Classic returns for Fringe
Events
The Christian Brothers, a one-man play written by Ron Blair and made famous by Australian actor Peter Carroll, will return to the stage during next year’s Adelaide Fringe.
The play’s director, media personality and arts critic Peter Goers, says the play is a tribute to the Christian Brothers and their service to education.
Goers is working with Br John Ahern, who teaches at Christian Brothers College in Adelaide, and Br Michael Coughlin, who is retired, and insists the production is respectful of the Brothers.
“I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t,” Goers told The Southern Cross.
“Men and women of the cloth educated this nation. Modern education in Australia begins with these people…the Joeys (Josephite Sisters) for example, so it’s very important to go back and remember what they did.
“Their lives, their vocation, tested as it might have been throughout their lives and their working career, meant they served their whole lives – their students, their orders and their faith.”
Robert Cusenza, who plays the part of the Christian Brother, is a local actor and former student of Christian Brothers College.
He and Goers have been working together for 45 years and first saw the play together when it was performed in Adelaide in 1979.
“I was only four years out of school, so it was very special, I loved it,” Cusenza said.
“Back then I would say 50 per cent of our teachers were Brothers.”
Goers also is a fan, having produced it twice before in the 80s and 90s and describes it as “heartfelt, true and funny”.
“The Christian Brother is a good man but like all of us he’s flawed,” he said.
“It’s a life in the day of a Christian Brother, rather than a day in the life.
“We see the Brother with the students in every class, he teaches everything – English, Physics, Modern History…this is a man who is a good teacher but a bit out of his depth, he’s struggling a bit.
“He’s questioning his faith, he’s very devoted and very pious but he’s questioning, and he does that with the boys, he’s encouraging the faith of the boys while also questioning his own…but that’s good I think.”
They expect the play to appeal to former Catholic school students, none more so than Cusenza’s Class of 1974, about 40 of whom still catch up once a year.
As a young student, Cusenza was determined to embark on an acting career. He auditioned for the Catholic schools one act play festival at Willard Hall, Wakefield Street, and when he wasn’t selected he called the festival office and asked if there was any rule stipulating only one entrant from each school could participate. The answer was ‘no’, so he entered his own play and won.
The Christian Brothers will be performed at the Holden Street Theatres during Adelaide Fringe on Saturday and Sundays from February 22/23 at 3pm. Tickets available here.
Jump to next article
