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Scripts as the bottom line SUMMER OF THE SEVENTEENTH DOLL SISTERLY FEELINGS STATE OF SIEGE by Cliff Gillam
Summer o f the Seventeenth Doll by Rav Law ler. Hole in the Wall. Perth WA. Opened September 10 1981. Director. Edgar Metcalfe; Designer. William Dowd; Stage Manager, Helen Godecke. Cast: Bubba, Ailsa Piper; Pearl, Faith Clayton; Olive, Helen Tripp; Emma, Nita Pannell; Barney. Maurie Ogden; R oo, Phil Wilbraham; Johnnie, Andy King.
(Professional) Sisterly Feelingsby Alan Ayckbourn. National Theatre Company, Playhouse. Perth WA. Opened September 22 1981. Director, Edgar Metcalfe; Designer. Steve Nolan; Lighting, Duncan Ord; Stage Managers. George Tsousis, Richard Hartley. Cast: Raymond Duparc, James Beattie, Margaret Ford, Denise Kirby, Bernie Davis, Paul English, Liz Horne, James Bean, Glenn Swift, Caroline McKenzie, Gerald Hitchcock, Jas Cartwright.
(Professional) State o f Siege by Albert Camus. WA Theatre Company. WAIT. Perth. Opened September 1981. Director, Phil Thomson. With: John Thomson, Lynn Howard, Mark Minchinton.
(Pro/Am)
Ray Lawler’s Sum m er o f the Seventeenth Doll has for a good many years now had undisputed status as a classic of Australian drama. Accordingly, each production of the piece must be undertaken with this fact in mind. The realistic style of the play, and the likelihood that a good proportion of the audience will have seen it before and will expect to see again something known and loved, means that a director of the play has severe limitations of general inter pretation placed upon him, while at the same time he must give meticulous attention to the rhythm, timing and nuance of each performance in order that his production might be favourably compared with those of the past. It is precisely in such meticulousness of attention that Edgar Metcalfe has always excelled as a director, and it is not therefore so surprising that he has made such a success of this production. Its success was laid on a firm foundation of excellent casting and design. Bill Dowd’s design for 36
M ft Faith Clarion (Pearl) in the Hole's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.
THEATRE AUSTRALIA NOVEMBER 1981