Winter Passion
| Genre | drama play |
|---|---|
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | ABC |
| Syndicates | ABC |
| Written by | Alan Seymour |
| Original release | 22 February 1960 |
Winter Passion is a 1960 Australian radio play by Alan Seymour about the relationship between Chopin and George Sand on the island of Majorca. It was written to celebrate the Chopin sesquicentenary.[1]
The play debuted on 22 February 1960. It was performed on Canadian radio in 1961 and performed again in Australia in 1962. The 1962 production was part of a series on the ABC of nine radio plays representing 30 years of broadcasting (other Australian plays were The Illusionists and The Fire on the Snow.)[2]
Premise
Polish composer Chopin convalesces on the island of Majorca and deals with his romance with French author George Sand.
Reception
According to Leslie Rees, the play:
Had real success within its A.B.C. field. It contained brilliantly eruptive as well as passionately tender dialogue, trending to an intransigent condition of cynicism and bitterness at the end. Seymour wrote it on commission from the A.B.C. Direct commissions only rarely produce internally creative results. This one did and it was revived several times.[3]
Academic Arlene Sykes called it "among the best Australian radio plays ever broadcast. Written in a style not characteristic of Seymour, it traces from beginning to end the relationship between Chopin and George Sand, making a powerful and compassionate radio play, with little comedy and nothing of the grotesque."[4]
The Bulletin called it "a tour de force which for its control of dialogue, situation, character and period style still has the excited admiration of the A.B.C. officers who commissioned and broadcast it."[5]
References
- ^ "Radio plays". Age. 19 January 1961. p. 25.
- ^ "Nine radio plays in ABC festival". The Age. 3 May 1962. p. 25.
- ^ Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 328.
- ^ Sykes, Alrene. ‘Alan Seymour.’ Australian Literary Studies, vol. 6, no. 3, 1974, doi: 10.20314/als.35f543d8cd. p 281
- ^ "Nothing "Swampy" About Seymour", The Bulletin, 82 (4237), 26 Apr 1961, nla.obj-700279486, retrieved 9 January 2024 – via Trove
External links
- Winter Passion at AustLit