Ray Lawler

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Ray Lawler

AO , OBE
BornRaymond Evenor Lawler
(1921-05-23) 23 May 1921 (age 101)
Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • director
  • actor
  • producer
Notable works
Spouse
Jacklyn Kelleher
​
(m. 1956)​
Children3
A metal plaque set in the sidewalk at Circular Quay in Sydney commemorating author Ray Lawler as part of the Sydney Writers Walk series Ray Lawler plaque in Sydney Writers Walk.jpg
A metal plaque set in the sidewalk at Circular Quay in Sydney commemorating author Ray Lawler as part of the Sydney Writers Walk series

Raymond Evenor Lawler AO , OBE (born 23 May 1921) is an Australian actor, dramatist, and theatre producer and director. His most notable play was his tenth, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1953), which had its premiere in Melbourne in 1955. The play changed the direction of Australian drama. [1] The story of The Doll is preceded by Kid Stakes, set in 1937, when the characters of The Doll are young adults, and then Other Times, which is set in 1945 and includes most of the same characters.

Contents

Early life

Lawler was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray on 23 May 1921, second of eight children of a council worker. He left school at 13 to work in a factory and attended evening acting classes. He wrote his first play at 19, and his play Hal's Belles had good notices in early 1946. It was described as "...easy to stage and is a slick, finished work", then being offered by J. and N. Tait in London and New York. [2]

Career

He first attracted attention as a writer in 1952 when his play Cradle of Thunder was presented by the National Theatre Competition. In 1955, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll gained first prize in the Playwright Advisory Board Competition with Oriel Gray’s The Torrents and was subsequently presented by the Union Theatre. Lawler played the role of Barney at the premiere of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll in 1955. [3] The play was taken up by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and presented in all Australian states as well as London and New York. It won the Evening Standard Award for the best new play on the London stage in 1957. Since then it has been translated into many languages and performed in many countries.

Lawler went to London with the cast and lived in Denmark, England], and Ireland. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was followed by The Piccadilly Bushman (1959), presented in Australia by J. C. Williamson’s and published by Angus & Robertson (1961); The Unshaven Cheek, presented at the 1963 Edinburgh International Festival; and A Breach in the Wall, about St Thomas Becket (televised in 1967, [4] produced at Canterbury in 1970).

In 1969, he adapted and dramatised the short story "Before the Party" by Somerset Maugham, for a television series, which was produced by Verity Lambert. A second 13-part series was aired in 1970. [5]

In 1972, he visited Australia for the Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of The Man Who Shot the Albatross , a version of the Governor Bligh story.

In 1975, Lawler returned to settle in Australia as associate director of the Melbourne Theatre Company, with an agreement to complete a trilogy based on Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. The first play, Kid Stakes, opened in December 1975 and the second, Other Times, in December 1976. The Doll Trilogy had its first full performance at the Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne, on 12 February 1977.

Personal life

Lawler married actress Jacklyn Kelleher in 1956. They had twin sons, Adam and Martin, born in London in May 1957, and subsequently a daughter, Kylie. [6] [7] He turned 100 in May 2021. [8]

Honours and legacy

Lawler was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1980. [9] The smaller theatre space, the Lawler, in the Melbourne Theatre Company's Southbank Theatre is named after him.

Works

Stage

Related Research Articles

The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia.

<i>Summer of the Seventeenth Doll</i> Play written by Ray Lawler

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is an Australian play written by Ray Lawler and first performed at the Union Theatre in Melbourne on 28 November 1955. The play is considered to be the most significant in Australian theatre history, and a "turning point", openly and authentically portraying distinctly Australian life and characters. It was one of the first truly naturalistic "Australian" theatre productions.

The following lists events that happened during 1955 in Australia.

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Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a chamber opera in two acts by Richard Mills to a libretto by Peter Goldsworthy, based on the play of the same name by Ray Lawler. The opera was commissioned by the Victoria State Opera and premiered on 19 October 1996 at the Playhouse in Melbourne. It lasts about two hours. It was live simulcast on ABC Classic FM on Australia Day 1997

<i>Summer of the Seventeenth Doll</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Leslie Norman

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Lloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Reuben "Roo" Webber in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, appearing in a large portion of the films being shot locally at that time. He also starred in the original stage production of Sumner Locke Elliott's Rusty Bugles as well as numerous productions for the Mercury Theatre.

The Torrents is a 1955 Australian play by Oriel Gray, set in the late 19th century, about the arrival of a female journalist in an all-male newspaper office, and an attempt to develop irrigation-based agriculture in a former gold mining town.

John Hackman Sumner, was an English-born director and producer and theatre impresario, who was the founder and artistic director of Melbourne Theatre Company in Australia, gathering a group of later internationally famous stars including Ray Lawler, Zoe Caldwell, Barry Humphries and Fred Parslow.

The Man Who Shot the Albatross is a play by Ray Lawler about the Rum Rebellion, first performed in 1971. A 1972 television film featured the stage cast.

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a 1964 British TV adaptation of the play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler. It was done for Thursday Theatre.

Ben Gabriel was an Australian actor, director, voice artist and theatre founder. Gabriel had numerous appearances in stage and radio roles and in film and television.

The Piccadilly Bushman is a 1959 Australian play by Ray Lawler. It concerns an expatriate Australian actor who returns to Australia from England to star in a film adaptation of a successful Australian novel.

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a 1955 Australian play by Ray Lawler.

Eunice Hanger was an Australian playwright and educator.

Travis McMahon is an Australian actor. For his performance in Stingers he was nominated for the 2001 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Television Drama Series.

References

  1. ↑ "Ray Lawler." Encyclopædia Britannica. retrieved 8 December 2006
  2. ↑ "Melbourne Letter." Kalgoorlie Miner. 1 January, 1946. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  3. ↑ Ray Lawler at the Internet Broadway Database
  4. ↑ A Breach in the Wall (1967) at IMDb
  5. ↑ Before the Party at IMDb
  6. ↑ "Twin sons for "Doll" parents". The Australian Women's Weekly . Vol. 25, no. 4. 3 July 1957. p. 3. Retrieved 15 June 2016– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Author of "The Doll" comes home". The Australian Women's Weekly . Vol. 43, no. 27. 3 December 1975. p. 5. Retrieved 15 June 2016– via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "Doll People". www.mtc.com.au.
  9. ↑ "It's an Honour – Honours – Search Australian Honours". www.itsanhonour.gov.au. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
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