Cover

Title Page

Playwright’s Biography

Playwright’s Biography

RAY LAWLER was thrust into prominence when his play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll became a hit for the Union Theatre Repertory Company, under John Sumner’s direction. The year was 1955, and Ray, appearing in the role of Barney, toured with the play through its successful seasons in Australia and London’s West End, until it finally finished on Broadway in 1958. Ray then lived abroad until 1975, when he returned to Australia to join the Melbourne Theatre Company as Literary Adviser, and to occasionally direct for that company. Among other plays, Ray has written The Piccadilly Bushman, which toured nationally under the J.C. Williamson banner, The Man Who Shot the Albatross, Godsend, The Unshaven Cheek and Cradle of Thunder. Ray now lives as a semiretired and devoted grandfather in a bayside Melbourne suburb.

To Kylie,
with love and blessings

First Production

FIRST PRODUCTION

Other Times was first produced by Melbourne Theatre Company at the Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne, on 14 December 1976, with the following cast:

Director, John Sumner
Set Designer, Anne Fraser

Characters / Setting

CHARACTERS

EMMA LEECH

ROO WEBBER

BUBBA RYAN

OLIVE LEECH

BARNEY IBBOT

NANCY WELLS

JOSEF HULTZ

SETTING

The Leech house in Carlton, Melbourne, 1945.

It is late winter and the setting of the furniture has been arranged to make the fireplace a natural gathering point. A fading wartime poster on the wall sternly emphasises the carelessness of loose talk, replacing an equally stern peacetime Biblical warning against strong drink; and scattered decoratively here and there are eight carnival dolls on walking sticks, souvenirs of past visits. The restrictions and shortages of wartime show in the curtains and chintz coverings on the furniture, which are shabbier than might be expected in a well-maintained boarding house. Also some untidiness in the garden greenery around the front and back verandahs, the plants, shrubs, and trees have been let go their own way and need trimming.

All in all, a sense of winter, war and slackening standards.

Other Times

ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

Time: an early morning in September, 1945. The overall effect of this scene should be one of multi-purpose preparations for the day’s activities.

EMMA is on her knees before the fireplace, collecting the ashes from the night before. She works with the practised sureness of routine, her mind on other matters.

ROO is heard whistling cheerfully and he comes into the room from the direction of the kitchen. He is in his army shirt, trousers and socks, and carries a battered-looking household container with shoe-cleaning equipment. He puts this to one side, pulls out a chair from the table and climbs up to start unfastening a pair of army boots that are hanging suspended by their laces from the overhead light fitting.