Our play for July was Murdered to Death by Peter Gordon.  This is the first in the “Inspector Pratt” trilogy of spoofs. 

Set in the mid-1930s, the play introduces the inept and bungling Inspector Pratt, who battles against the odds and his own incompetence to solve the murder of the house’s owner. It soon becomes clear that the murderer was not finished; will the miscreant be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom or will the audience die laughing first?

The characters in Murdered to Death are all deliberately based upon “whodunnit” stereotypes.  There is the upper class attractive young lady, the niece of the victim who lives as her companion, a “French” art expert, a butler who likes a drink, a busybody neighbour who likes to solve crimes (Miss Joan Maple) and of course the bungling inspector and his clever assistant constable.

Acting Inspector Pratt makes all sorts of mistakes, some of which are spoonerisms in addressing people (for example Miss Mable or Missus Jane), and confusing who people are.  He was so clumsy, he managed to shoot his constable in the foot – twice.

We had a lot of fun reading this play.  It was very clever in depicting Pratt’s character.  The end does leave it open for a sequel, which may be one for the class in future.

Our play for August is The Weekend by Michael Palin. It should be fun, but it does have a darker side according to the synopsis!

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Joy Shirley

The June Play Readers had a lot of fun reading Jennifer Roger’s play, 'Jigsaw'. Three generations of sisters, differing personalities, problems to solve, secrets to reveal, circumstances that are changing, all set on a hot stressful Christmas Day in the 1980’s.

Throw in someone who might have had a bit too much to drink, the one member who always turns up when all the work is done, people melting in the Western Australian heat. What could possibly go wrong?  Plenty!

Family life is seen, by Jennifer  Rogers, as a jigsaw - there are pieces that fit, and pieces that don’t, lost pieces, people who don’t like jigsaws or can’t even do them. Someone might even throw the whole box on the floor.

There were plenty of laugh out loud moments as the five gals negotiate changing family dynamics - the younger generations in particular very adept at superb put downs, plus lots of chances for us as readers to reflect on our roles as mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces and grandmothers.

An enjoyable play to read and listen to.   

Our next play - 'Murdered to Death' by Peter Gordon, described as a comedy/drama.

​Pat Treleaven

Moving on from reading ‘Happy Birthday Mum’ by Helen Wyngard in May, in June we will be reading ‘Jigsaw’ by Jennifer Rogers, a play in which family life is seen as a jigsaw puzzle …

“Often incomplete … great when all the pieces fit … Infuriating when they don’t… bamboozling when a bit goes missing or, worse, a stray gets into the box.  It charts the course of three generations of the same family as they come to terms with changing circumstances and attitudes”.

Wednesday 3 June, 10 am to 12.30 pm, U3A Room 1.

​Pat Treleaven  

We had another comedy for our April play.  This was “And the Big Men Fly” by Alan Hopgood.  It is an Australian play written in the early 1963.  It has been adapted to numerous media including a TV series and film.

About the play, Alan Hopgood writes:
“This play is quite ridiculous.  It is a tall story.  A yarn about one of our greatest national pastimes, Australian Rules Football.
But, as it is part of our national character to enjoy a yarn over a glass of bear, so I ask you to receive this story … with the same good-humoured lean against the bar that we know is truly … Aussie.”

Its primary subject is a fictional Australian rules football team, the Crows (note: it is the 1960s so predated the Adelaide Crows).  The coach of the Crows football team, J.J. Forbes, sends his assistant, Wally, out to find a new player for the big season championship which was to start in 2 weeks. J.J thought that they would never have a chance, as Wally couldn't seem to find anyone with some decent talent.  But Wally does find someone – Achilles Jones, who can kick a wheat bag 10 yards.  It takes lots of machinations to get him to sign up, using his partner to help.  His inclusion in the team helps the Crows to reach the Grand Final.  When he finds out how he has been tricked, he ends up leading the Crows to a draw in the Grand Final.  Obviously, there are twists and turns along the way, but I am avoiding the spoilers.

