Review: THE ONE DAY OF THE YEAR at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 18th August 2018.

Alf Cook looks forward to his annual celebration, ANZAC Day, The One Day of the Year when he sees himself as important, and gets together with old comrades to attend the dawn service, march in the parade, and drink heavily. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps., the ANZACS, was part of the Allied force that was sent to capture the Gallipoli peninsula on the 25th of April 1915. His son has always gone with him to the dawn service and the march in the past, but not this year.

Alf has always insisted that his son, Hughie, gets a good education and he is now studying at university, where he has met, Jan Castle, and they are working together on an article about ANZAC Day for the university newspaper. She is writing the article and he is providing the photographs, but their focus on the day is diametrically opposed to that of Alf.

In this, the centenary year of the end of WWI, and the 75th year of the Therry Dramatic Society, Kerrin White has directed this production for them, revisiting the social mores of the time against which we cannot but help to look at Australia today and evaluate where we have progressed, stagnated, or regressed. He clearly brings out the themes of Alan Seymour's play and reignites some of that controversy that dogged the first production.

Australia's supposedly classless society is, and always has been a myth. England has its well-defined classes, divided by social standing into working, middle, and upper classes, each with subdivisions. In Australia it is, like America, dependent on wealth and power, where ones lives, how one votes, educational levels, and there is just as much snobbery in Australia as there is in England. There is also the reverse snobbery, exhibited in Alf's antagonistic verbal attacks on the English Australians, as opposed to his insistence that he is a real Australian, in his own biased, bigoted, and narrow definition of whatever that means. Class, though, is only one theme in this play.

The generation gap is another theme. As Hughie has pursued his education, he has been introduced to critical thinking and now analyses such things as the ANZAC legacy. His ideas have changed and he has grown apart from his parents. Now, things have come to a head and he can no longer continue to try to hide the fact.

Alan Seymour was prompted to write this play in 1958 after seeing ex-soldiers fighting and throwing up in the streets, after drinking heavily on ANZAC Day in 1955, and in response to what he saw as a hollow celebration. The Gallipoli landing, it must be remembered, was a total disaster, with the Allied forces being killed in vast numbers by the enemy, the Ottoman Turks, who were in an unassailable location high on the hills, picking them off with impunity. It dragged on for eight months until they were evacuated, with over 8,000 Australians dead, and over 56,000 allied troops in total. It has now become a day to remember all who fell in every war since, and children and grandchildren often march in memory of their forebears who fought and fell.

Many, though, see it as a celebration and glorification of war. Seymour was also influenced by a condemnation of the event in Honi Soit, the student newspaper of Sydney University. He and members of the cast of the first production received death threats, so great was the controversy around this play, which is now an Australian classic.

Not forgotten nor forsaken
Are the lads no longer here,
I shall call - and you will waken
On this one day of the year.

from: Landing in the Dawn, John Sandes, 1916.

Initially, I found that the lines and moves were there, but the characters were often externalised, a little superficial. I was looking for more light and shade, and authentic emotions in the delivery of the dialogue. Lines often felt too hurried, skipping over the punctuation, sometimes lacking diction, and with raised voices passing for anger. It settled down after a while and, at times, genuine characters emerged.

Alf Cook is an opinionated, ignorant, loudmouth, a xenophobe. He clings to his annual celebration, fondly remembering his time at war, as it is the only thing in his life of any importance to him. He is a lift operator, with dreams of moving up into an engineering position, refusing to accept that he has neither the qualifications nor experience and, of course, is too old for employers to take him on to learn on the job.

Alf is played by John Rosen who gives us a character whom, for all of his bluster and belligerence, is a pathetic creature. Rosen's Alf leaves the audience hovering between laughing at this loser, angry at his outbursts, and even just a little sorry for him once in a while.

Dot is aware of the divide growing between Alf and Hughie and spends much of her time mediating, and putting out the occasional spot fire, over copious amounts of tea, the great panacea, a cure for all ills. Dot and Alf have also grown apart and she now relates better to Wacka Dawson, a quieter, more thoughtful man, than to her husband.

Julie Quick plays Dot in a warm portrayal of a wife and mother aware that her family is growing apart but trying to hold it together as long as possible. We can see the anguish in her performance and wonder what the future will bring.

Wacka Dawson is a long-time friend of the family, once a friend of Alf's father before he was killed in WWI. Wacka fought in WWI and WWII, insisting that he lied about his age both times, being underage the first time and too old the second. He is, in fact, a true ANZAC, having been one of those on the beaches at Gallipoli. Alf is disappointed that Wacka, too, has decided not to march this year due to his leg injury, a war wound, making walking too difficult.

Christopher Leech superbly underplays the role of Wacka, giving a subtle performance as the modest war hero, a quiet, gentle man. A highlight is when he and Quick sit together in the kitchen while the others are out, the two presenting fully realised characterisations, and engaging in a believable conversation.

Jan Castle is from Sydney's upmarket North Shore, educated, wealthy, and well-spoken, and Alf immediately takes a dislike to her, telling Hughie that she is not 'their type'. Alf is still to recognise that, with his ongoing university education, Hughie is no longer 'their type', either, and moving farther away with every lecture or tutorial. Hughie is now caught between two worlds, no longer fitting in with his family due to his education, and not fitting into Jan's world because of his family background. It is ironical that Alf's insistence on Hughie getting ahead by going to university has resulted in driving them apart.

Ashley Penny plays Jan, and Jai Pearce is Hughie, both of whom give rather mechanical performances that here and there hinted at characters starting to emerge. Hopefully, they will expand their performances as the season continues.

The set has several levels, highest at the rear for Hughie's bedroom, slightly lower on the audience's left is the kitchen, and lower still to the right is the lounge. The kitchen, of course, is where much of the action takes place as that was the centre of the home, before electronic devices took over. Richard Parkhill's lighting helps to separate the locations.

This is an important piece of Australian theatre so take the opportunity to see this play that caused such uproar when it first appeared.