On February 22, Queensland Theatre Company will open Season 2012 with one of Australia’s most famous and pivotal plays, a pillar of Australian theatre and a story which has been lauded for 50 years – Ray Lawler’s classic, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

Starring a superb cast led by Australia’s leading lady of the stage Robyn Nevin, Director Neil Armfield’s “Doll” is fresh, alert and will speak to each generation in the audience. In this way, Doll has been revived; its messages just as poignant as they were when the play was first performed in Melbourne in 1955, forever changing the landscape of Australian Theatre like no other play before, or since.

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll will open on February 22 at Brisbane’s Playhouse at QPAC starring Steve Le Marquand (Buried Child, Underbelly Razor, Beneath Hill 60) as Roo; the enigmatic Robyn Nevin as Emma Leach;  Alison Whyte (Frontline, Satisfaction, City Homicide, Logie, Helpmann and GreenRoom award winner) as Olive Leach; Eloise Winestock (As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet) as Bubba Ryan; Helen Thompson (Measure for Measure, The Vibrator Play, Getting’ Square, Green Room award winner) as Pearl Cunningham; Travis McMahon (Cloudstreet, Don’s Party, Last Man Standing) as Barney Ibbot, and James Hoare (Noises Off, Twelfth Night) as Johnnie Dowd (full artist biographies available on request).

Set in Australia in the 1950s, Armfield’s Doll expresses the nature of happiness, the destruction of idealism and the struggle to accept change, through the storyofcane-cutters Barney and Roo, who return from Queensland to the Carlton house in Melbourne they share with Nancy and Olive every year, for their annual five-month season of fun and frivolity. It’s been this way for 17 years, with the boys being blokes, and the girls waiting for them – both relationships de facto.  This summer though, after 17 years, it’s different.  Barney’s 17-year seasonal girlfriend Nancy has gone and gotten married; so Olive ropes in the uptight Pearl as company for him; while she and Roo, who is flat broke, realise life has caught up with them, and their relationship. Is this really the end?

Wesley Enoch, QTC Artistic Director, said, “The Doll is one of the pillars of our national theatre. Australian playwriting came of age with the premiere of this play in 1955, through the story and the characters and the stereotypes, Australia saw itself for the first time on stage; our national identity seemingly crystallised. In 2012, under the guiding eye of famed Director Neil Armfield, The Doll returns to Brisbane, bringing with her messages just as poignant, just as relevant, just as powerful. After 50 years, this pivotal piece is what makes for great theatre; we encourage Queenslanders to see this play, to experience The Doll this summer.”

It was a time of post-war conservatism; when Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister Robert Menzies was in full force; when the 6 o’clock swill was an evening ritual; full skirts were everywhere; a relationship meant marriage and seasonal work boomed.  In 2012 this cultural xray will show much change and … none at all.

(Queensland Theatre Company last staged DOLL at the SGIO Theatre in August 1974, the cast included Diane Berryman  as Bubba, Kate Wilson as Pearl, Suzanne Roylance as Olive, Hazel Howson as Emma, Douglas Hedge as Barney, Frank Gallacher as Roo and Terry Brady as Johnnie Dowd, and it was Directed by Joe MacColum.)

Enoch said Season 2012 was all about bringing the big theatre event back to Brisbane. “We've planned a journey for the year with highlights that will take you from Elizabethan London to the Australian outback, from a modern day football club to a Beanie Festival in Alice Springs. So many wonderful people to meet. So many places to take your imagination away,” he said. “We're kicking off with Doll, we’re welcoming back to Brisbane, theatre favourite and pocket rocket, Christen O'Leary in Joanna Murray-Smith's Bombshells - salacious, hilarious and just what a theatrical romp should be. Romeo & Juliet follows, and it will be just as Shakespeare intended... no need to say more.”

“We're bringing the big theatre event back to Brisbane; these shows are specifically handpicked because they can appeal to everyone so more people come to more theatre, more often. The course is set, the stars are aligned and we've made the mixed tape. The question is which adventure will you choose? Jump on board.”

What:                     Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, by Ray Lawler
When:                    22 February to March 11
Where:                   Playhouse QPAC
Director:                 Neil Armfield
Cast:                       Steve Le Marquand, Robyn Nevin, Alison Whyte, Helen Thomson, Travis McMahon, Eloise Winestock, and James Hoare
Set Designer:       Ralph Myers
Costumes:             Dale Ferguson
Lighting:                Damien Cooper
Composer:            Alan John
Sound:                   Paul Charlier
Asst Director:        Susanna Dowling
Single ticket:         Under 30 $33; Previews $42-$56; Mid-Week $56-$75; Weekend $60-$79
                                Tel 1800 355 528 or theatre2012.com.au

Queensland Theatre Company Season 2012 – program snapshot:

What:                     Bloodland by Wayne Blair
When:                    14 to 18 March
Where:                   Playhouse Theatre, QPAC
Director:                 Stephen Page
Cast:                       Kathy Balngayngu Marika, Elaine Combie, Rarriwuy Hicks, Rhimi Johnson Page, Noelene Marika, Djakapurra Munyarryun, David Page, Hunter Page Lochard, Kelton Pell, Tessa Rose, Meyne Wyatt, Ursula Yovich

What:                     Bombshells, by Joanna Murray-Smith
When:                    17 March to 21 April
Where:                   Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
Director:                 Wesley Enoch
Cast:                       Christen O’Leary

What:                     Romeo & Juliet, by William Shakespeare
When:                    21 April to 13 May
Where:                   Playhouse QPAC
Director:                 Jennifer Flowers
Cast:                       Caroline Kennison, Melanie Zanetti, Thomas Larkin Ross Balbuziente, Simon Burvill-Holmes, Tim Dashwood, Steven Grives , Andrea Moor, Veronica Neave, Nick Skubij, Steven Tandy  and others

What:                     Elizabeth – almost by chance a woman, by Dario Do
When:                    26 May to 24 June
Where:                   Brisbane Powerhouse
Director:                 Wesley Enoch
Cast:                       Carol Burns, Dash Kruck and others

What:                     Head Full of Love, by Alana Valentine
When:                    7 July to 11 August
Where:                   Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
Director:                 Wesley Enoch
Cast:                       Colette Mann, Roxanne McDonald

What:                     Yes, Prime Minister, by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
When:                    5 July to 15 July
Where:                   Playhouse Theatre, QPAC
Director:                 Tom Gutteridge
Cast:                       Mark Owen Taylor, Tony Llewellyn Jones, Jon Lloyd Fillingham, Caroline Craig, Alex Menglet

What:                     Kelly, by Matthew Ryan
When:                    15 September to 20 October
Where:                   Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
Director:                 Todd MacDonald
Cast:                       Leon Cain, Steven Rooke and others

What:                     Managing Carmen, by David Williamson
When:                    13 October to 4 November
Where:                   Playhouse Theatre, QPAC
Director:                 Wesley Enoch
Cast:                       Tim Dashwood, Greg McNeill