The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day

The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day
Written by Peter Kenna
Date premiered 11 March 1959
Place premiered Sydney
Original language English
Subject Catholicism
families

The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day is a play by Australian author Peter Kenna.

Plot

Oola Maguire, a bookie, holds a party every St. Teresa's Day. The guests are the people she has quarrelled with in the past year, and there is only one rule – firearms must be parked in the hall. Her daughter Thelma is brought home from the convent she attends with two nuns.

Background

It won a National Playwrights Competition in 1958 and was produced in Sydney the following year by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust.[1][2]

Kenna revised the play in 1972.[3]

1960 Australian TV Adaptation

The Slaughter of St Theresa's Day
Directed by Alan Burke
Written by Peter Kenna
Based on play by Peter Kenna
Starring Neva Carr Glynn
Distributed by ABC
Release date
 23 March 1960
Running time
 75 mins
Country Australia
Language English

It was filmed by the ABC on 23 March 1960 at a time when local drama production was rare. The spelling of the title was "Theresa's Day" not "Teresa's Day" like the play.

Neva Carr Glyn reprised the role which Kenna had written for her.[4]

Cast

  • Annette Andre as Thelma
  • Alma Butterfield as Essie Farrell
  • Neva Carr Glyn as Oola Maguire
  • Gordon Glenwright as Charlie Gibson
  • Nat Levison as Barney Doyle
  • Mary Mackay as Sister Mary Luke
  • Rodney Milgate as Whitey
  • Moya O'Sullivan as Sister Mary Mark
  • Wendy Playfair as Wilma Cartwright
  • Walter Sullivan as Horrie Darcel
  • Frank Waters as Uncle Paddy

Reception

The Australian Woman's Weekly called it "excellent entertainment."[5]

The critic for the Sydney Morning Herald thought the play "lost little of its waywardness and some of its liveliness in a television production" and had faults with the play ("Kenna seems unable to settle decisively on one theme and to develop it boldly enough to carry his admirable intentions and considerable ability") but felt it was a "very worthwhile production, organised with some tact and imagination by Alan Burke."[6]

1962 British TV adaptation

The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day
Produced by John Jacobs
Written by Peter Kenna
Starring Susannah York
Release date
 1962
Country United Kingdom
Language English

The play was filmed by the BBC in 1962.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ Richard Waterhouse, 'Kenna, Peter Joseph (1930–1987)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kenna-peter-joseph-12727/text22951, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 3 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "It seems to me". The Australian Women's Weekly. 26 (42). 25 March 1959. p. 12. Retrieved 11 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "Drama in Paddo revitalised". The Canberra Times. National Library of Australia. 23 September 1972. p. 12. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Martha Rutledge, 'Carr-Glyn, Neva Josephine Mary (1908–1975)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 11 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Perry Masonnew honors". The Australian Women's Weekly. 27 (45). 13 April 1960. p. 66. Retrieved 11 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Teresa s Day" On Television". Sydney Morning Herald. 24 March 1960. p. 5.
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