Seventeen will be playing at the Seymour Centre in Sydney till 19th October. Lots of faces familiar to Australian audiences fill the playground set and are clearly having a good time acting out a rite of passage- the last day of school. As in the original stage direction, the teenagers are all played by actors much older, giving the script an extra poignancy as the group ruminate on what they are leaving behind, and what is yet to come.
The actors are all playing it straight, drinking and arguing, swinging on swings, and switching allegiances and love interests until the sun comes up. Di Adams, (Troppo, While The Men Are Away) and Di Smith, (A Country Practice, Puberty Blues, Wellmania) particularly embody their younger selves so convincingly, it is left to the audience to remind ourselves that we are watching veterans of the stage and screen. This juxtaposition between the ages of the roles and the actors plays on the simultaneous naiveté and knowing that teenagers have. On one hand, everything is possible and anything can happen, and on the other, even the young know that family and societal inequalities are likely to play out throughout their lives. Some of the conversations about what the teenagers might or might not have in the future are reminiscent of scenes in the movie Grease in-between the songs, and indeed Seventeen does make good use of current music that is is a hit with the younger generations. Although it is somewhat the point, the text can sometimes feel a little rushed, and that there were missed opportunities by not using the fact that these are very experiences actors, to give the lines a little extra depth and pause, and the talent on stage a bit more room to breathe.Â
Starring Di Adams as Sue
Katrina Foster as Edwina
Noel Hodda as Tom
Peter Kowitz as Mike
Colin Moody as Ronnie
Di Smith as Lizzie
Directed by Mary-Anne Gifford
Writer Matthew Whittet Â
Producer Di Smith
Stage Management Justice Georgopoulos
Set and Costume Design Paris Burrows
Sound Design Michael Huxley
Lighting Design Grant Fraser
Choreographer Sally Dashwood
Costume Assistant Bianca Polinelli
Presented by Wild Thing Production
 NOW ON IN SYDNEY
Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre
27 September – 19 October 2024
Was there always a plan to bring Seventeen back to Sydney again, or did you just feel the time was right?
This production is independent the other runs, and it’s the first time it has been produced in Sydney since 2015, I actually had the performance rights since last June, but the MTC decided it was SUCH a good idea , they also did it in Victoria this yea.r. And timing? I’m old enough now!
Did you see the play at the Belvoir ? What resonated for you then?
One Sunday afternoon in 2015, I saw the original production of this play at Belvoir St. I loved it so much, I bought the script on my way out of the theatre, swearing I would do it one day. Writer Matt Whittet talks about wanting to write a play for older actors. He says “People have these stories where one part of them dies and another part comes alive…I saw it as an opportunity to show these two generations going through a similar thing and it became about building a bridge.” It is extraordinary that it hasn’t been produced in Sydney since that day. Thank you to Matt for giving us this jewel of a play, and to that original cast for their inspiration. Seventeen or seventy, it’s not about what’s changed, but about how we are the same.
What is an essential part of you that you already had in your life at 17, that you still have?
Well, I am still the little sister, in a family of four girls. And having been taught by nuns in the 60’s, nothing scares me.
The play is also an ode to a simpler time. Today’s school-leavers are racked with layers of complex anxieties and profound disappointments in previous generations beyond the usual angst. They are not only far more worldly than their forbears, having been brought up by the internet, they are highly alert and often victims to the dangers of social media, and they are facing the consequences of inaction on environmental damage, and the curbing of democratic and personal, particularly women’s, freedoms and rights across the world. They are redefining their life goals and opportunities as traditionally held milestones sail out the window. Growing numbers don’t imagine themselves having children at all, while they are educating their parents on cross- generational trauma and pronouns. How much simpler things were when all teenagers had to do was get drunk in a park.Â