There was a coincidence of timing as the play starts at the beginning of the VFL season.  It would not be politically correct today, for example, using Achilles’ partner to keep Achilles playing.  But it did portray the era well.  It was a fun read, reminding some of the TV series “Beverly Hillbillies” from the 60s

The members of the class did well in the characterisation of the various characters.  It was a fun and enjoyable read and the ending could not have been better – an appropriate action by Achilles.
  
Our play for May is ‘Happy Birthday Mum’ by Helen Wyngard.

​Joy Shrley

Our play for March was “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde.  We were all familiar with this well-known play but still found it fun to revisit.  Every page had great humorous lines.  It is interesting the number of well-known sayings sourced from this play.
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First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy depicting the tangled affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming the name Ernest while wooing the two young women of their affections.

The play, celebrated for its wit and repartee, parodies dramatic norms, gently satirises late Victorian manners, and introduces – in addition to the two pairs of young lovers – the formidable Lady Bracknell, the fussy governess Miss Prism and the benign and scholarly Canon Chasuble.

Our discussion after reading the play highlighted the trivial life led by the characters in the late 19th century.

Perhaps the best-known statement from the play is spoken by Lady Bracknell:
“To lose one parent Mr Worthing may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness”

Other notable comments include:
“If you are not too long, I will wait for you all my life”
“I never travel without my diary.  One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

The play is full of these types of witticisms, sometimes so silly that you cannot help laughing.  A fun read!

Our play for April is - 'And the Big Men Fly', by Australian playwright Alan Hopgood


​Joy Shirley

​Another year of exciting plays has started.  It was a pleasure to meet with members from previous years and to welcome new members to the class.
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Our play to start the year was 'Australia Day' by Jonathan Biggins.  “He is one of Australia’s sharpest satirists and he zooms in on the dynamics of small-town society with an unerring eye and ear for the humour embedded in everyday life.”
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In the fictional NSW town of Coriole, preparations are underway for the annual Australia Day celebrations.  The organising committee consists of four long term members and two “newbies”.   The committee are hashing out the details amidst disagreements over politics, patriotism and progress.  The four experienced members of the committee want to do things as they have always been done, while the two new members see a reason for change.

Whether it’s angst over a new development, the best snags to serve at a multi-cultural barbecue, or the looming spectre of racism, throughout runs the theme of self-censorship.

At what point do you abandon the politically-correct stance and say what you really think?  And this is what one of the characters, very much stuck in the past, is inclined to do – say what he thinks, much of which is politically incorrect. 

This creates tensions within the committee.  Australia Day reaches farcical proportions, with the weather turning from heatwave to storms, the Australia Day ambassador not turning up, some food poisoning and political shenanigans.

It was a great play to read, with a lot of laughter.  We could see small town perspectives, for example you are a newcomer until you have lived there for 30 years.  And committees seem to the same everywhere.  

While the play was written in 2012, it could just as well apply to today.  And given we have just celebrated Australia Day, and just come to the end of a heatwave, relevant to our current environment.
 
Our play for March is 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde.

​Joy Shirley

Our play for December was Screen Play, by A R Gurney.  It is a satirical play from 2005 that reimagines the classic film Casablanca in a near-future America (set around 2015) facing political turmoil, with refugees fleeing to Canada, offering witty commentary on American politics, history, and the loss of ideals, all centred in Buffalo. 

With a plot borrowed liberally from the classic 1942 American film, Screen Play is a tale of politics, history, the city of Buffalo, and a love ruined by the Bush-Gore election of 2000.  It is set just before an election, envisioning a future ruled by a conservative religious majority. The economy is sagging, wars are raging, and culture is in decay.  Many Americans have begun to flee to Canada and Mexico as the government struggles to stop reverse immigration.

