''The One Day of the Year'' is a 1958 Australian play by Alan Seymour about contested attitudes to

Anzac Day , image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg , caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary. , observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Ne ...

Plot

Alf’s son Hughie and his girlfriend Jan plan to document Anzac Day for the university newspaper, focusing on the drinking on Anzac Day. For the first time in his life Hughie refuses to attend the dawn service with Alf. When he watches the march on television at home with his mother and Wacka, he is torn between outrage at the display and love for his father.

Characters

Alf Cook, Dot Cook, Hughie Cook, Wacka Dawson and Jan Castle.

Origins

The play was inspired by an article in the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

newspaper ''

Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrev ...

'' criticising Anzac Day and Seymour's own observations of how ex-servicemen behaved on that day. The character of Alf was based on Seymour's brother in law.

Productions

The play was rejected by the Adelaide Festival of Arts Board of Governors in 1960, but made its debut on 20 July 1960 as an amateur production by the Adelaide Theatre Group. Jean Marshall, the Director, and those involved in the Adelaide production received death threats. The first professional season was in April 1961 at the

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia * Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria *Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, M ...

in Sydney. It proved controversial and Seymour also received death threats however it was popular and there have been productions ever since. In 1961 Seymour travelled to London where the play was directed by

Raymond Menmuir Raymond Edward Menmuir (10 September 1930 – 26 March 2016) was a British-Australian director and producer. His career included producing 44 episodes of '' The Professionals'' and directing 12 episodes of '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. He also produ ...

at the

Theatre Royal Stratford East The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...

1962 Australian television version

The play was adapted for Australian TV in June 1962. It was directed by

Rod Kinnear Rodney Scott Kinnear (11 May 1931 – 2 May 2006) was an Australian director, best known for his work in TV. Select credits *''Lovely to Look At'' (1957) (TV series) *'' Tragedy in a Temporary Town'' (1959) *'' The Big Day'' (1959) *'' No Picnic ...

and adapted by John Sumner.

Cast

* Syd Conabere as Alf * Stewart Weller as Wacka *

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a str ...

as Hughie * Elaine Cusack as Jan Castle *

Bunney Brooke Dorothy Cronin (9 January 1920 – 2 April 2000), professionally known as Bunney Brooke, was an Australian actress, creator, producer, director, designer, playwright and casting agent, best known for her being one of the early faces of Aust ...

as Dot Cook

Production

The production was produced by GTV-9 in Melbourne after a 16 week run of the show in which 28,000 people saw the show. It was estimated 300,000 would see the television production. Some of the language from the original play was cut. It was the first of three plays of ''

The General Motors Hour ''The General Motors Hour'' was an Australian radio and television drama series. Radio The radio series was a regular one hour drama broadcast over the Macquarie Radio Network at 8 pm on Thursays. It is believed to have commenced in the late 1940 ...

'' that year. The cast were all members of the Melbourne Union Theatre Repertory Company, which originally presented the play in Melbourne and toured three states.

Reception

The TV critic for the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' said the shortened adaptation "suffered much less than might have been expected in its transfer" to television, saying it "sometimes tended to focus more sharply the growing and bitter awareness of the increasing estrangement between an ill-educated, soured lift-driver and his university student son. On the other hand, some scenes of richly meaningful theatrical impact missed badly." The TV critic for ''The Age'' said the "subject of this play overshadow the acting and the sets, giving the production a sleek look that it did not entirely merit." Frank Roberts, reviewing the TV adaptation in ''The Bulletin'' in 1962, called the play "bloody awful".

Awards

The TV movie won Best Drama and Best Actor (for Syd Conabere) at the

Logie Awards of 1963 The 5th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were announced on Wednesday 26 March 1963 by TV Week. The award ceremony was to have taken place at the Chevron-Hilton Hotel in Sydney on 23 March 1963 and been broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corpora ...

1962 British television version

The play was adapted for British TV in 1962 and produced by

James Ormerod James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

Cast

* Kenneth Warren as Alf Cook *

Reg Lye Reginald Thomas Lye (14 October 1912 – 23 March 1988), was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England. He was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at th ...

as Wacka *

Madge Ryan :''She is sometimes confused with American actress Fran Ryan.'' Madge Winifred Ryan (8 January 1919 – 9 January 1994) was an Australian actress, known for her stage and film roles in the United Kingdom, including London stage productions of ' ...

as Dot Cook *

George Roubicek George Roubicek (born 25 May 1935) is an Austrian actor, and a dialogue director and script adaptor for English-language versions of foreign films and television shows. Born in Austria, Roubicek appeared in a number of small roles throughout the ...

as Hughie Cook * Georgina Ward as Jan Castle

Film adaptation

Film rights were bought by Lou Edelmen Productions in 1970 but no film resulted.

References

External links

1960 play
at

Austlit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

1962 TV production
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:One Day of the Year, The Australian plays Australian television plays 1960 plays English-language plays