Set in 1937, and "Kid Stakes and " is chronologically the first of Ray Lawler's and "Doll Trilogy and ", a series of plays which chronicle the fortunes of a group of Melbourne residents in tumultuous growth years for Melbourne. Olive and Nancy, barmaids from Carlton, wait every year for their lovers Barney and Roo - cane-cutters - to return for the and "off-season and ", a time of debaucherous living and spending. As the years go on, their resistance to change threatens their idyllic lifestyle, and leads them to wonder where they are headed. Commissioned in 1975 by Melbourne Theatre Company, and "Kid Stakes and " was a prequel to Lawler's blockbuster 1950s drama, and "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and ". It was followed a year later by and "Other Times and ".