The Play: Seventeen by Matthew Whittet
The Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
The Theatre: The Southbank Theatre
Until 17 February
Stars: 4
Youth is wasted on the young according to George Bernard Shaw, and he's right. Seventeen is a horrible age. Not a kid, not an adult, messing up all over the place, with the world at your feet, trying to understand what the hell is going on.
Seventeen puts a new slant on this, by casting a mob of boomer actors as seventeen-year-olds. Naff? Uncomfortable? Weird? Surprisingly not.
The action of the play takes place on the last day of school where a group of close-knit friends decide to spend their evening celebrating at a local playground - as you did back in the day. Best friends Mike (Richard Piper) and Tom (Robert Menzies) are up for a big night seeing the latter is about to move to Adelaide with his folks. Jess (Pamela Rabe) and Emilia (Genevieve Picot) are having their own worries. Jess's family situation is somewhat precarious and Emilia, ever the good girl is pondering her next steps. Add to the mix Mike's cheeky little sister, Lizzie (Fiona Choi) and a slightly mysterious interloper, Ronnie (George Shevtsov) and you have a group of kids, staying up late, drinking, pashing, making mischief and generally, being teenagers.
By the end of it secrets have been spilt, friendships fractured and regrouped, lives changed, loves won and lost. All in the space of a night. Just as it happened when you were seventeen.
I loved the premise of this play. Matthew Whittet's script is phenomenal, catching all of the nuances of being a kid. It rang very true, as this group looked at their lives, their hopes and fears. I particularly loved Lizzie, Mike's precocious kid sister, who was equal parts sass and caring.
The other thing I loved about having older actors playing younger roles was you got the quality of these actors, some of Australia's finest, being kids. Not just acting as kids but embodying the energies of these adolescents in their prime. Yes, there was a bit of trepidation, knowing that one false move might break a hip. Watching some of the actors coming down the slippery dip brought me a sense of fear. And yes, as our bodies age we move differently. Having a group of 60- and 70-year-olds putting their bodies through the trials of a jungle gym proved interesting.
Matt Edgerton's debut run as a director at the MTC bears fruit. He keeps the action on point, the laughs, of which there are many, running steadily while allowing the pathos of the teenagers' predicaments to shine through.
In all, I really enjoyed this first play of the MTC's 2024 season. If this is any indication of the quality to come, it's going to be a good year of theatre.
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