Seymour, Alan (1927-2015), an Australian playwright, became known for his controversial play, The One Day of the Year (1961). The day of the year in the title is Anzac Day, a patriotic holiday on April 25 in Australia. The play uses the holiday to examine matters of national identity, rapid social change, and tensions between the generations.
Seymour gained recognition with his nonrealistic first play, Swamp Creatures (1957), an allegory about the threat of nuclear war. Seymour’s other plays include The Gaiety of Nations (1965), A Break in the Music (1966), The Pope and the Pill (1968), The Shattering (1973), Structures (1973), and The Float (1980). He also adapted several modern English novels for television. He wrote a novel, The Coming Self-Destruction of the United States of America (1980), and a novelization of The One Day of the Year (1967).
Seymour was born on June 6, 1927, in Perth, Western Australia. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, he wrote for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and served as a theater and motion-picture critic in Sydney. Seymour lived in London and Turkey for many years. He died on March 23, 2015.
