Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day

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Written by
  
Peter Kenna

Place premiered
  
Sydney

First performance
  
11 March 1959

Original language
  
English language

Date premiered
  
11 March 1959

Subject
  
Catholicism families

Playwright
  
Peter Kenna

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

Contents

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.

Kenna revised the play in 1972.

1960 Australian TV Adaptation

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.

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."

    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."

    1962 British TV Adaptation

    The play was filmed by the BBC in 1962.

    Cast

  • Vincent Ball
  • Susannah York
  • Reg Lye
  • References

    The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day Wikipedia