The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day

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

The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day
Written byPeter Kenna
Date premiered11 March 1959
Place premieredSydney
Original languageEnglish
SubjectCatholicism
families

Plot

Oola Maguire, a bookie, holds a party every St. Teresa's Day. The guests are the people she has quarreled 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 byAlan Burke
Written byPeter Kenna
Based onplay by Peter Kenna
StarringNeva Carr Glynn
Distributed byABC
Release date
23 March 1960 (Sydney, live)[4]
29 June 1960 (Melbourne, taped)[5][6]
Running time
75 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

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.[7]

Neva Carr Glyn reprised the role that Kenna had written for her.[8] Extra scenes and characters were added from the play.[5]

Plot

Oola Maguire is throwing a St. Theresa's Day Party for her clients and friends, along with her right "hand" Essie Farrell. Her 16-year=old convent educated daughter Thelma visits the party. Oola finds Thela in the arms of conman Horrie. Newlyweds Whitey and Wilma Cartwright argue a lot.

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

Reception

The Australian Woman's Weekly called it "excellent entertainment."[9]

Max Harris of The Bulletin wrote this was when "Australian television drama came of age ."[10]

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."[11]

The critic for The Age called it "a gem of a TV script... a triumph for the ladies."[12]

In December 1960, reviewing the year in television, the Age thought it was "one of the most entertaining and best produced of its ilk."[13]

In 1967, Agnes Harrison reviewed the first decade of Australian television and wrote Day was "Australian drama at its very best".[14]

1962 British TV adaptation
The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day
Produced byJohn Jacobs
Written byPeter Kenna
StarringSusannah York
Release date
1962
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The play was filmed by the BBC in 1962.

Cast

See also
  • List of television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1960s)

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. "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. January 31, 1960. p. 80.
  5. "An SP Bookmaker's Party Setting for a Comedy". The Age. 23 June 1960. p. 14.
  6. "TV Guide". The Age. 23 June 1960. p. 35.
  7. Vagg, Stephen (February 18, 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  8. 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.
  9. "Perry Masonnew honors". The Australian Women's Weekly. 27 (45). 13 April 1960. p. 66. Retrieved 11 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Harris, Max (January 11, 1961). "Shows Never-Never was Nearly-Nearly". The Bulletin. p. 26.
  11. "Teresa s Day" On Television". Sydney Morning Herald. 24 March 1960. p. 5.
  12. Janus (7 July 1960). "Feather in TV Cap of Peter Kenna". The Age. p. 27.
  13. "Year ABC Gave Us a Heart Attack - and Remedy". The Age. 29 December 1960. p. 9.
  14. Harrison, Agnes (6 April 1967). "The Glamour That Was". the Age. p. 29.
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