At a time when British and American plays filled company repertoires and Australian actors undertook voice training to relieve them of their terrible Australian ‘accents’, here was a play about ordinary Australians written and spoken in the Australian idiom which moved audiences internationally (by way of a successful London season in 1957 and Hollywood film adaptation in 1959) with its melancholy story of love, youth and opportunity lost. The now legendary success enjoyed by ‘The Doll’ since its modest premiere at the Union Theatre in Melbourne in 1955 was unexpected by both playwright Ray Lawler and director John Sumner. Ray Lawler’s great Australian play is as relevant today as when it was written.’ ‘Four generations of eyes lit up at the opening night of the Doll the excitement was palpable. In fact, when a new production premiered this week at Arts Centre Melbourne, The Age described how: Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll holds a special place in the hearts of Australian theatre-goers. Set model for 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll', Melbourne Theatre Company, 1995.
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