Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

Question 1

Contexts

Answer 1

• 1953/54
  
  • December/New Year’s Eve/Christmas time
  • “Sunday afternoon in early December 1953”
  • Time: Morning, midday, afternoon, evening
  • “Carlton, Melbourne”
  • Social context and gender roles
  • Circumstances such as; the waiting period between layoffs, the change due to Nancy not being around, growing up, getting old, friendships, expectations, etc.
• The social and cultural changes occurring in Australia in the 1950’s

Question 2

style: realism

Answer 2

• Characters are believable
  
  • Costumes are authentic (1950s style)
  • Setting is often indoors and believable (there’s a mirror)
  • Box set (three walls, invisible fourth wall)
  • Everyday speech (Slang)
• Focus is on the characters

Question 3

theatre technologies and their use in the production

Answer 3

Live Captions:

- Two large flat screen TV's either side of the stage
- Displayed colour coded live captions of the script
- Was good for the older audience who may have been hearing impaired
- Distracting as bright colours flashing and also because there was variation between what the actors where saying and what the live captions said

Sound:

- Microphones hanging from the ceiling instead of mics on faces
- Sound and lighting desk at the back of the theatre, behind the audience

Communications:
- Stage crew wore headsets with microphones for communication between the crew

Question 4

Cast

Answer 4

• Written by Ray Lawler (2012 edition)
• Presented by Christine Harris & HIT Productions
• Directed by Denny Lawrence
• Pearl Cunningham: Rebecca Howell
• Bubba Ryan: Bree-Anna Cummins
• Olive Leach: Ruth Caro
• Emma Leach: Laura Gabriel
• Barney Ibbot: Arthur Angel
• Roo Webber: Neil Pigot
• Johnnie Dowd: Adam Hetherington

Question 5

New Year’s Eve Fireworks scene (Act 2 Scene 1)

Answer 5

o Act 2 Scene 1: “The glow of the fireworks”
o Colourful gels of LEDs flickering offstage in a variation of colours
o Create the illusion of fireworks offstage
o Remaining lights on stage dimmed to place emphasis on bright colours of the wireworks
o Actors were cohesive in turning their backs to the audience and keeping their focus on the fireworks
o Effectively conveyed the time, New Year’s Eve

Question 6

Olive Costumes

Answer 6

o Act 1 Scene 1: “She is dressed for work in a light summer frock”
o Style (realism): white fitted top and flared skirt below the knee with pattern of blue and green flowers
o Emphasis on her nativity
o Contrast to Pearl’s costume in style and colour (differing attitude towards lay-off season)
o Cohesive with her attitude towards the lay-off season; excited and overjoyed
o Contexts: well-researched into style of the 1950s

Question 7

Pearl’s Costumes

Answer 7

o Act 1 Scene 1: “She is wearing what she refers to as her good black, with a double string of pearls. Very discreet”
o Act 2 Scene 1: “She is wearing a bright print frock with a dominant note of red in its colouring- her identification with life on the spree”
o Act 3: “Pearl, fully dressed for the street in black”
o Style (realism): good black; high neck and mid-legth sleeves with a straight skirt to below the knee
o Emphasis on her conservative natures and properness
o Contrast to Olive’s contrast
o Cohesive with time period and attitude towards the lay-off season (hesitant and repulsed)
o Variation between costumes as her opinions change
o Contexts: well-researched into style of the 1950s

Question 8

Set description

Answer 8

o “sixteen kewpie dolls on walking sticks scattered around the room, stuck behind pictures on the wall, flowering in twos and threes from vases, and clustered in a pattern over the mantelshelf” (pg. 18)
o “A Victorian two-storied dwelling” (pg. 18)
o “most of the solid pieces of furniture have been retained” (pg. 18)
o Realism: box set, well-researched
o Cohesive with time period and setting as well as style of theatre
o Props: only fourteen kewpie dolls visible, leading audience to believe the remaining two dolls were on the invisible fourth wall

Question 9

Slang

Answer 9

o Olive: “hand on to your hats” (pg. 31)
o Olive: “God, you’re a wag” (pg. 32)
o Pearl: “If she cottons onto me…” (pg. 39)
o Emma: “…or these larrikins wouldn’t be here” (pg. 48

Question 10

Songs

Answer 10

o Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes (1954)
• “Sandman, I’m so alone/Don’t have nobody to call my own”
o Smile by Nat King Cole (1954)
• “Smile though your heart is aching/Smile even though it’s breaking/When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by/If you smile through your fear and sorrow”
o Direction choice to have songs play between acts of the performance
o Emphasis and cohesive with the action of the play and what characters were feeling
o Theatre technologies
o Songs reflected given circumstances of the play such as the changing of the lay-off season, the feelings of tension and expectations between characters

Question 11

Olive catching the doll (Act 1 Scene 1)

Answer 11

o Roo: “Here you are- the seventeenth” (pg. 56)
o “Roo tosses the doll” (pg. 56)
o “Olive catches it in mid-air with a cry of sheer happiness and fiercely cradles it to her as the wireless music reaches a triumphant flourish” (pg. 56)
o Lighting: one high intensity white spotlight on Ruth Caro
o Acting: smiles, freezes, holds the doll high up
o Emphasis on importance of the doll
o Large motion to catch the doll and no motion when frozen and holding it up
o Slows the rhythm of the scene right down