Scrapbook relating to the tour of 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' in regional New South Wales and Queensland, compiled by Dennis Glenny, ca. 1958

MLMSS 8256

fonds

ca. 1958

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Clippings, Photographs, Ephemera

152290

0.38 metres of textual material (1 box) - printed

Dennis Glenny, actor. Began acting with the Sydney Repertory Theatre and later Independent Theatre, North Sydney. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England, and was given his first part in London in Robert Donat’s ‘Red Light’ at the Queen’s Theatre.

During the war he became Drama Organiser for Army Education in several states and New Guinea. He appeared in several Shakespearean seasons and was an original member of the Mercury Theatre, Sydney. He also appeared in films like, ‘Kangaroo’, ‘Captain Thunderbolt’, ‘Eureka Stockade’ and worked in education, teaching children’s theatre classes.

‘Summer of the Seventeenth Doll’ was written by Victorian Ray Lawler in the midst of the cultural resurgence of the 1950s, a time when post war immigration programme was raising questions about the nature of Australian identity. The play dealt with themes, such as the nature of happiness, the destruction and loss of idealism, the inability to accept change and mateship.

In 1954, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll won the Playwrights Advisory Board Competition for full length stage plays and received financial support from Elizabethan Theatre Trust for its production. It premiered with the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the University of Melbourne's Union Theatre on 28th November 1955. After a successful tour of Sydney and London from 1956-1957, the Trust sent the play on a tour of regional New South Wales and Queensland in 1958.

References:
Compiled from the collection
History of Australian Theatre (online). www.hat-archive.com (accessed 13 February, 2012)

Donated to the Dennis Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts, Sydney Opera House by Graham Dixon

Scrapbook of newscuttings and theatre program relating to the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trusts tour of 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' in association the Arts Council of Australia, in regional New South Wales and Queensland, compiled by Dennis Glenny, ca. 1931-1958

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which the author has been deceased for more than 50 years

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords Project 2011-2012