When Ray Lawler’s play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll premiered in 1955, it was a watershed moment in Australian theatre, given its groundbreaking portrayal of distinctly Australian characters. Set in Melbourne in 1953, it features cane cutters Roo and Barney, who return to the city between harvests to spend time with Olive and Nancy. But this year, things have changed. Nancy is married, so Olive has invited the rather condescending Pearl to take her place. What’s more, Roo is tired of cane cutting and wants to settle down. Two decades later, Lawler wrote two prequels: Kid Stakes set in 1937 and Other Times set in 1945. In a bold venture, Red Stitch’s Artistic Director Ella Caldwell is directing the trilogy – the first time all three plays have been staged together since 1985. You can see them separately or on one day. How will they fare today? Time will tell.

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1953. For sixteen summers, Roo and Barney have returned to Carlton to share a life of laughter, love and independence with Olive and Nancy. But this seventeenth summer feels different. Nancy is gone, Roo is weary, Barney restless, and Olive is determined to live on her own terms. Emma, now sharp-eyed and unsentimental, sees how choices echo across generations. Bubba longs for her turn in the spotlight, while Pearl – brought in by Olive in an attempt to replace Nancy – becomes an unwitting catalyst for reckoning. Lauded as a “watershed moment” for Australian theatre, The Doll shattered tradition by telling an Australian story in an Australian voice. Heartbreaking and iconic, it lays bare the fragility of dreams alongside the courage it takes to imagine life differently.