The State Opera of South Australia’s production of Summer of the 17th Doll debuted at Adelaide’s recently rebuilt Her Majesty’s Theatre. One performance in and the Covid-19 resurgence in Adelaide saw the remainder of the season cancelled.
Based on Ray Lawler’s 1955 Australian play of the same name, this chamber opera tells the story of a long-standing tradition at the end of the sugarcane season, in which cane-cutters Barney and Roo travel south to Melbourne for their annual fling with two city girls.
Lawler’s play is considered to be the most significant in Australian playwriting, marking the first time the authentic Australian voice was depicted on stage. So too does Mills and Goldsworthy’s opera express, at its heart, something heroic, fragile, and utterly moving.
The director Joe Mitchell wanted a very fluid piece, one in which there was hardly ever any stillness onstage, and characters were always rushing about or tidying or coming and going. This is a huge change from most operas where stand and deliver is usually the norm.
“Even the transitions were fluid with the cast setting up for Christmas or New Year’s Eve or the passing of time,” commented lighting designer Trudy Dalgleish. “It was my job to help those transitions flow correctly. There were a lot of very long cues to enable the time passing to happen, or very fast cues going into the actual transitions. It was a bit of a challenge!”
Trudy’s biggest challenge was the three-sided box set designed by Simone Romaniuk, an amazing naturalistic representation of a 1950’s semi in Carlton.
“It looked great however, I find box sets the hardest thing to light as people are always standing next to doors and walls that you don’t want to hit with a lot of front light as it looks so nasty on the walls,” said Trudy. “Also, you also can’t get any good side shots as you have set walls on three sides.”
Expressing the passing of time was also a challenge for Trudy, for instance in one aria that Emma sings, Joe wanted it to start in predawn light then through the aria we see the dawn and the other characters come downstairs for breakfast, leave for work and then come home in the late afternoon, all in around four minutes and the lighting had to reflect the time of day and time passing!
“Getting the timing right required lots of patience,” added Trudy. “I used a lot of low front and side angles where I could fit them in and did some very long moves of window gobos from the moving lights. It was extremely hard to get the timing right but lots of fun as it was just so lovely to be back in a theatre!”
Trudy’s equipment list included 12 x 2k Selecon arena fresnels, 8 x 1.2k Selecon PCs, 17 x pinspots, 12 x 14 degree Lustres, 6 x 14 degree Source 4 profiles, 27 x 26 degree Source 4 profiles, 20 x 19 degree Source 4 profiles, 13 x 36 degree Source 4 profiles, and 16 x Strand SL 15/32 profiles. Moving lights were 8 x Robe T1 spots and 10 x Robe T1 washes, Trudy commented that both of the Robe T1 fixtures were great; completely silent so wonderful for opera. Control was an ETC GIO lighting console.
Trudy was impressed by the new theatre and said that, although it was going through teething problems and hers was the first large show in, has the potential to be one of our best theatres.
“There are lots of lighting positions available although there is no perch position behind the proscenium and no position just in front of the proscenium, so I can see a lot of shows having to put upright trusses in position to cover this hole,” she said. “Also, there are not a lot of options to rig chain motors over the forestage/orchestra pit area. There are four positions but two of these are way out to the sides and there is no centre position for a cluster. For a big musical to go in there I would imagine a mother truss would have to be rigged to get both lighting and sound positions in – or in a year or two, there will be lots of holes that have been drilled through the false wooden ceiling in correct positions.
“There is a permanent chain hoist to rig the box booms which I think is a great addition. It only took an hour to rig the booms and this include moving lights.
“The best thing about the venue is the sound and I think its the best in any theatre we have in Australia. I’m a lighting person, but even I noticed how clear it was! I’m sure Australian sound designers are going to love to visit here. We had a full symphony orchestra and no microphones for the singers and the balance between both was wonderful!”
Photos: Soda Street Productions I Simone Romaniuk
