Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

Nuanced, funny, vibrant and unmistakably Australian, Pigeonhole Theatre’s take onSummer of the Seventeenth Doll is refreshing in that it’s told firmly from the female perspective. Jordan Best’s Olive is magnificent: while other productions might have Olive as somewhat passive or in a state of suspended adolescence, Ms Best imbues her with inner strength. This Olive is a proto-feminist. She’s seen marriage and decided the daily drudgery wasn’t for her. Instead, she has created a situation with the best of both worlds: five months of fun, parties and unadulterated attention from her man, and seven months of sheer freedom. Some productions suggest that Olive is self-deluded and the end her inevitable come-uppance, but this Olive really means it. Her characterisation here is spot on: she’s instantly recognisable as a tough, logical, crude, resilient, strong working class Australian woman. You’ll know an Olive like this.

The new interloper, Pearl (Andrea Close), made more sense to me than she has before. Rather than being snooty and posh, Ms Close’s Pearl has a 1950s working class sense of what’s “proper” while being pragmatic. She’s painfully conscious of the unorthodox nature of the layover and in her heart doesn’t approve, but as a working widow is looking for a practical solution to fund herself and her daughter. When Barney (Dene Kermond) spins that truly awful line about his womanising being “not because he’s after all the loving he can get, but because he’s got a lot of love to give,” Pearl laughs with incredulity. It isn’t the line that wins her over, but Barney’s gall in thinking she’d fall for anything so patently ridiculous. She seems to make a conscious decision—what the heck, what does she have to lose?

While Olive and Pearl are taking control of their lives, Roo and Barney (Craig Alexander and Dene Kermond) are losing their grip on theirs, having crises arising from their increasing inability to live up to their own hyper-masculine ideals. Craig Alexander’s Roo has a fragility to him, while Dene Kermond’s Barney is an utterly charming aging sleazebag. Roo’s relationship with Olive is also beautifully portrayed, having the easy intimacy of a long-term couple, which makes Olive’s decision, when it comes, all the more devastating.

Director Karen Vickery has brought a light, fresh tone to the script, squeezing humour out of lines that are sometimes tense, helped by the huge comic experience of the cast. This is a wonderful interpretation of the old classic and I highly recommend it.

Cathy Bannister

Images: L - R Dene Kermond (Barney) and Andrea Close (Pearl); L - R Dene Kermond (Barney) and Craig Alexander (Roo); L - R Dene Kermond (Barney), Liz Bradley (Emma), Craig Alexander (Roo), Jordan Best (Olive), Andrea Close (Pearl) in Pigeonhole Theatre's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Photographer: Captured Moments.