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A one night only rehearsed reading that is the world premiere of a new play by Stephen Vagg
A satirical comedy about the uneasy birth of an Australian theatre classic
Adelaide, 1960. It’s a time of the Cold War, puritanism, six o’clock closing and near-complete foreign domination of Australian culture. Alan Seymour’s stage play The One Day of the Year, a critical look at Anzac Day, is about to make its world debut in the city of churches. The play had been selected for performance at the Adelaide Festival, a decision overturned by the Festival’s governors on the grounds its contents might offend ex-servicemen. An amateur theatre society decide to put on the show instead. The First Night is a fictional rendering of opening night, based on fact - cast romances, bomb threats, the vice squad, censorship, snide bureaucrats, missing actors, ASIO spies, cultural cringe, and that friend of the show who demonstrates support by sitting in the front row and coughing. It's a farcical comedy about sex, spies, spoons, Adelaide, acting, Australian stories and why the show must go on.
Come grab a drink after the show and head back in for a lively Q&A with the director and cast.
Content warnings: sexual situations and discussions of self harm
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Stephen Vagg is an award-winning playwright whose works have been performed in theatres around the world including All My Friends Are Returning to Brisbane,Sidekicks, Rebel Tour, Friday Night Drinks and Dirty Caff. He has worked as a writer, script editor and story producer on television series such as Darby and Joan, Neighbours, Rock Island Mysteries, and Home and Away. He wrote and co produced the feature films All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane, Jucy and All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane. He is the author Rod Taylor: An Aussie in LA, a biography of Australian actor Rod Taylor and was a consultant on the feature film documentary, Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches. He has worked as a researcher on television shows such as McLeod’s Daughters and Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War. He has a Phd from Macquarie University on the history of early live Australian television drama from 1956-69, which inspired the writing of The First Night (of the One Day of the Year).
A photo from a 1962 production at La Boite
Https://laboite.com.au/about/history/1960/the-one-day-of-the-year-1
The original 1960 production
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Coral | Janaki Gerard
Ogie | Griffin Walsh
Tony | Willem Whitfield
Joan | Bronwyn Nayler
Elliot, Neil, Grenville, Rex | Gregory Wilken
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Playwright & Director | Stephen Vagg
Intimacy Co-Ordinator | Sharnee Tones
Costume Supplier | Xanthe Jones
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"A very funny new Australian funny play by Stephen Vagg... It is both self referential and plays with the ‘fourth wall’ which I found surprising and quite charming. This is a fantastic achievement for the writer Stephen Vagg who is able to guide us through delicate emotional storytelling to hilarious slapstick awkwardness and back again without batting an eye. The sassy audience addresses, simple and effective directing and a cheeky sex scene, give this piece a wonderfully rounded feel. If you are a fan of romcoms, sitcoms or just coms in general go see this play!”
Theatre Junkies | Read More
"Vagg's play is a clever, witty vehicle for it's confident cast that also allows a sense of play and the ability to comment on itself, Brechtian style, when actor overlapped with character. It was a great touch and often they included us in on the joke. It looked like it was fun to be in and it was certainly fun to watch.”SOYP Blog | Read More
"A very funny, very engaging piece of theatre."
Theatre Red | Read More
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"The First Night is my tribute to a generation of artists whose careers were pointlessly wiped out. I also wanted the play to draw attention to how many of the issues of 1960 are still with us today.”
In Review | Read More
"Brisbane playwright Stephen Vagg (All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane, Jucy, All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane) takes us backstage on that first night in 1960, behind the scenes of the banning, the bombs, and the bouquets, as Ad Astra’s new creative Cosmos space stages a rehearsed (moved) reading…”
Stage Noise | Read More
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