Wayside Bride

Alana Valentine gives voice to stirring stories of outsiders who, rejected by mainstream religion, chose instead to be married by Ted Noffs at his famous Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross.  Noff’s Methodist superiors took a dim view of him prioritising social need over doctrine, and his defence against charges of heresy is Valentine’s main story. 

Reflecting the often verbatim style of her many plays, Wayside Bride also arcs across the real stories (and presumably words) of those brides – divorcees, new migrants, interdenominational couples, lapsed Catholics, street-walkers, breadline paupers, addicts and just anyone too brutalised by religion to step foot in a church.

And not for the first time Valentine puts herself up on the stage as playwright/reporter, and in the guise of her mother who married her stepfather at Wayside in the 1960s. The opening scene with “Alana” (an ever-curious Emily Goddard) interviewing her contrary mother, Irene (Sacha Horler), back from the dead, is a cracker.  

Set designer Michael Hankin with Keerthi Subramanyam creates an unadorned open space, like a community hall or gymnasium, with piles of plastic chairs, a juke box and coffee facilities. (The same set, creatives and most of the cast, will soon re-appear in another play, staged in repertory.)

With often blanket lighting, it’s sometimes a challenge for co-directors Eamon Flack and Hannah Goodwin to find place and keep focus for these many stories, rich as they are.   And some of the younger cast are underpowered.

Brendon McClelland is a standout as the patient, methodically caring Ted Noff, as is Horler also in the role of his wife Margaret, brilliantly furious at how Ted is treated.  Valentine dedicates her play to Margaret Noff who died during rehearsals, aged 95.

The ever delightful Rebecca Massey brings warm comedy to her roles, Maggie Blinco is a deranged veteran of the Cross, and Marco Chiappi is superbly varied as a sentimental addict, Methodist overseer and upbeat gay survivor.

The cast also vivid moments from Arkia Ashraf, Rashidi Edward and Angeliane Penrith.  And all are costumed with accurate period and some camp flair by Ella Butler.

Valentine has a reverence for the detail and actual words of her real life storytellers; it makes for a resonant truth and, while deeply moving, holds Wayside Bride back from a necessary tighter edit and more inventive connections.   It’s more than two and a half hours, with interval, luckily most of it uplifting. 

Martin Portus

Photographer: Brett Boardman