“The play’s second half brings it home with an emotional punch.Sacha Horler gives a powerhouse performance as Margaret and Brendon McClelland’s charming portrayal of Noffs is impossible not to like.“
“A story trying to encompass fifty years of history and the struggles is actually a story about the endurance of empathy and the power of love.”
“Wayside Bride shows us who we are, who we were, and who we may choose to be”
Fiona Hallenan-Barker
4 /5 Bouquets
Wayside Bride is not afraid to ask big questions. Questions about institutions retain their power at the cost of the individual. The play covers the bruising issues of religion, the stolen generation, police corruption, the role of the media, gay rights and feminism and draws them together through the stories of some of the brides married at Wayside Chapel.
Alana Valentine is Australia’s master of verbatim theatre, a style of theatre designed to heal through shared connection to story. Set against the background of the institution of the church, Wayside Bride illustrates how small-minded people in large institutions can cause damage. As Rebecca Massey’s wonderful theatrical bride exclaims “Theatre audiences can handle a debate about god without choking on their champagne”. It’s true. We go to the theatre to hear stories about ourselves and to find out more about others.
The work of Tedd Noffs, the heresy charges brought against him, Kings Cross history, and Australia’s complex relationship with religion and politics are all squeezed tightly into this two and a half hour play. The first half feels overpacked with exposition but it is easy to see why the details of the story were kept in the first half. The play’s second half brings it home with an emotional punch.
It isn’t immediately apparent, but once revealed, it becomes clear that Valentine has put herself at the front and centre of Wayside Bride. It is her personal connection to the story that keeps the narrative moving. She uses herself as a device; using Brechtian techniques to bend the rules of time and place as well as the conventions of verbatim theatre. It works.
Emily Goddard plays the fictional Alana Valentine. Goddard’s Valentine gets lost in her own Wayside wonderland and her gentle and curious presence frames each scene. Her characterisation is strong and the use of metaphor and meta theatre in allowing her to get lost in her own play keeps us on the journey too.
The portrayal of Ted Noffs and his wife Margaret is one of love, acceptance, and putting the needs of others before themselves. Sacha Horler gives a powerhouse performance as Margaret and Brandon McClelland’s charming portrayal of Noffs is impossible not to like. Their passionate belief in what they are doing against all odds culminates in a striking scene of emotional complexity and nuance, they are exceptional together.
Maggie Blinco brings an ethereal quality to her poetic garden wanderer, a woman haunted by the circumstances of her past. She brings soft humour and poetic dignity to her role. Marco Chiappi uses his mellifluous tones to cover a multitude of roles from the dapper gay gentleman to the villainous bureaucrat. Rebecca Massey also shines in multiple roles showcasing her strength, sexiness and comfort on the Belvoir stage. Sandy Greenwood also brings her strength and energy to every role she plays.
Rashid Edward brings a fresh cadence and some splashes of flamboyance, the ‘gritty glamour’ of the play. Angeline Penrith brings brashness and comedy to the work. Her character Josephine releases a wail of torment of that captures decades of pain in a single vowel sound. It is deeply moving.
Michael Hankin’s set design is a pared back church hall, complete with plastic chairs so often seen on Sydney stages. The austerity of the design suits the context of the play but it is a relief to have some touches of magical realism in some of Damien Cooper’s lighting choices and Ella Butler’s costume design.
Eamon Flack and Hannah Goodwin have managed to enormous task of confining all of the Wayside Chapel stories into one epic piece of theatre. A story trying to encompass fifty years of history and the struggles is actually a story about the endurance of empathy and the power of love.
The Belvoir foyer displays photographs from of the weddings represented in the play. On the night I attended a couple recognised themselves in the photographs getting married in 1972. She was Jewish, he was Christian and Noffs was the only one who would marry them. The joy of seeing a real life Wayside bride and groom still happily married after fifty years provoked a round of applause from others in the foyer.
To this day Wayside Chapel and the Rev Crews Foundation continue to feed, clothe and support people and communities in need. Alongside the Uluru Statement from the Heart the Belvoir foyer displays information on Wayside Chapel and the Rev Crews Foundation reminding everyone entering and leaving the theatre of how far we have yet to go to be a just and fair society. Wayside Bride shows us who we are, who we were, and who we may choose to be.
Wayside Chapel: https://www.waysidechapel.org.au/history/
Rev Bill Crews Foundation https://www.billcrews.org/about/
Fiona Hallenan-Barker, Theatre Now
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