Production still for "Chidley". L-R: Robert Hewett, Carrillo Gantner. Photographer: David Parker

Chidley

15 December 1976 – 16 January 1977 Grant Street Theatre

Hoopla Theatre Foundation,

Theatre - Spoken Word Historical

A play by Alma De Groen about William James Chidley, an Australian philosopher whose radical ideas about diet, dress, and sexuality led to him being hounded to death in 1916.

Hoopla's publicity for their inaugural production explained:

Chidley was a prophet and martyr to ideas about sexuality and violence, ideas still considered radical today.

Persecuted by the authorities he was an early example of victimisation by censorship, incarceration - being unjustly certified insane.

The lessons for today are plain - can Australia tolerate eccentricity? or even free thinking? Must individuality be repressed in the name of social order?