WildThingProduction and the Seymour Centre are bringing the hilarious and nostalgic Australian play Seventeen back for a much-anticipated Sydney revival, showing at the Reginald Theatre from 27 September – 19 October.
Joyful and profound, Matthew Whittet’s Seventeen tells the story of a group of high school students, experiencing something we all remember well, the last day of school – forever. The show also asks the questions: What did it feel like when you were seventeen? What’s it like to be seventeen now?
Explains actor Di Smith, “Matt says he was interested in what he calls ’Phoenix moments’, those moments in life where everything is about to change, and the future is uncertain. Leaving school and launching into the rest of your life is one these – nothing will ever be quite the same again. And his brilliance lies in his choice to have these vibrant, funny and outrageous contemporary teens played by old actors, who have already lived the repercussions of the choices they made, and who now face an uncertain future again, but of a different kind.
It’s a wonderful duality.
And he deliberately wanted experienced older actors with a wealth of stage chutzpah to be given the chance to do things rarely asked of them anymore. To be in love, get drunk, dance wildly and behave badly.
And with that duality, what we are finding in rehearsing the play, is how much is the same, not the things that are different.”
Smith saw the original production at Belvoir St in 2015 (with an amazing cast of older actors including Barry Otto and Maggie Dence) and she left the theatre with a palpable sense of ‘Life IS beautiful’, no matter what it happens to dish you out. “I loved it so much I bought the play script on my way out of the theatre, saying that I would do it one day. So here I am,” she says. That production was actually legendary actor Barry Otto’s last stage performance. Smith is godmother to Barry’s granddaughter Darcey, so the show holds a special place in her heart for many reasons.
Smith is both producer and actor playing Lizzy who she describes as the annoying little sister, striving to be seen and heard. “I am the youngest of four so this really is my place in the family! She is a kind of the Puck in this midsummer night’s story- a watcher and observer but plays a part to shake up the relationships of the four friends. Lizzy is a tough customer but loves her big brother so much.”
Smith describes the play as a comedy, first and foremost saying it is about what it feels like to be young, about choices, about fate, and most strongly about love and the power of kindness. “I think these are difficult times in which we find ourselves, so to be reminded that friendships, and love , and even getting older, are things to be celebrated.”
But as an actor, what are the pleasures of playing a character so much younger than herself and what might be some of the pitfalls? “No pitfalls,” is Smith’s quick response, “it’s all such an amazing opportunity! When you are a young actor, there is self-consciousness, and heaps of fear and you’ve just had less experience of life and emotions. No such fear or self-consciousness when you are 65+. You can let it all hang out.”
Smith has enjoyed a varied and highly visible career as an actor on screen and on stage with the STC, MTC, Malthouse, SATC, commercial productions and musical theatre. Smith is perhaps best known for her role as Dr Alex Fraser in the series A Country Practice as well as her ten years on The Great Outdoors. Smith acknowledges that, like most jobbing actors, she’ll have a go at anything, if it’s a good script. “To be honest, I’m doing this to create opportunities for fabulous older actors who only get to do grandmas and witches these days, ” she says. ” And I do quip that I won’t do anything without at least a few jokes. All the best dramas have a sense of humour somewhere. I think that’s an Australian flavour as well.”
In such a fickle industry Smith acknowledges that she has been extraordinarily fortunate to have been able to work across all mediums as a performer, and each, she says, has its own attractions and joys, but she keeps coming back to the theatre. “Particularly after the pandemic and all that horrific isolation, it is so joyful to be in a theatre to share that dialogue between a cast and the audience. Particularly with a comedy- an Australian comedy – about people like us. It is life affirming. A shared experience in increasingly isolating times. Very special.”
Through a fog of stolen alcohol, six teenagers gather in a playground late at night to share the moment in their lives when the past gives way to an uncertain future, and where secrets are spilled, and friendships are changed. But in a revelatory theatrical twist, all roles are performed by older actors who were seventeen many years ago, bringing the experience of age to the dreams of hopeful youths.
Says Smith, “If you want to leave the theatre uplifted and having recognised your own life somewhere on that stage, to have a good night out, come along and see Seventeen.”
Premiering at Belvoir almost 10 years ago and produced to great acclaim in the UK at the Lyric Hammersmith, this is Seventeen’s first major Sydney revival.
September 27 – October 19
