Daddy Was Asleep is a 1945 Australian radio play by Betty Roland. She felt it was her best play since The Touch of Silk.[1]
The play aired on ABC radio and it was well received. It played again in 1947,[2] 1950[3] and 1952.[4]
Leslie Rees claimed that the play was "in a special class" out of all Roland's radio plays, adding, "It is a sympathetic and sometimes very painful study of human frailty, touching tragedy. Hiliary West, a would-be great writer, edits a small paper in a declining Australian mining town. His tender relationship with his little daughter Moira is one of the few lovely things in his life—and it is the subject of some of Miss Roland’s most delicate writing. A kindly doctor gradually exposes Hiliary’s neurosis, but meantime Hiliary has antagonized a bunch of shanty-town roughs, who wreak their revenge on the little girl. Hiliary West is a human and credible study of a literary frustrate, a blood brother to Chekhov's Trigorin."[5]
Premise
editAccording to one account "his psychological drama is set in a country town where Hillary West, who had hoped to become a great writer, settles down as editor of a local newspaper. The gradual development of Hillary's neurosis and his domestic relations with his wife, and little daughter build up a drama of strong human interest."[6]
References
edit- ^ "This week's A.B.C. PLAYS on the National programmes", ABC Weekly, 7 (30), Sydney, 28 July 1945, retrieved 21 December 2023 – via Trove
- ^ "RADIO ROUND-UP". The Sun. No. 11, 607. New South Wales, Australia. 8 April 1947. p. 6 (LAST RACE). Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "WORTH HEARING". The Herald. No. 22, 833. Victoria, Australia. 28 July 1950. p. 13. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Daddy was asleep", ABC Weekly, 14 (41), Sydney, 11 October 1952, retrieved 21 December 2023 – via Trove
- ^ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 114.
- ^ "TODAY'S INFORMATION GUIDE RADIO LOG". The Herald. No. 21, 803. Victoria, Australia. 8 April 1947. p. 13. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.