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A Citizen of the World is a 1940 Australian radio play by Catherine Shepherd about Oliver Goldsmith. It was one of her most notable works.

The play was an entrant in the 1940 Australian Radio Play Competition.

Leslie Rees said it "illustrated the difficulty of writing one’s best when a bread-and-butter living has to be earned". He elaborated, "shows a man of real genius and integrity being led towards the different prison of Hackdom, the spiderweb gradually closing in to destroy him. And his quiet resolution, despite natural human fears, to go forth into loneliness and hunger, but to remain free."

The play was produced again in 1941 and 1943. The later versions were rewritten from the 1940 entry.

Premise

"The play gives a touchingly attractive portrait of the younger Oliver Goldsmith, the man of 30, friend of the poor, an unsuccessful school usher, author of a few essays and verses, seeing himself approaching a critical literary crossroads. One road leads to a life of successful hack journalism, the other to semi-starvation and real writing achievement. It is a hard choice. The play is a study in 18th century Grub-street ways to be set beside Miss Shepherd’s plays of Mary Mitford, Hans Anderson and John Bunyan. The present version amplifies the previous picture of a lovable and courageous character."

References

1. Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 166.
2. "FRIDAY .. AUGUST 23", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, August 17, 1940, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
3. "Farwell Wins Play Contest Entry Was Not Most Popular With A.B.C. Listeners", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, October 5, 1940, nla.obj-720726725, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
4. "A.B.C. 1940 Play Competition", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 5 October 1940, nla.obj-1309210925, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
5. Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 190.
6. "Plays of the Air— Last Competition Plays", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 17 August 1940, nla.obj-1314296976, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
7. "AUSTRALIA ON THE AIR", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 11 January 1941, nla.obj-1309858540, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
8. "WEDNESDAY . . JAN. 15", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, January 11, 1941, nla.obj-713148540, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove

• Works by Catherine Shepherd
• 1940 Australian radio dramas
• Australian radio dramas based on actual events
• 1941 Australian radio dramas
• 1943 Australian radio dramas