The One Day of the Year at Old Mill Theatre

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Fri 09 Oct 2015 - Sat 24 Oct 2015

A play that created a public furore when first released – and is now regarded as an Australian classic – comes to the Old Mill Theatre this October.

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?"


Brendan 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, Brendan 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, winning the annual Milly Award for best director and best production, and also directed Ninety at Garrick Theatre in 2014, another best production winner. "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," Brendan 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."


Val Henry plays Dot, the mother of the family. "I am only ever referred to as 'Mum' except by my son's girlfriend Jane, who calls me 'Mrs Cook'," she said. "Mum is typical of women in the 1950s, trying to support their husbands as they re-adjusted after returning from World War II to a very different home life."Women had tasted freedom from the kitchen sink but had not yet become equal. All of the characters in this play are very stereotypical and I believe the playwright did this to give balanced views of the different viewpoints of Anzac Day. Mum is trying, I believe, to be open to the new ways and new ideas of thinking but is still quite traditional in her role as a wife and mother."

The One Day of the Year appealed to Val because the Anzac story had moved her since she was a child. "I am also very pro-anything Australian," she said. "Finding a play with 1950s life in Australia and the issues around Anzac Day, where they are both strongly examined under the microscope, was attractive. "In some ways, I feel the play is dated and we have moved on from the thinking expressed – but we needed that step to move forward. The play provides this stepping stone for modern day Australians to understand that change in dynamic."


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 www.oldmilltheatre.com.au , [email protected] or on 9367 8719. It is the sixth show in a year of all-Australian plays at the Old Mill Theatre to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli landing in 2015.

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).

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!date 09/10/2015 -- 24/10/2015
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