There has been a fight on the canefields and Roo, the tough, heroic, bushman, has arrived with his ego battered and without money. The 17th year of the canecutters’ arrangement is different. 'Ray Lawler’s play confronts that legend with the harsh new reality of modern urban Australia. Its principal appeal – and that of two later plays with which it forms The Doll Trilogy – is the freshness and emotional warmth, even sentimentality, with which it deals with simple virtues of innocence and youthful energy that lie at the heart of the Australian bush legend.

The play tells the story in traditional well-made, realistic form, with effective curtains and an obligatory scene. The title refers to kewpie dolls, tawdry fairground souvenirs, that they brings as gifts and come, in some readings of the play, to represent adolescent dreams in which the characters seem to be permanently trapped. This causes her to reassume what Barney terms her 'protective mother' guise, call things off with Barney, and leave Emma's house before the end of the season.'The most famous Australian play and one of the best loved, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a tragicomic story of Roo and Barney, two Queensland sugar-cane cutters who go to Melbourne every year during the 'layoff' to live it up with their barmaid girl friends. The last straw for Pearl comes when Barney asks her if Vera can accompany Johnnie Dowd to the races. Pearl never fully grasps the significance of the layoff season to Barney, Roo, and Olive, and when she points out how shabby something is or how much fun they didn't have, she seems not to notice when it makes the others sad.

She believes Barney is desperately in need of marriage and seeks to reform him and his relationships with his children. Though Pearl is wary of becoming involved with Barney, she does eventually agree to stay for the season and have a relationship with him. Pearl also fails to see the charm and the fun in the layoff season activities, and becomes extremely offended when Olive silences her for voicing her opinions on the matter. Though Pearl accepts Olive's invitation to join her for the layoff season, she's skeptical of the entire arrangement: she sees the lifestyle as indecent and infinitely less desirable than marriage, and she fears that she's setting a terrible example for her daughter. She believes marriage will allow her to quit her job and lead a more 'proper' life, as well as set a good example for Vera. Pearl is a widow about Olive's age with an eighteen-year-old daughter named Vera, and she hopes to marry Barney. Pearl is one of Olive's coworkers at the pub, though she's much less content with her position than Olive is.

Summer of 17th doll