WAYSIDE BRIDE is the latest play by Alana Valentine, one of Australia’s premiere playwrights.
Valentine’s expertise is in writing verbatim theatre, theatre that draws from interviews that she has carried out with relevant participants and is then woven into dramatic form. One of Valentine’s most well known plays is her work Run Rabbit Run which documents the South Sydney’s Rugby League’s successful battle to stay alive after the Murdoch takeover.
Valentine was inspired to write a play about the Wayside Chapel, one of Sydney’s most iconic institutions, after she went through an old family photo album and saw a photo of herself as a young girl when her mum and stepfather got married at the Wayside Chapel. Knowing that Ted Noffs’ history of marrying a lot of people from different national and religious backgrounds was radical and in many cases life changing, she thought it would be an interesting subject to explore dramatically.
In the play Valentine includes herself as a central character and the play is bookended by scenes between herself and her mother as she recounted her Wayside Chapel experience.
Verdict. Valentine’s play doesn’t sit that well at the moment. I found it too long, there were just too many stories and some of the inter-connections felt a little tricky. I have a bit of a quibble about the play’s title. It’s a bit deceptive. The play is just as much about the witch-hunt by members of the Methodist Church determined to depose Ted Noffs from his position at the Wayside Chapel and Noffs determination to stay on and continue his work, as it is about the many marriages that he presided over. I think that Valentine has made a clever choice to include both narrative lines but I’m not sure if she has got the balance right yet. By a long shot, my favourite aspect of this production, co-directed by Eamon Flack and Hannah Goodwin was the exceptional acting, of-course in inspired by Valentine’s colourful characters.
Emily Goddard was exemplary in her role as Alana, giving a convincing, deeply felt performance.
The wonderful Sasha Horler plays Noffs wife Margaret. There’s the old saying that behind every great man there’s a great woman. It certainly proves to be the case with Margaret who is a tower of strength for Ted when the Church tries to get rid of him. The mercurial Horler also plays the role of Janice, Alana’s mother in the play..
Brandon McClelland was outstanding as Reverend Ted Noffs. He captured Noffs as I imagined he would have been; not very concerned about his appearance, hard working, rather gruff.
Marco Chiappi was outstanding in two roles, one a comic role as a distinguished dandy, an old phrase but one which works in this case, who is persuaded to walk a distressed woman down the aisle, distressed because her father has flatly refused to do just that.
The other role, a dramatic role that Chiappi plays with equal skill, is that of a Church representative who is commencing in house proceedings to have him expelled from the Wayside Chapel for heresy.
Angeline Penrith is excellent as the subject hysterical bride,
Maggie Blinco plays two roles, a crazy elderly woman who hangs around the Wayside Chapel and recites poetry, and an elderly woman who looks back at her life, in particular when as a young woman she married a Vietnamese man and was rejected by her family.
Rashidi Edward plays a number of roles, my favourite being his portrayal of the mercurial Reverend Bill Crews. I thought the choice of a black actor playing such a well known white character worked well.
Rebecca Massey played a number of roles, my favourite being her very comical performance of a town gossip replete with a beehive hairdo which was very popular at the time.
Sandy Greenwood also plays a number of roles my favourite being her portrayal of a rough hewn cockney bride who is marrying an ebullient middle aged man.
Arkia Ashraf plays a number of minor parts.
Recommended, Alana Valentine’s WAYSIDE BRIDE is playing upstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre until the 29th May, 2022.
Prices: Full price from $70, Seniors from $60, Concession from $50, 30-Down from $48, Student Saver from $35
Tickets: https://belvoir.com.au/productions/wayside-bride
WAYSIDE BRIDE was commissioned and developed by Belvoir with the assistance of Wayside Chapel, the Noffs Foundation, the City of Sydney and Griffin Theatre Company.
Angeline Penrith and Maroc Chiappi in Belvoir Theatre Company’s production of ‘Wayside Bride’. All Production photography by Brett Boardman
