What an experience! I speak of a searing, at times humorous trilogy covering 16 years and lasting seven hours, in which, on several occasions, the characters eviscerate one another. And “yes”, I approached it with fear, simply because even for an unashamed theatre enthusiast like me 420 minutes in a small, black box theatre seemed like a huge ask. I should add that there are breaks within and between each play, which extend the day from midday to just past 11pm.
Fortunately, my trepidation was readily put to rest by a sensational, powerhouse start that had me primed to discover more … as soon as possible. No, ifs or buts about it. The strength is in the writing and the execution, that includes stellar performances from a richly talented cast, which had me emotionally invested. Ray Lawler AO OBE’s classic plays are Kid Stakes, Other Times and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. The action takes place in the living room of a home in the Melbourne inner city suburb of Carlton between 1937 and 1953.
Kid Stakes sets the tone for the characters’ interactions that follow. In the Depression era, stern widow Emma (Caroline Lee) runs a small boarding house. Emma’s daughter Olive (Ngaire Dawn Fair) and Olive’s ebullient friend and border Nancy (Emily Goddard) work as milliners. During a visit to the aquarium, they meet a couple of cane cutters, best mates Roo (Ben Prendergast) and Barney (John Leary). They are down from Queensland, enjoying a five-month layoff. The four begin seeing each other, when, unbeknown to the hard nosed Emma, the girls orchestrate getting the boys into her home as borders.
As a loudmouthed prankster, Barney seems a good match for Nancy, although Emma doesn’t warm to him. Indeed, he has a couple of skeletons in the closet. Olive is besotted by Roo and he with her, but Emma has other ideas, concerned about the motives of these commitment phobic, fly in, fly out workers. She would rather see Olive with her daughter’s strait-laced, gentlemanly co-worker Dickie (Khisraw Jones-Shukoor), who sees his future in advertising. Still, the girls leave their jobs to become barmaids and see more and more of Roo and Barney. Kid Stakes is a boisterous start to the trilogy.
The tone changes appreciably in Other Times, which moves from the late ‘30s to 1945 … the end of WWII, and significantly darker times for the players. Roo and Barney have been enlisted men for five years, before they are given their discharge papers. The war has taken its toll on Roo in particular, while Nancy is no longer as invested in Barney and is drinking more. Her head has been turned by a kind Jewish migrant, Josef (Khisraw Jones-Shukoor), who met her at the bar where she works. Racism has reared its ugly head.
Emma’s next door neighbour Bubba (Lucinda Smith), who doesn’t appear in the first play, but is referenced frequently, is now 14. She enjoys spending time with Emma, Olive, Nancy and the boys. While continuing to live in her home, Emma gives it up as a boarding house and invests in a scheme that promises her riches.
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll moves the narrative to 16 summers after Roo and Barney first met Olive and Nancy. For those who may not be aware, the 17 dolls referenced in the title speak to the kewpie dolls that Roo gifts Olive on each, annual, five-monthly visit. This will be a time of reckoning.
Nancy is no longer on the scene. Instead, we are introduced to Olive’s barmaid friend Pearl (Emily Goddard), a widowed mother with an 18-year-old daughter. She doesn’t condone the free and easy lifestyle of Olive, who has maintained her relationship with Roo all these years. Pearl is also wary of meeting womaniser Barney, as it turns out with good reason, even though he initially sweet talks her.
Roo has hit hard times, replaced as a ganger (the foreman in charge of fellow workers on the sugar cane plantation where the boys work). Barney orchestrates an awkward catch up in Melbourne between Roo and the young man with whom he fell out and who took his role, Johnnie (Khisraw Jones-Shukoor), Johnnie also catches the eye of 22-year-old Bubba. There are dreams and then there is reality, without room for sentimentality, as life gets in the way. Such is the truth exposed in this award-winning trilogy finale.
What a mighty effort by the cast, several of whom do so much metaphorical heavy lifting and don’t falter. The acerbic tongue of Emma is magnificently realised in a no nonsense showing by Caroline Lee. Ngaire Dawn Fair brings optimism and enthusiasm to good natured Olive. There is an eyes wide open pragmatism about Nancy and Pearl, as delightfully captured by Emily Goddard.
Ben Prendergast brings a decent, steadfast quality to Roo, whose heart is in the right place. John Leary shines as the big talking, larger than life Barney, who has an answer for every misstep he takes. Khisraw Jones-Shukoor transitions extremely effectively from character to character between the three works. And Lucinda Smith channels girlish gaiety as Bubba, who is privy to some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows in The Doll Trilogy.
Authenticity is the key to the period dressing by set and costume designers Jacob Batista and Sophie Woodward. Also noteworthy is the moody lighting design by Rachel Burke and evocative sound design by Daniel Dixon. With The Doll Trilogy, director Ella Caldwell has masterfully crafted a work of rare quality and excellence. It serves to highlight that Red Stitch is among Australia’s finest exponents of compelling theatre.
But I warn you that you need to get in mighty quickly to secure your tickets because many shows are already sold out in a season that has been extended to 11th April. If you can’t or don’t want to see the trio in one day, you can do so in three separate sittings. Either way, I would urge you to do so. For your full range of options, go to https://www.redstitch.net
Alex First
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- Super (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre) – theatre review
- Oil (Red Stitch Theatre) – theatre review
- Job (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre) – theatre review
Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.