.

Barry Otto (Ronny) has the most fascinating role. He is an awkward school boy with dark secrets, living on the edge a bit like Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.

The body language of the cast was a hoot. Barry Otto squirms and fidgets across the stage, whilst others ‘perve’,  ‘pash’ or ‘spew’ as the drama dictates.

This a cross-generational play that entertained those in the audience who were around 17 and those many years past that. Although it was fascinating to see how the two groups reacted differently to one of the surprises of the night.

Seventeen will surely will have a life well beyond Belvoir.

David Spicer

Photographer: Brett Boardman