POSTPONED to 2021

It’s Christmas Eve, 1910, in French Guiana, where the temperature has dropped to a mild 104 degrees.

Three Devil’s Island “lifers”, Joseph, Jules and Albert – two murderers and an embezzler – are on a work detail, repairing the roof of kindly, but inept storekeeper, Felix Dulay, his wife and daughter. Felix manages the store for his nasty-minded, rich cousin, Gaston Lemare. Panic strikes when Gaston arrives unexpectedly, from France, demanding to examine Felix’s books, and threatening the family with eviction if the books don’t balance. Accompanying him is his equally arrogant nephew, Paul, loved by Felix’s daughter, but now jilting her for a Parisian heiress.

Appalled by the injustice, the three Devil’s Island “angels” decide to rescue the family. So – with the aid of Joseph’s “accounting” skills, and Albert’s pet snake, Adolphe – they set about solving the family’s problems.

Sam and Bella Spewack’s wickedly funny adaptation of French playwright Albert Husson’s 1952 La Cuisine des Anges was a stage hit in New York and London. It was successfully filmed in 1955, as We’re No Angels, starring Humphrey Bogart (in one of his rare comedic roles), Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray as the three “angels”.

POSTPONED TO 2021

At Edinburgh’s staid Marcia Blaine School for Girls, flamboyant teacher Miss Jean Brodie is unmistakably, and outspokenly, in her prime. A devotee of all things Italian – art, opera and Mussolini – and hater of the Girl Guides, Miss Brodie’s unorthodox teaching methods, and her dedication to “her girls”, set her on a collision course with the school’s rigid headmistress.

Fanatically devoted to their teacher, each member of the Brodie set will be “famous for something”, and Miss Brodie strives to bring out the best in each one. Determined to instil in them independence, passion, and ambition, Miss Brodie’s creed is: “I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders. Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.”

All but one, as it turns out.

Jay Presson Allen’s famous adaptation brings out all the delicious irony and humour of Muriel Spark’s darkly witty novel, as well as flagging the inherent dangers of a strong influence on formative minds.

Vanessa Redgrave created the role on the London stage, followed by Australian actress, Zoe Caldwell, on Broadway. The 1968 film saw Maggie Smith win her first Oscar.

PROCEEDING AS PLANNED
NOVEMBER 13-21

Martin Sherman’s ground-breaking play begins in Berlin in June 1934, on the “Night of the Long Knives”, when Hitler issued an order to purge all homosexuals from the Army. Max, a small-timer wheeler-dealer, and his dancer boyfriend, Rudy, are recovering from a night of debauchery with an SA trooper, when two soldiers burst into their apartment, thus forcing them on a nightmare odyssey through Nazi Germany – through a Berlin nightclub, a forest hideout, a prison-train, and, ultimately, Dachau concentration camp.

Ever the survivor, in Dachau, Max elects to wear the Yellow Jewish Star rather than the Pink Triangle for homosexuals.

But, it’s in the dehumanising grind of the prison stone-yards that he learns, from fellow-prisoner, Horst, love, acceptance, sacrifice and ultimate redemption.

Starring Ian McKellen as Max, this landmark play premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1979. The following year, on Broadway, Richard Gere played Max. Independent Theatre’s production will occur 40 years since the South Australian Theatre Company performed it, with John Hargreaves and Tim Considine.

It will also coincide with, and be a part of, the 2020 Feast Festival.

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MOVED TO 27 SEPTEMBER

Sir Thomas Beecham was one of Britain’s greatest orchestral conductors. He was also a crusty, colourful personality, famed for his acid wit and pithy sayings. Stories about Sir Thomas have abounded among musical circles for decades.

Caryl Brahms & Ned Sherrin have taken these anecdotes about his dealings with the rich and musically famous, and woven them into a dazzling two-hander between Sir Thomas and his musical secretary. The play shows Beecham in full-sail at various stages of his career – witty, tongue-in-cheek, often ruthlessly clear-sighted – and recounts incidents eccentric, trenchant, occasionally outrageous – but always hilarious.

With Timothy West as Sir Thomas, the play performed to sell-out houses in London, before being recorded as a radio play, and then filmed for television with a full orchestra. It was seen as “helping cement Beecham’s name as one of England’s natural wits and true originals”.

Beecham captures the spirit of a remarkable man, who brought an added joy and sparkle to many people’s lives, and to the world of music. Especially fitting for Ukaria’s concert hall, our staged reading will surround audiences with generous excerpts of Beecham’s own recordings.

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