Vale Ray Lawler: the playwright who changed the sound of Australian theatre | Julian Meyrick

Lawler’s most famous play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and the story of the Melbourne Theatre Company are forever intertwined

Ray Lawler, who died this week at 103, was one of the artists responsible for establishing the first non-commercial repertory theatre in Australia – the Union Repertory Theatre Company, now Melbourne Theatre Company – and the writer of its best-known play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

It is impossible to think of the two achievements separately. So pronounced was the Doll’s success, it cemented the position of the company. The story of the production of the play is the story of the rise of the Union Theatre. Continue reading...


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