St Jude’s Players Celebrate 75th Anniversary

In 2024 South Australian award-winning community theatre company St Jude’s Players celebrates 75 years of producing quality productions for Adelaide audiences.

First up, in May, the company presents Living Together by Alan Ayckbourn, a hilarious look at a weekend gone very wrong, directed by Les Zetlein.

August sees the second play in St Jude’s Players’ Diamond Anniversary season, the historical drama Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson. It’s the story of Henrietta Leavitt, who broke through the glass ceiling before women gained the vote and who changed human understanding of the breadth of the universe. Directed by Lesley Reed.

In November the Australian post-WWII drama A Hard God by Peter Kenna closes the 2024 season. Set in Sydney in 1946, it tells the story of the Cassidys, three working class Irish-Australian brothers and their families, who are struggling to reconcile their faith with the harsh realities of post-war life. Directed by Harry Dewar.

A one-act play Festival on June 15-16 complements St Jude’s Players’ 2024 season. Produced in conjunction with Galleon Theatre Group and Dead Set Theatre Company, each group will stage a play. They are Red Peppers (St Jude’s Players), The Last Act is a Solo (Galleon Theatre Group) and a quirky reimagining of Romeo and Juliet (Dead Set Theatre Co).

Here's a little more on St Jude’s Players’ upcoming first production, Living Together:

Directed by Les Zetlein (pictured right), Living Together is the second play in Alan Ackybourn’s comedy trilogy The Norman Conquests, each about the same traumatic family weekend in a country vicarage. Set in Southern England in the mid-1970s, Living Together covers the action in the living room.

Unmarried Annie lives in a Victorian house with her (unseen) bed-ridden widowed mother. So that Annie can go away for the weekend for some respite from her caring tasks, her brother and his wife have come to hold the fort. They believe Annie should pair off with the rather dim local veterinarian, but Annie has other ideas. She has made an assignation…but not with the vet.

When the truth of Annie’s assignation is discovered, other family members get involved and the result is mayhem.

Cast includes Carla Hardie (Annie), Adrian Heness (Reg), Rose Harvey (Sarah), Simon Lancione (Norman), Rebecca Butler (Ruth) and Larry Waller (Tom).

Venue is St Jude’s Hall, 444 Brighton Road, Brighton, South Australia.

Production Dates & Times:

Thursday and Friday, May 2^nd and 3^rd, 9^th and 10^th, 7.30 pm.

Matinees Saturday May 4^th and 11^th, 2pm.

Bookings from April 18 at https://www.trybooking.com/CPHVH

Alternatively, call 0436 262 628 or email bookings@stjudesplayers.asn.au