The play is presented as a staged reading of a film script that is deemed too dangerous to be produced.  It follows Nick, who runs his late father's bar in Buffalo, which is now a meeting place for those crossing the border into Canada.  The playwright uses the Casablanca framework to comment on current politics, social issues, and the state of America at the time.

Filled with political satire and jokes, this was fun to read.  It was written in 2005, but much of the commentary could be just as relevant today.

At the end of another year of reading a variety of plays, we wish all our U3A colleagues a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.  We are looking forward to 2026 and more interesting plays.

​Joy Shirley 

Our play for November was The Diary of Anne Frank, a stage adaptation of the posthumously published 1947 book The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  The dramatization is by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett.  It premiered on Broadway at the Cort Theatre in 1955.  Its script also primarily formed the basis of the Academy Award-winning 1959 film adaptation.

This was a move away from many of the comedies we have enjoyed during the year.  Many found it emotionally difficult.  Some of the class had read the book, but it was many years in the past and so found it interesting to re-visit.

As with many dramatizations of books, the story was condensed, but we still gained a view of the issues faced during the time the families were hidden away in the attic.  A point raised in our discussion was the hope Anne retained until the end.  One of the characters appeared not to be a practicing Jew but had Jewish forebears a few generations back.  This led to a discussion that not only Jewish people were impacted, but anyone who did not meet the Nazi standard.

Overall, the play was found to be good and appreciated.
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Our final class for 2025 will be on 3 December.   It will be Screen Play, a one act play by A. R. Gurney.  Then we will celebrate the end of another year of play reading at a local cafe.


​Joy Shirley

Travelling North is a play by Australian playwright David Williamson premiered in 1979, telling the story of a late-life romance and relocation to a warmer climate (the "north" of the title) of Frank, a newly retired engineer, and Frances, his somewhat younger chosen companion/girlfriend.

The play begins in a seaside campsite, somewhere beyond Noosa on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, in the autumn of 1969.  Frank, described as "over seventy", and Frances, aged "about fifty-five", have known each other for about a year.  They are discussing the pleasures of their holiday/road trip from cold, rainy Melbourne in the south, and Frank expresses his desire to retire to the tropics north of Townsville, to which Frances is agreeable.

The play is set mainly between Australia’s north and Melbourne as members of the couple’s families are introduced and their relationships explored.  It is a serious drama with some comedic touches.  This has led to it being called "a deeply moving comedy with insightful ruminations on youth, vigour, aging and death."  The class agreed wholeheartedly with this assessment.

Williamson is a keen observer of human nature, and the characters reflect this.  They are all different but live, making for a complete story around family relationships.  The older males are particularly well drawn. 

An interesting side issue was Frank’s demand for more medical information with his doctor commenting that having information without relevant medical training could lead to problems.  Today all this information can be found online, with similar issues where people can self-diagnose etc.  This is an example of how issues back in the 1970’s are still relevant today.  Although some activities such as writing letters have been overtaken by technology.

Williamson’s clever use of wordplay helped make this an enjoyable play, helping to prevent it from becoming dark.  It is even reflected in the title – travelling north for a warmer climate, but also growing older, in other words aging north.

Our play for September was 'The History Boys' by Allan Bennett.  He was a prolific English playwright, author, actor and screenwriter.  He is known for writing “The Lady in the Van” and the BBC Talking Heads series.

“The History Boys” play opens in Cutlers' Grammar School, Sheffield, a fictional boys' grammar school in the north of England.  Set in the mid-late 1980s, the play follows a group of history pupils preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations under the guidance of three teachers (Hector, Irwin, and Lintott) with contrasting styles.

Hector, an eccentric teacher, delights in knowledge for its own sake but his ambitious headmaster wants the school to move up the academic league table and hires Irwin, a supply teacher, to introduce a rather more cynical and ruthless style of teaching.  Lintott is focussed on teaching historical facts.  Hector is discovered sexually fondling a boy and later Irwin's latent homosexual inclinations emerge.

