Summer+of+the+Seventeenth+Doll

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll: Trivia

What role did the text play in the 2000 Olympics closing ceremony?

 The closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games took place on Sunday 1 October at Stadium Australia, Homebush Bay. It was conducted with decorum until the extinction of the Olympic flame, and then a party was unleashed. **The giant kewpie dolls appeared on the arena shortly after the start of the 'Let's Party' segment, when the ceremony erupted into life.** The artistic director of the closing ceremony David Atkins explained 'The athletes have finished competition, and are ready to party, and we have set about creating a party to end all parties. We have decided to invite everyone into our giant Australian backyard - fully equipped with Hills Hoists, barbecues, an eclectic mix of music, performers and all manner of Australiana. Australians have a tradition of throwing great parties, and this one will be imbued with a sense of fun, larrikinism and goodwill.' According to Ric Birch (speaking on Channel 7's 'Olympic Sunrise'), the opening ceremony was to represent Australia at large, but the closing ceremony was Sydney's show. Each kewpie doll was known to the prop makers by name - this one was referred to as 'Scarlet'. After Vanessa Amorosi's performance of 'Absolutely Everybody', the arena was transformed into a huge dance-floor as 960 ballroom dancing couples in fluorescent costumes danced the samba, tango and jive to the beat of John Paul Young singing 'Love is in the Air'. Although there was no direct allusion to the film 'Strictly Ballroom', the link was implied. The dancers were accompanied by 208 giant dancing feet and the incongruous assembly of oversized kewpie dolls while in mid-field the athletes formed a huge conga line. **The dolls evoked old-time fairground fun but more specifically alluded to Ray Lawler's 1955 play 'The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' which uses kewpie dolls as not just theatrical props but as a metaphor for the illusionary nature of Olive's relationship with Roo. Roo is her de facto partner who lives in Queensland seven months of the year and each time he visits he brings another doll. The dolls act as Olive's surrogate children, revealing her innocent and unrealistic nature and carrying the connotation of fun, fantasy and childhood naivety. The dolls reflect the nature of their relationship, and through this Lawler comments on the changing state of morality in Australian society at the time.**   **Accessed via Scootle.edu.au**  Content provider  
 * Date of contribution: 12 Jan 2009
 * Name: Powerhouse Museum
 * Organisation: Powerhouse Museum
 * Address: Ultimo NSW 2007 Australia
 * URL: []