Summer of the Seventeenth Doll [excerpt]

Summary

A 45-minute excerpt from the Australian play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, with its original Australian St James’ Players cast, in a special performance for transmission on BBC Television from the New Theatre, London.

Theatre play

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler [more information]

Play synopsis

The play is set in the State of Victoria, Australia. The scene is a double-storied terraced cottage during the hot weather of December 1952. This is the seventeenth summer that Roo and Barney, two cane-cutters, have come south to spend their five months of lay-off from work with two girlfriends. This summer, however, things have changed: Roo is feeling his age and Barney’s girlfriend has deserted him for marriage with another.

Production history

First performed at the Union Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, on 28 November 1955. First London performance: 30 April 1957. Turned into an Australian-British film directed by Leslie Norman in 1959.

Date of transmission

Monday 27 May 1957

Time

8.30pm

Series

Theatre Night

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Theatre company

St James’ Players, Australia

Credits

Director

John Sumner

Television Presentation by

Alan Sleath

Playwright

Ray Lawler

Set Designer

Anne Fraser

Introduced by

Ray Lawler

Cast

Ethel Gabriel	Emma Leech
June Jago	Olive Leech
Ray Lawler	Barney Ibbott
Fenella Maguire	Bubba Ryan
Richard Pratt	Johnnie Dowd
Madge Ryan	Pearl Cunningham
Kenneth Warren	Roo Webber

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

ageing; Australian drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 24 May 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

pp. 11 (article, with photographs) and 15 (listing)

Title

Summer of the 17th Doll (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Philip Hope-Wallace (Reviewer)

Reference

The Manchester Guardian, 1 May 1957, p. 5

Linking notes

n.b. this is a review of the stage production, not the televised excerpt.

Title

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Audience Research Report)

Archive

BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC) [more information]

Address

Peppard Road
Caversham Park
Reading
Berkshire
RG4 8TZ
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)118 948 6281

Email

heritage@bbc.co.uk

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/wac

Access

The WAC is open from 9.30am to 5.00pm on Wednesdays to Fridays throughout the year to academics, postgraduate students and writers by appointment.

Reference

Report reference VR/57/297, held in file R9/7/28