“A poignant take on the beginning as viewed from the end.“
Kate Stratford
3.5 nostalgic memories
Seymour Centre
Sydney
27 Sep – 19 Oct 2024
Matt Whittet wrote “Seventeen” out of a desire to write a play for older actors which recognises that seniors have a past full of stories and those stories bear a remarkable resemblance to the stories of contemporary youth. The moment for this particular story is that end of school and the prospect of a future as an adult; that cusp which interestingly formed the main topic of conversation in the foyer afterwards. It seems the audience could clearly remember that time – the anxiety waiting for exam results, parental pressure, friends, societal expectations, first loves, heartbreak – far better than they could remember five years ago. It is a profound moment in life – must be, so much is written about it in music and film.
The conceit of characters who are nominally adolescents but intentionally played by older actors serves the plays premise of transience and naivety. All the cast have substantial bios for theatre and film and for the most part, the ensemble manages the physical vitality and loose-limbed gait of youth. Vocally of course, it is a challenge – naturally pitch and tone change over the decades. Noel Hodda as Tom and Di Smith’s Lizzie achieve possibly the most impressive takes with Tom’s monologue being the most engaging. There is wondering about the future, but no fear of it. Di Adams (Sue) and Katrina Foster (Edwina) deliver the mix of doubt and bravado which besets so many young girls on the edge of womanhood; whilst Peter Kowitz’s Mike is the bully we remember and Ronnie (Colin Moody) is the loser who everyone mocked. Both Mike’s and Ronnie’s stories are peeled back to reveal the motive for behaviour as well as reminding us of the cruelty of the schoolyard.
This lot have mobile phones to capture moments and a Bluetooth speaker to listen to the playlists on those phones, so presumably they are the oldies of the future. Yet the costuming seems a little confused. Their post school mufti does not seem contemporary nor does it really speak to character. And at seventeen you are doing everything to stand out or blend in.
It is odd to hear the attitudes and reactions (everything is a drama when you are seventeen!) coming out of the mouths of older people, but once you accept the metaphor, you settle-in to the world of the play. The structure of the piece asks for many entrances and exits and this is always problematic as the energy level dips when whenever the stage is empty. It also tends to undermine the necessary sense of pathos and one’s engagement with the story.
“Seventeen” raises questions about the pressures on and the expectations of our young which make them feel old before their time, imposing grades of winners or losers in life. As Janis Ian sang in At Seventeen– “ It was long ago and far away, the world was younger than today when dreams were all they gave for free…”
A poignant take on the beginning as viewed from the end.
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
Photography by Carlita Sari
