Controversial Classic Explores Anzac Day’s Meaning

A PLAY that created a public furore when first released – and is now regarded as an Australian classic – comes to the Old Mill Theatre (WA) in October 2015.

Written by Fremantle-born Alan Seymour and directed by Brendan Ellis, The One Day of the Year follows the Cook family during the week of Anzac Day and, while family patriarch Alf sees it as the one time of year old Diggers can get together and be commemorated, his son Hughie regards it merely as an excuse for them all to get drunk.

The play raises poignant questions about class, education, inter-generational communication, free expression, respect for people and history and attitudes towards war.

First performed in 1960, The One Day of the Year was rejected at the time by the Adelaide Festival of Arts for its supposed anti-military stance.

On Anzac Day 1961, during the dress rehearsal for its opening at Sydney’s Palace Theatre, there was a bomb scare and police were forced to close the theatre for 24 hours.

Seymour, who was educated at Perth Modern School and worked at radio 6PM, received death threats and was labelled a communist sympathiser and un-Australian. He died earlier this year in March.

“On the outside, The One Day of the Year examines Anzac Day and its meaning to the Australian culture,” director Brendan Ellis said.

“But when you look deeper you can see it explores the universal rift between the previous generation and the next – what values should be discarded and what stays relevant and which direction should we as a nation, and a society, head towards?”

Ellis said the main challenges stem from the fact the play was written in the late 1950s and whether some of the issues raised remain in the 21st century.

“On the 100-year anniversary of Gallipolli, how many of the points raised still apply?” he said. “And how many members of the audience will relate to the subject matter?

“The talented actors and I have put a lot of thought and work into helping audiences recognise the relevance this play still holds.”

Involved in theatre for more than 10 years, Ellis has appeared with Stirling, Playlovers, Marloo, Melville, Garrick and Groovy Boots Theatres and ARENAarts in productions such as Maskerade, Miranda and Twelve Angry Men, among many others.

He directed David Williamson’s A Conversation at the Old Mill Theatre in 2013, and Ninety at Garrick Theatre in 2014.

“When Alan Seymour first wrote The One Day of the Year in the late ’50s, it was banned from public performance due its controversial subject matter, as deemed at the time,” Ellis said.

“Interestingly, it has since been recognised as one of the first Australian-written plays that actually deals with uniquely Australian issues.

“For a piece that received such animosity to now become so renowned and historically important is an amazing feat and I feel honoured to be able to direct it.”

The One Day of the Year plays at 8pm October 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23 and 24 with a 2pm October 18. Tickets are $25, $20 concession – book at http://oldmilltheatre.com.au/ticketsor on 9367 8719.

The heritage-listed Old Mill Theatre is on the corner of Mends Street and Mill Point Road, South Perth (opposite the Windsor Hotel and Australia Post).

Images (from top): Hughie (Matt Randall) and  Jan (Carmen Miles); Alf (Chris Henderson) and Hughie (Matt Randall); Chris Henderson, left, Val Henry and Tom Rees, and Tom Rees, left, Chris Henderson, Val Henry and Matt Randall.

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