Evening star., 1962-04-05

Learned from the play three
years ago-it remains one of
Arena Stages greatest all-time
hitS-Lawler's is a story on the
basic life level in Australia.
Its key males are a couple of
musclemen. Roo and Barney.
who work seven months of the
year in the far out sugar cane
fields and then spend the next
five in Sydney revelling in the
joy Of living. The ground rules
of the game have been the
same for 16 years. Then comes
the seventeenth summer, bring
ing Roo back once more to his
faithful playgirl. Olive. but not
Barney to his Nancy. Nancy
has deserted to marriage with
a less wild, less irresponsible
type.
This, however. is only the
first hint of q lot Of time
passed since Roo brought the
first Of his II yearly kewpie-
doll gifts to Olive. Something
has happened to Roo's once
strong back and Barney has
lost some Of his zest for their
old amusement park-bench-
boudoir routine. 1t is an un-
easy summer, starting with the
first beer which tastes a little
flatter. Luna Parks tunnel of
love is less fun. So Is Bar
ney's new girl, Pearl, Nancy's
Successor. There Is even o pail
in the fact that the little girl
from next door has grown up
and more than likely needs to
be spared the example Of the
life Roo and his playmates
have led so long.
There is no need for extreme
stress on the comment all this
has to make on the danger Of
playing life away. Director
Leslie Norman allows it to
speak for itself in the mercuri-
ally shifting, doubt-haunted
behaviour of the four key
characters.
For all of these, the roar
and pace of life have dimin-
ished. To this truth, and the
advantage Of Summer Of the
Seventeenth DOLL" members Of
the quartet react belatedly in
terms of their private person.
alities. Each In his turn shows
himself not to have been quite
what the others thought. Borg
mines Roo is not the immor-
tally strong man, nor Miss Bax-
ter's Olive the playgirl invinci-
BILE to time. 1t occurs to Mills
Barney that responsibility is
something for which life is
about to present the bill. And.
as for Miss Lansbury's Pearl, a
latecomer to the game, she
never really had the stamina
for 1t.
There Is room for q lot Of
loudly laughing, intense, fin
ally touching acting in Law
ler's muscular allegory, adapted
to the screen by John Dighton.
The four who bring 1t off so
deftly graded are expertly chos-
en- for their work, as are Ethel
Gabriel as the wise, hardbitten
old landlady; Janette Craig as
the little girl who grew up; and
Vincent Ball as the Roo-like
boy in her young life.
The screen has dealt hand
somely by a rugged piece Of
playwriting in Summer Of the
Seventeenth Doll"
MEMOS: Architect Charles
I'M. Goodman, Hubert W. Leckie.
president of the local chapter
of the Institute Of Graphic
Arts, and Ralph Patterson. Ma
tion's Business magazine art
editor, will act as judges Of the
poster competition Of the The
ater Guild-American Theater
Society. The contest, open
to both amateurs and profes-
sionals, seeks the poster best
designed to express the spirit
of the living theater." :, There
will be q display Of the con-
testants' work in the National
theater lobby, May ell. inclu-
Sive.
A modern dance concert will
be presented tonight and to-
morrow night by the American