The One Day Of The Year

In a production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre as part of its GreatWar100 series to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign, Defibrillator return to the Finborough Theatre with the first UK production in over fifty years of Alan Seymour’s iconic play The One Day of the Year, directed by Wayne Harrison, former Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, opening for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 19 May 2015 (Press Nights: Thursday, 21 May at 7.30pm).

Is ANZAC Day just an excuse for “one long grog-up” or is it a day when Australians reflect on those who have paid the ultimate price?

One of Australia’s most popular and favourite plays, The One Day of the Year explores the universal theme of father-son conflict against the background of the beery haze and the heady, nostalgic sentimentality of ANZAC Day – Australia’s equivalent of Remembrance Sunday – and a sacred cow among Australian annual celebrations.

For war veterans like Alf and his friend Wacka, ANZAC Day is an opportunity to commemorate history and the forging of Australia’s national identity.

For Alf’s son Hughie, reacting against everything his father stands for, ANZAC Day is a just an out-of-date nationalist nostalgia fest, so he decides to do a photo-essay for a magazine portraying the “real” celebration of the day: ex-servicemen passed out in the gutter in an alcoholic stupor…

The One Day of the Year generated huge controversy in Australia following its publication in 1960 with a policeman stationed at the stage door to ward off the angry public, while death threats were sent to the author. Last seen in the UK at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1961, this production rediscovers an Australian theatre classic.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign and taking place during a year of world-wide ceremonies commemorating the battle, the production is presented as part of the annual Australia and New Zealand Festival of Literature and Arts.