All those arts festivals just come and then they go, leaving a big hole where our cultural intake should be. Luckily the State Theatre Company makes work year-round.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of one of Australia’s most brilliant plays, State Theatre Company (STC) is remounting Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for the first time in 20 years. The work is an unflinching look at middle age and the death of romantic dreams and STC Artistic Director Geordie Brookman is keen to remove what he calls the “nostalgic gloss” of the play’s original 1950s setting in this adaptation. By moving the play into more neutral time and place territory, Geordie hopes the power of playwright Ray Lawler’s message will shine through more clearly than ever before.