With quotes from literature, a scene totally in French and discussions about what is education, this was an interesting play to read.  The boys had different personalities, backgrounds and aims; the teachers have different thoughts about education.  Was the goal to know “stuff” or to become more rounded human beings?

Our October Playreading?  'Travelling North', by David Williamson. 

​Joy Shirley

This month we read the second play in the double bill Separate Tables.  Table by the Window is again set in the typical South Coast Hotel Beauregarde, peopled by the old, the lonely and the indigent.  The manageress, Miss Cooper, is unable to remain aloof from their troubles.  The secondary characters are the same as in Table Number Seven, the other play in the double bill.

Table by the Window focuses on the troubled relationship between a disgraced Labour politician and his ex-wife.  John Malcolm, a once-rising politician now turned to drink.  Earlier he was sent to prison for beating his ex-wife, Anne.  She, having remarried, is now divorced a second time, and seeks a reconciliation with John and turns up at the Beauregarde Hotel.  Miss Cooper, the manager of the hotel is his mistress.  Still, after an off-stage consultation with the ex-wife, Miss Cooper helps, with great generosity, to bring about a cautious reunion of the formerly married couple.

It was interesting to read the other play in the double bill. This was the first in the double bill, but we revisited some of the characters from last month’s play.  Apart from Anne and Charles, there was an interaction between a couple, Jean and Charles, who in this play were not married.  Jean was against marriage and all it meant – loss of career, looking after babies etc.  In the second play read last month, they are married with a baby and Jean is into all things related to babies.  We also had in this play another character who talks about how marriage just makes people miserable, and she had avoided it.

This play was more serious than the Table Number Seven, but did have a lighter moment when Jean referred to the more permanent residents by various nicknames.  For example, an ex-teacher was referred to as Mr Chips.

An interesting play, but we enjoyed Table Number Seven more.

Our September play - 'The History Boys' by Alan Bennett.
 

​Joy Shirley

Table Number Seven forms part of the double bill Separate Tables.  It is set in a typical South Coast Hotel Beauregarde, peopled by the old, the lonely and the indigent.  The manageress, Miss Cooper, is unable to remain aloof from their troubles.  In Table Number Seven Major Pollock and Miss Railton-Bell are misfits and their despair draws them together in a touching friendship.

Major Pollock is a 'self-made' army officer without any true background and education to which he lays claim.  Miss Railton-Bell’s life is ruled by her ruthless, domineering mother who objects to the friendship.  She easily becomes hysterical because of her mother’s repressive treatment.  When a sordid scandal threatens to drive them apart, Miss Cooper comes to the rescue.

Major Pollock tries to conceal from his fellow guests a report in the local newspaper of his sexual harassment of women at a local cinema.  Mrs Railton-Bell discovers the truth and turns most of the other residents against him, hoping to drive him out of the hotel.  Miss Cooper encourages Major Pollock and Miss Railton-Bell to examine their feelings honestly and face their futures bravely.

Seeing it on the stage would be interesting, watching the various entrances and exits of the cast members which would enhance the cultures of the era (the 1950s).  It had some hard truths as well as some humorous moments.  For a young couple with a baby, the husband does not agree with the “baby talk” his wife uses.  And he is one of the few residents who does not think the major should be sent away.  Another resident is not at all interested in the issue at all.  There is a scene where conversation with the major raises questions about the veracity of the major’s claims about his background.

We enjoyed reading the play, and are interested in reading the other play in the double bill called Table by the Window.

Joy Shirley 
 

“She Stoops to Conquer” is a comedy of manners that explores social class, one's place in society, both socially and economically, and its importance in 18th century England. The characters and their conceptions of these absurd societal rules lead them on a humorous journey in their relationships.

Mr. Hardcastle plans to marry his forthright daughter Kate to the bashful son of his friend Sir Charles Marlow. Mrs. Hardcastle wants her recalcitrant son Tony Lumpkin to marry her ward Constance Neville, who is in love with Marlow’s friend Hastings.

