The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild is a South Australian not-for-profit amateur theatre companyHibberd, M, 2012, About the Theatre Guild, http://www.adelaide.edu.au/theatreguild/about/New Adelaide Theatre Guide, 2012, University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, http://www.theatreguide.com.au/current_site/directory/companies_detail.php?CompanyID=uniguild based on the North Terrace campus of the University of Adelaide.Lost On Campus, http://lostoncampus.com.au/15731 Established in 1938, the Guild is formally recognised as a society associated with the University, as well as being recognised as a club within its Clubs Association. It is one of Australia's longest running amateur theatre companies.
History The Theatre Guild formed in 1938 alongside a number of local Australian theatre groups aiming to develop intellectual and experimental theatre, and in particular Australian theatre.Round, K, 1999, As Many Lives As A Cat? The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 1938-1998. Openbook Publishers, p12. . In the context of acclaimed international university theatre groups, including the Dramatic Societies at Oxford and Cambridge, its academic founders believed that universities "had a responsibility to support serious drama". In its early days, it interspersed its challenging material with less challenging works, in attempting to both meet its founding mandate and maintain a degree of mainstream currency.Round, K, 1999, As Many Lives As A Cat? The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 1938-1998. Openbook Publishers, p13. .
In the 1960s, the Guild hit headlinesSheasby, B, 2012, Fashions, fame and (almost) fisticuffs: Reflections of The Ham Funeral and the 1960s, http://statetheatresa.posterous.com/fashions-fame-and-almost-fisticuffs-reflectio when it was caught in the midst of a dispute between Patrick White and the Board of Governors of the Adelaide Festival over the premiering of the former's first published play, The Ham Funeral.Round, K, 1999, As Many Lives As A Cat? The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 1938-1998. Openbook Publishers, p46. .Cook, A, 2011, Patrick White and the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 1961-1964, http://blogs.adelaide.edu.au/uni-archives/2011/08/12/patrick-white/Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2011, The Ham Funeral, http://www.abc.net.au/arts/white/titles/plays/hamfuneral.html The Ham Funeral was rejected from inclusion in the Festival, as it was deemed too 'difficult'State Theatre Company of South Australia, 2012, The Ham Funeral, http://www.statetheatrecompany.com.au/whats-on/season-2012/the-ham-funeral for audiences by the Board of Governors – following this 'controversial' announcement, the Guild's chairman Dr. Harry Medlin received a copy of the script, and he insisted that it be incorporated into the Theatre Guild's 1961 season.Dr. Harry Medlin remembers the world premiere production of Patrick White's The Ham Funeral, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwKJjx4d51g After a furore of national significance, the performance at the University of Adelaide was well received by critics and audiences alike,Latimer, W, 1962, The Ham Funeral, Pix magazine, p58-60. Archived at http://www.crookedmirror.com/soundandlight/HamFuneralPix.html perhaps partially owing to an underdog appeal. In David Marr's biography of White, Patrick White: A Life, Australian critic Geoffrey Dutton said of The Ham Funeral that: "[p]erhaps there was among the audience the thought that a reactionary Establishment was being beaten on its own ground, that the evening was going to be a triumph of the imagination over mediocrity. So it was."Dutton, G in Marr, D, 1991, Patrick White: A Life. Random House Australia, 1991, p13. .
White's next two plays, The Season at Sarsaparilla (1962) and Night On Bald Mountain (1964), were also performed by the Guild in the wake of The Ham Funeral's success.The University of Adelaide Archives, 2012, Theatre Guild Production Records for Patrick White Plays, http://www.adelaide.edu.au/records/archives/guide/1477.htm In 1973, White became the only laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature to receive the prize while an Australian citizen.Australian Nobel Prize Winners, 2006, http://www.whitehat.com.au/australia/people/NobelPrize.asp In 2009, The Season at Sarsaparilla was performed by the Sydney Theatre Company;Waites, J, 2007, The Season at Sarsparilla, http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/sydney/the-season-at-sarsaparilla--stc-198.html ironically, in 2012, the State Theatre Company performed The Ham Funeral as a part of the Festival to mark its half centenary.
Peter Goers, known for hosting The Evening Show on 891 ABC Adelaide, was Artistic Director of the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild from 1981 to 1984.Round, K, 1999, As Many Lives As A Cat? The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 1938-1998. Openbook Publishers, p142-143. . Chris Drummond, who has been the Artistic Director of Brink Productions since the inauguration of the position in 2004,Brink Productions, 2010, Brink Beginnings, http://www.brinkproductions.com/brink-beginnings was Director-in-Residence of the Guild in 1996.Round, K, 1999, As Many Lives As A Cat? The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 1938-1998. Openbook Publishers, p146. . Edwin Kemp Attrill, who was the founder and Artistic Director of ActNow Theatre, was the last Artistic Director of The Guild from 2011-2012.
Venues Most of the performances are in the Little Theatre.
References
External links Theatre Guild website List of plays performed by the Theatre Guild