Alan Seymour, author of The One Day of the Year, dead at 87

AUSTRALIAN playwright Alan Seymour, whose most famous work was a searing indictment of the ANZAC legend, has died in Sydney aged 87.

Alan Seymour Playwright Alan Seymour in his Darlinghurst home wrote One Day of The Year. Photo: Melanie Russell

AUSTRALIAN playwright Alan Seymour has died in Sydney, aged 87.

Seymour was widely known for his play The One Day of the Year, a searing indictment of ANZAC Day which was included on high school English and drama syllabuses for many years.

First staged in 1960 and performed many times since — a new production is set to open at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre this week — the play re-examined the myth of the ANZACs from several angles and was so controversial the playwright received death threats.

Rather than portraying diggers as heroic figures, characters in the play deride the ex-soldiers for using the day as an excuse to disgrace themselves with alcohol and by fighting and vomiting in city streets.

A staple of the Australian stage ... Bill Austin, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Tom Burlinson and Peter Cummins in a State Theratre Company of South Australia production of The One Day of the Year from 1980.

One of the characters in the play asserts that the veterans should be ashamed of themselves: “War’s such a dirty thing I’d have thought as soon as it’s over you’d want to forget it, be ashamed, as human beings, ashamed you ever had to take part in it.”

The play was selected for the Adelaide Festival but banned by the board of governors, who were worried about the offence it could cause.

In interviews, Seymour revealed that he was inspired to write the play after witnessing the behaviour of veterans on ANZAC Day in Sydney in 1955.

Born in Perth, Seymour lived in the UK and Turkey for many years before returning to Sydney in the 1990s.

Admirers of his work have expressed their thoughts on Twitter.

Vale Alan Seymour, Australian playwright. One Day of the Year. His parting day arrives one day short of the centenary of Gallipoli invasion.

— Samela Harris (@saline) March 24, 2015

We're so very sorry to hear of the passing of Alan Seymour: author of One Day of the Year and formerly a major scriptwriter at the BBC.

— AustLit (@AustLit) March 24, 2015

Originally published as Alan Seymour, author of The One Day of the Year, dead at 87