Humorous mishaps occur when Tony dupes Marlow and Hastings into believing that Mr. Hardcastle’s home is an inn.

By posing as a servant, Kate wins the heart of Marlow, who is uncomfortable in the company of wellborn women but is flirtatious with barmaids.

Through various deceptions, Tony releases himself from his mother’s clutches and unites Constance with Hastings.

We often talk about the title of a play and how it meets the theme.  It was clear this month that Kate “stooped” to win Marlow.  But also there was the whole issue of societal rules.  For example, Marlow was happy to play around with barmaids – those of a lower class.
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Another interesting thing we noted was the use of names.  One stood out – that of Miss Constance Neville.  Her character was shown as showing constancy in her attraction to Hastings.

A great comedy enjoyed by the class.

We have been provided with a play by LUEY for July.  It is "Table Number Seven" by Terence Rattigan.  We have read it previously, but it is a few years ago.


Joy Shirley
​June 2025

Our play for May was 'Crown Matrimonial', a 1972 play by Royce Ryton about the 1936 crisis around the abdication of Edward VIII.  Set in Marlborough House between 1936 and 1945, the play focuses on the private family drama of Edward VIII and the Royal Family leading up to the abdication.  It dramatises the private effects of the abdication on the Royal Family.  An engrossing and moving study of both a major constitutional crisis and an overwhelming issue of private and public conflict.

One reviewer states “A gripping and often moving insight into comparatively recent history.”

History has recorded the movements and meetings that took place during the period leading up to the abdication.  No-one can know exactly what the personal conversations involved.  But we are given a picture of what might have been said, based no doubt on what was known about the movements and personalities of the people involved.  There was a focus on the issue of the monarch and throne – nothing should stand in the way of protecting these.  The throne was shown as being more important than the occupant.  We had quite a long discussion after the play.  This included the way David (Edward VIII) was portrayed in the play as compared with the media treatment both at the time and currently.

The media seemed to show him as a playboy, but the play shows him as thinking man, concerned for the throne, but also determined to marry Wallis.  Wallis was shown as being kind, thoughtful and sensible, not just a society hostess as sometimes depicted by the media.  A further point brought out in the play was that according to the Church, marriage is unbreakable, but priests, nuns etc can be released from their vows.

There was some further conversation around the impact of this same need to “protect the throne” in more recent times.

​Our play for June is ‘She Stoops to Conquer’, a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith. It sounds fun.

 
Joy Shirley
​May 2025

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a play by Simon Stephens based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon.  The story concerns a mystery surrounding the death of a neighbour's dog that is investigated by young Christopher Boone. 

Christopher is the detective and narrator.  He is 15 and has Asperger’s, the form of autism.  He knows a great deal about maths and very little about human beings.  He loves lists, patterns and the truth – he cannot tell a lie.  He hates the colours yellow and brown.  More importantly, he hates being touched, and crowds and noise can upset him.  This is a major issue in the story.  He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own.  When he finds the neighbour’s dog has been killed, he sets off to solve the murder.

The setting is Swindon and London.  It explores Christopher’s relationships with his parents and school mentor.  The play has received a generally warm reception, with most critics impressed by its ability to convey the point of view of the young protagonist and the compassion of his school mentor. 

Reading this play was an interesting experience, with many background voices helping to provide the feeling of crowds and noise – issues that Christopher finds upsetting.  It is also set as one scene with the interactions Christpher has with the various people shown as they come and go from the stage.  This would make for some interesting issues for stage direction.  Chrstopher’s character is well drawn as we see his responses and actions depicting his mental and emotional issues.

An interesting play enjoyed by the class.
 
Joy Shirley

Our play for May is Crown Matrimonial by Royce Ryton.  Set in Marlborough House between 1936 and 1945, the play focuses on the private family drama of Edward V111 and the Royal family leading up to his abdication.

