Wayside Bride

Street people and celebrities, cross-cultural lovers and interfaith mavericks – all have been warmly welcomed at Sydney''s Wayside Chapel. Founded by the Reverend Ted and Margaret Noffs, whose passion for the family of humanity was equalled by their love for each other, the Wayside Chapel has married over 50,000 couples. Including playwright Alana Valentine''s own mother. When Alana discovers the dress that her mother wore to her pre-wedding meeting with Ted, she makes her own vow: to seek out stories of religious rebellion in Australia during the seventies. What unfolds is her excavation of layers of family history, buried under the pressures of conservative religious doctrine, racial segregation and class warfare. Based on over 50 interviews with real couples married at the Wayside Chapel, Wayside Bride is a communion with a quiet revolution that began in a Kings Cross side street; at weddings where queer men found in a nearby bar substitute for absent fathers, where rival pastors cry heresy, and where the lonely and discarded are offered a home. Come in. We''d be delighted to have you join us for the ceremony. ''A tribute to real love and belonging… a perfect bouquet toss for these times.'' — The Guardian ★★★★ ''A story trying to encompass fifty years of history and the struggles is actually a story about the endurance of empathy and the power of love.'' — Theatre Now ★★★★