BWW Interviews: THE ONE DAY OF THE YEAR Director Denis Moore Gives BWW An Insight Into His Upcoming Production As Part Of The ANZAC Centenary Commemoration.

As the Commemorations of the Centenary of the ANZACs landing in Gallipoli in World War I draws near, Director Denis Moore has provided a little insight into his staging of Alan Seymour's thought provoking THE ONE DAY OF THE YEAR, 57 years after it was written.

The work, about a father and son's reaction to ANZAC Day and its importance in their lives, was originally written for an amateur playwriting competition. It was surrounded in controversy in the years after it was written. It was rejected by the Adelaide Festival of Arts Board of Governors in 1960 following complaints by the Returned Services League, police were stationed at the theatre door when the play was eventually staged by the amateur production group Adelaide Theatre Group, a bomb scare cleared a dress rehearsal during the first professional season in Sydney, and Seymour received death threats

Whilst the ANZAC Centenary serves as motivation enough to stage this work and all the original ANZACs are gone, Australians still have personal links to war, both historic and current, which makes the work still relevant. Moore personally had two relatives involved in war, a great uncle who died at Gallipoli and an uncle who flew with the RAF and participated in many bombing raids over Germany.

Whilst Seymour originally wrote THE ONE DAY OF THE YEAR as a commentary of the social divide that was emerging in the late 1950's between those that remember and those that had just heard stories and were told to remember and respect, Moore feels that whilst the "clash between generations still exists", "the expression of it is different". The modern youth are now sympathetic to the ANZAC memory and the negative feeling regarding being sent to wars, like Vietnam, have gone but the values of older generations are still being questioned by succeeding generations. Moore cites new issues like younger generations questioning older generations "selfishness" regarding the cost of real estate that is leaving many of the younger generation unable to have the 'Australian dream' of owning their own property, or even unable to move out of the parental home as rents rise as one of the new dividing topics.

Given that almost 60 years has passed since Seymour created the work, Moore has taken it out of the period based setting as he focuses on the plays "psychological relevance" rather than treating it as a "social document". He states that he "believes the myth of ANZAC haunts this country just as it haunts the characters in the play - both for better and worse". He has created an "abstract psychological zone where the ghosts of the dead soldiers of wars past bear witness to the domestic turmoil this past has ignited in the present". He gives the example of the demise of the Ottoman Empire caused by World War I is still having a flow on effect in the Middle East.

Whilst Moore sees bringing a 50 year old play to life in an "immediate theatrical experience for today's audience" is his greatest challenge in staging THE ONE DAY OF THE YEAR, he does state that his most enjoyable part of the process has been "working with the actors and his creative team to bring this about". He would like audiences to see "that the tragic history of the 20th Century from 1914 onwards is still with us and has affected all of us as much as the characters in the play".

THE ONE DAY OF THE YEAR

Dates: 24 to 28 March 2015

Times: 7:30pm on 24, 25, 27 and 28 March; 11am on 26 Mar; and 2.15pm on 28 Mar

Tickets: Adult $49 / Conc $44 / 30 and Under $35 / School Students $20 / Groups 10+ $42

Bookings: From the Box Office (02) 8839 3399 or www.riversideparramatta.com.au

Venue: Riverside Theatres - Corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta

Audience Suitability: Contains strong language and adult themes. Recommended 15+

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