Red Tree Theatre present
Wayside Bride by Alana Valentine
Street people and celebrities, cross-cultural lovers and interfaith mavericks – all have been warmly welcomed at Sydney’s Wayside Chapel. Founded by the Reverend Ted and Margaret Noffs, whose passion for the family of humanity was equalled by their love for each other, the Wayside Chapel has married over 50,000 couples. Including playwright Alana Valentine‘s own mother.
When Alana discovers the dress that her mother wore to her pre-wedding meeting with Ted, she makes her own vow: to seek out stories of religious rebellion in Australia during the seventies. What unfolds is her excavation of layers of family history, buried under the pressures of conservative religious doctrine, racial segregation and class warfare.
Based on over 50 interviews with real couples married at the Wayside Chapel, Wayside Bride is a communion with a quiet revolution that began in a Kings Cross side street; at weddings where queer men found in a nearby bar substitute for absent fathers, where rival pastors cry heresy, and where the lonely and discarded are offered a home. Come in. We’d be delighted to have you join us for the ceremony.
Directed by Rosie Ross
KEY DETAILS
Characters
Janice/Margret, Female presenting 40-70 yrs
Alana, Female presenting 20-40 yrs
Ted Noffs/Ian, Male presenting 40-60 yrs
Orson/Isabella/2021 Margaret Female presenting 40-70yrs
Josephine/Miriam/Joanne, Female presenting 30-60 yrs
Sean/Michael/Brand, Male presenting 40-70 yrs
Ursula/Rosie/Dusty/Irma, Female presenting 30-60 yrs
Joan/Sharna/Claire, Female presenting 30-50 yrs
Clyde/Paul/Charlie/Sailor, Male presenting 30-60 yrs
Mike/Bill Crews/John Owen, Female presenting 30-50 yrs
Rehearsals
August 29- Thursday 10th October
Thursdays 7pm to 10pm
Production Week
12th to 17th Oct
Performances
Friday 18th 7:30pm
Saturday 19th 2pm
Sunday 20th 2pm
Thursday 24th 7:30pm (GHOST)
Friday 25th 7:30pm
Saturday 26th 2pm
Saturday 26th 7:30pm