Shirley Swallow

Our play for March was “The Odd Couple (female version)” by Neil Simon.  We have covered a number of Neil Simon plays over the years and find them great to read in our class.

Summary

We have Florence Unger and Olive Madison in the female version of Neil Simon’s hilarious comic classic, “The Odd Couple”. Instead of the poker party that begins the original version, Olive has the girls over for the weekly evening of Trivial Pursuit. The guys are replaced by the girls, and the Pidgeon sisters are replaced by the Costazuela brothers, but the hilarity remains the same.

As the game of Trivial Pursuit continues, Florence arrives, fresh from being dumped by her husband. Fearful that the neurotic Florence might attempt suicide, Olive invites her to move in as her roommate. However, Olive and Florence have VERY different personalities. Where Olive is messy, untidy, and unconcerned about the state of her apartment, Florence is obsessively clean, tidy, and obsessed with hygiene. Olive’s easy-going outlook on life soon clashes with Florence’s highly-strung neurotic tendencies, testing their friendship to the limit. When Olive organizes a double date with the Costazuela brothers, their differences come to a head and sparks fly.

The show focuses on the two women as they find their place in the world and workforce in 1980's New York City, while simultaneously navigating difficult divorces. The themes of this show highlight female friendships, feminism, and the representation of female sexuality at that point in time.

The characterisation for Florence and Olive was good, with not a lot of focus on the other four women.  All were very much of the time – the 1980s.  There were a number of clever one liners.  The scene with the Costazuela brothers was extremely clever as it played on language differences and pronunciations.

A fun play, but the question remains whether it worked better with the men of the original play.
 
Our play for April is “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Simon Stephens.
 
 
Joy Shirley

​Our play for our first session on Wednesday 5th February at 9:30 am is ‘Enchanted April’ by Matthew Barber (from a novel by Elizabeth Von Arnim).  The film was good, so hopefully the play will be too!
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Shirley Swallow

​We read two short plays in December, then headed over to a café to celebrate the end of another year of play reading.  The first play was Family Party, a comedy, with the second play a thriller, The Spider Ring.  It was interesting to read the two contrasting plays.
 
Family Party was written by Pamela Hansford Johnson and C P Snow around 1950.
The setting is a living room of a semi-detached house in the North Midlands in England, around 1950.  Three sisters are keen for their great aunt to leave them something in her will.  A visit by the great aunt results in a totally unexpected bequest seen by the sisters as outrageous.  The ‘party’ consists of the three sisters and two of their daughters.  The contrast between the characters of the sisters, the cousins and the great aunt made for a fun play.
 
The Spider Ring was written by Mabel Constanduros and Howard Agg in 1958.
The setting is an old English cottage in a remote country area in the UK.  A newlywed learns that her controlling husband’s first wife died in suspicious circumstances, and realises her life is in danger too.  Lorna is excited about plans to travel to South Africa where Frank has used her inheritance to buy a farm.  All is upset when their landlady visits unexpectedly and recognises a ring (the spider ring) she had given to Frank’s first wife.  Mrs Bland informs Lorna and heads off to call the police.  Just as it looks like Frank is about to strangle Lorna, the police arrive and the curtains close.  With good timing when performed, this would be a very entertaining thriller.

Joy Shirley

Our play for our first session on Wednesday 5th February at 9:30 am is ‘Enchanted April’ by Matthew Barber (from a novel by Elizabeth Von Arnim).  The film was good, so hopefully the play will be too!
​
Shirley Swallow

Peter George, charismatic academic, idealist, lover of life, is dead. His three wives and his daughter come together to arrange his funeral. So begins a fascinating retrospective on George's life. Life After George offers an insight into social change across three decades, from the student barricades of the late 1960s to the new Millennium.

The play is set in Australia in the year 2000 but the characters spend time remembering events from the past as far back as the 1970s. 

