[5] In the 1960s, the Guild hit headlines[6] 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.
[7][11] After a furore of national significance, the performance at the University of Adelaide was well received by critics and audiences alike,[12] 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.
"[13] 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.
[17] Chris Drummond, who has been the Artistic Director of Brink Productions since the inauguration of the position in 2004,[18] was Director-in-Residence of the Guild in 1996.