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Balzac is a 1950 Australian radio play by Catherine Shepherd about the writer Balzac. It was one of a series of biographies on writers written by Shepherd.

The play was commissioned by the ABC to commemorate the anniversary of Balzac's death. This was rare for the ABC.

The play was produced again in 1952.

The Age called it "a thoroughly artificial picture of the subject. Never once during the 60 minutes the play ran was one ever really convinced that Balzac was a genius with a place in the long succession of literary giants. No amount of subtlp acting could have created that illusion either."

A review from the same paper of the 1952 production called it "good reporting rather than good art, put over by competent actors."

Shepherd later adapted a Balzac novel The Miner's Daughter for radio in 1959.

Premise

"Catherine Shepherd’s play is concerned with Balzac’s life in Paris, and with various women who played a great part in it: his mother, who hated him; his sister Laure and her friend, Zulma Carraud, who loved him dearly; and Madame de Hanska, the beautiful Russian woman whom he married shortly before his death."

References

1. "A.B.C. Wants Australian Radio Play". South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus. Vol. LII, no. 76. New South Wales, Australia. 18 August 1952. p. 2 (feature section). Retrieved 21 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
2. "How Radio is Catering for The Australian Play-lover", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 7 April 1951, nla.obj-1442950228, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
3. "RADIO PLAYS A.B.C.", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 28 June 1952, nla.obj-1665475485, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
4. "The Week in Wireless". The Age. No. 29, 738. Victoria, Australia. 19 August 1950. p. 12. Retrieved 21 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "THE WEEK IN WIRELESS--". The Age. No. 30, 322. Victoria, Australia. 5 July 1952. p. 12. Retrieved 21 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Talkabout", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 4 March 1959, nla.obj-1536781550, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove
7. "The A.B.C. Will Broadcast These Plays Next Week...", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 12 August 1950, nla.obj-1505496274, retrieved 21 February 2024 – via Trove

• Works by Catherine Shepherd
• 1950 Australian radio dramas
• 1952 Australian radio dramas
• Australian radio dramas based on actual events