The university has been central to change, and it is on this stage that George played out his brilliant and tempestuous career.  An important point raised in the play was the start of the corporatisation of the universities in the late 20th century/early 21st century.  The play embodies the spirit of each of the decades.  Covering three decades, the characters of the wives reflect the culture of the eras in which they lived.

This play had one difference from the other Hannie Rayson plays we have read.  It did not have the same level of comedy relief.  We did enjoy the play and look forward to opportunities to read more of her play when available.
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For our December class we will have two short one act plays. The first is 'Family Party' which is a comedy and the other one is 'The Spider Ring' a mystery/suspense.  We'll  then head off together for a “coffee” to celebrate another year of reading some great plays.


​Joy Shirley

Our September play was “Strangers on a Train”.  This was written by Craig Warner and is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith.

The play is set in America in the 1950s.

Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner.  While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, a psychopath and alcoholic playboy who proposes an idea to "exchange murders" –  Bruno will kill Miriam if Guy kills Bruno's father.  Neither of them will have a motive having never met the vicitm, and the police will have no reason to suspect either of them.  Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife while Guy is away in Mexico.

Playwright Craig Warner acquired the stage rights to Strangers on a Train in 1995 and wrote both theatrical and radio adaptations of the story.  The radio version was recorded and broadcast by the BBC and released on CD in May 2004.  A West End production of the play ran from November 2, 2013, to February 22, 2014.

This was a change from the comedies we have often covered this year.  It is a dark play with Bruno developing a fixation on Guy, perhaps as the result of latent homosexuality.  As this develops, he stalks Guy, even sending letters that damage his professional reputation.  During this time Guy loses all his spirit, the basis of his love of drawing and architecture and is driven to commit the murder of Bruno’s father. 

Bruno’s relationship with his mother is interesting.  It could be a bit of an Oedipus complex.  And he is also the centre of her world.  She eventually rejects him when she learns the truth.  His alcoholism destroys his health, and he is told he can never drink alcohol again or he will die. Having destroyed his own health, his mother’s care and with Guy refusing any sort of relationship, Bruno kills himself in front of Guy.


​Joy Shirley

​Our play for August was “Summer of the Seventeenth Doll” by Ray Lawler.  We chose the play as Ray Lawler recently passed away and we thought it a fitting tribute.  It is set in Australia, in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, in the summer of 1953.

Barnie and Roo have just returned from Queensland, where they have been working as sugar cane cutters.  This is the period of “the layover”, five months of sex and fun which they traditionally share with two city women, named Olive and Nancy.  This has been the pattern of the past seventeen years.  As always, Roo has brought Olive a kewpie doll as a present – the seventeenth doll!  

But things have changed.  Nancy has married, so Olive has invited Pearl Cunningham – a rather hoity-toity woman – to take over as Barnie’s date.

Also on the scene are Kathie "Bubba" Ryan, a 22-year-old girl who has been coveting Olive and Nancy's risqué lifestyle from her neighbouring house almost all her life, and Emma Leech, Olive's cynical, irritable, but wise mother.

The Summer is full of tensions.  Roo and Barnie are feeling old.  The new-comer Pearl is much less fun than her predecessor.  Roo has had a bad season up north.  He is broke and is forced to take a humiliating job in a paint factory.  His mateship with Barney is under strain following a dispute between them back in the cane-fields.

Roo is tired.  He can’t face another season of cane-cutting and he asks Olive to marry him and settle down.  But Olive is furious.  She wants her old life, her old freedom, back.  For her, marriage is the very opposite of life.

In the final scene, the two men leave together, the Summer prematurely ended. And we know that there will be no eighteenth doll. The party is over.

The play was enjoyable to read using Australian vernacular of the era.  It is quite intense, covering the breakdown of the relationships.  Each character viewed the events from a different direction.  Only Pearl and Emma saw that the fun and freedom were coming to an end.

​...News just in from Shirley “Our play for September is Strangers on a Train by Craig Warner.  It sounds interesting, it’s based on a book by Patricia Highsmith”.


Joy Shirley