 Event |
The One Day of the Year
|
| Venue |
Willard Hall, Adelaide, SA |
| First Date |
20 July 1960 |
| Opening Date |
20 July 1960 |
| Last Date |
23 July 1960 |
| Dates Estimated |
No |
| Status |
Amateur |
| World Premiere |
Yes |
| Description |
By Australian author Alan Seymour. About the Cook family and their friend Wacka, a Gallipoli veteran. Alf Cook is also a returned serviceman and can only relate positively to his identity as a soldier on one day of the year - ANZAC Day. A university student, Hughie Cook, helps his girlfriend Jan write an article criticising Anzac Day, which upsets his ex-serviceman father, Alf. The play was inspired by an article in the University of Sydney newspaper Honi Soit 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. |
| Description Source |
Website |
| Primary Genre |
Theatre - Spoken Word
|
| Secondary Genre |
Drama
|
| Subjects |
Anzac
Australian National Identity
War memorials
|
| Organisations |
|
| Contributors |
|
| Resources |
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Article: M H, One play of the year!, Australian Theatregoer, 1960, 10
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Article: Max Harris, One Day of the Year! An account of the play's history and of the production at the Adelaide Arts Festival 1960, Australian Theatregoer, 1, 2 (Spring), 1960, 10-11
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Book: Adrian Kiernander, Bruce Parr, Jonathan Bollen, Men At Play: Masculinities in Australian Theatre since the 1950s, Rodopi, Amsterdam & New York, 2008
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Programme: The One Day of The Year, The University of Adelaide, Library Special Collections, 20 June 1960
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Review: Mark Taylor, Australian play has premiere, The Advertiser, 21 July 1960, 7
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Review: Max Harris, Anzacs and Angries, Nation, 30 July 1960, 19
|
| Works |
|
| Text Nationality |
Australia
|
| Production Nationality |
Australia
|
| Further Information |
Desmond White is thanked for "his general assistance". This premiere production was deemed too controversial for public display by the Adelaide Festival Board. The company presented it despite this, creating national attention. Information taken from Companion to Theatre in Australia, ed. P Parsons, Currency, 1995
|
| Event Status |
Completed
|
| Data Source |
| Source |
Description |
| Marking Masculinity Project |
|
| Book |
John McCallum, Belonging: Australian Playwriting in the 20th Century, Currency Press, Strawberry Hills, NSW, 2009 |
| Programme |
University of Adelaide Special Collection. Theatre Collection. |
|
| Data Reviewed By
| Jenny Fewster (JennyFewster) on 14 July 2020 |
| Data Set |
AusStage |
| Event Identifier |
20924 |
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