Alan Seymour's The One Day Of The Year

Alan Seymour’s The One Day Of The Year, set in the early 1960’s is one of the most evocative Australian plays of the 20th century. The “1960s” also refers to an era more often called the Sixties, standing for the complications of inter-related cultural and political trends around the globe. This play follows the story of a young university student, Hughie Cook who assists his girlfriend, Jan, in writing an article criticising Anzac Day. This article causes great distress in his ex-serviceman father, Alf, who courageously fought in World War Two. Seymour’s play gives readers an insight into the lives of those whom ANZAC day effects and brings to the light issues such as multiculturalism, education and the class system. The three main characters are all representations of the dry

Hughie’s emotions are complicated and the play displays rivalry on many levels. Hughie was given a great opportunity by his parents when they payed for him to go university. Hughie values his education a lot but when he meets Jan he begins to question his schooling life and how his parents are holding him back. To Hughie being an Australian is very embarrassing for him especially because his parents are very old fashioned. “But I never feel more ashamed of being an Australian than I do on Anzac Day”, Hughie comments much to his parent’s dismay. ANZAC day to Hughie is just a day where all the veterans like his father get drunk. Hughie therefore thinks the day is a waste and doesn’t want to be apart of it. This is shown in the play when he refuses to to go to the ANZAC march with his father and he confesses that Jan and himself have been working on an anti ANZAC article for his school paper. Hughie is stereotypically designed to represent a fresh faced child of the 60s, who is struggling with defining his place in