Category: Media (Page 8 of 45)

Riotous Review

February 25, 2018 / / 3 Comments

The Guardian produced an article asking what was happening in The week in radio and podcasts: Riot Girls; Between the Ears: A Cow a Day.

Miranda Sawyer has problems with much of the dialogue in modern audio dramas. Here’s a snippet of her article:

Radio drama. Oh God. I try, really I do, but so much of it leaves me either rigid with boredom or seething with irritation, madly stomping round the park yelping “No one talks like this!” at the dog. And BBC radio drama is the worst. It’s all so written. Which would be fine, if the writing were taken to a poetic extreme, if the playwrights used rhythm and rhyme and pause and imagery in the way of Harold Pinter or Philip Ridley or Sarah Kane or debbie tucker green. But when you’re listening to something that’s meant to be natural and you can hear the tap-tap of computer keys running through? That’s not good. Plus, it’s not enough to have a neat concept, a contemporary idea to be examined. Journalists have those. Playwrights should take such concepts and ideas and tear them apart, stab them in the stomach, watch them scab over and then pick at the wound. Not just place everybody in sitcom positions and offer us the hilarious consequences.

Gah. Sorry. It’s just I was looking forward to Radio 4’s Riot Girls last week. The tagline reads thus: “Series of no-holds-barred dramas written by women, featuring extraordinary female characters and their lives.” Perhaps an ancient queen, a sporting heroine, a political revolutionary, a working warrior? Perhaps not…

Let’s be positive. The dramatic adaptations of Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride and Doris Lessing’s The Good Terrorist (Yes! Revolutionaries!) were fine – though of course the books are far better – but some of the specially commissioned drama was woeful. Which just goes to show that even good writers – and these plays were all written by good writers – struggle with radio plays.

How do you feel about audio dramatic dialogue? Do you think it should be more realistic or heightened in some way?

Should Radio Drama Be More Realistic?

February 25, 2018 / / 0 Comments

This article in The Guardian asks the question: Should Radio Drama Be More Realistic?

Fiona Morrell as the question. Here’s her argument. What do you think?

I’ve recently been working with the playwright Nell Dunn, directing her latest play, Home Death, at the Finborough theatre. The play examines the palliative care system through the eyes of people who have experienced someone dying at home. Early in rehearsals Nell gave us some wonderful advice: “When you turn on the radio,” she said, “you can hear – usually within a minute or two – whether you are listening to a radio play, or listening to a real person recounting their experience. I want the play to sound like the latter.” The last few weeks have found me turning the radio on and off, trying to understand the essence of what makes someone sound spontaneous, and how to bring my findings into the rehearsal process.

Verbatim theatre has become an incredibly successful theatrical medium during the last few years, from the political transcript work pioneered by the Tricycle theatre to the detailed, rigorous writing of Alecky Blythe, whose wonderful, compassionate London Road is currently selling out at the National. In one of Blythe’s earlier works, The Girlfriend Experience at the Royal Court, she explored verbatim by asking actors to listen to recordings of the material as they were performing, ensuring that every “um” and “ahh” was faithfully reproduced in front of the audience. There’s something compelling about working on material drawn from real-life characters – as a theatremaker you’re trying to get to the heart of why people make certain decisions and yet, of course, all of us are less than open. Everyone chooses what to reveal, and what not to; it’s in these ellipses that the true drama often lies.

But back to that moment of truth, when you turn on the radio. From a dramatic perspective, it’s down to technical realities. A “real” retelling will usually include more stumbles, more hesitations, maybe more pauses. Often, information will not be chronological; there will be sidetracks and diversions, inconsequential details and an avoidance of certain painful subjects. Not only is this sense of absolute reality tricky to write or notate, but the twists and turns often play unhelpfully against the narrative needed to ignite a conventional play.

A couple of years ago I heard, on Radio 4, a mother tell the story of her son who had died of malaria just after his gap year because he had given away his supply of pills to children whom he felt had a greater need. Her grief and fury at the situation boiled under her need to warn anyone who might be listening of the dangers of the disease, to try and prevent another mother going through her own experience. The interview was electrifying. Was this drama? It certainly had a beginning, middle and end, conjured up a vivid image of a place I’d never been and provoked a violent emotional reaction. Would an actor have been able to take the transcript of her interview and deliver it with the same passion? Perhaps yes. Would a writer be able to write it? Again, perhaps yes, but most likely they would edit it to something more coherent and direct – and lose something in the process.

Of course every play is dependent upon the quality of writing, directing and acting, and perhaps the mark of a good artistic team is their ability to capture that sense of spontaneity and freshness; and, for those on stage, the ability to recapture it night after night. Surely radio drama should be able to find that kind of freshness more easily – and yet, over the last month, I have been struck by how old-fashioned and flatly staged many of the plays we hear on the radio sound. Is it because the actors are reading from scripts? Is there too little time for character research? Or does it come down to the quality of writing or choice of script? Or maybe, now that I’ve become so attuned to the rhythms and cadences of real-life speech, the polished confidence of the imaginary feels somehow dissatisfying.

 

Therapeutic Theatre

February 24, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Relief Web International explores the value of socially active radio drama considering specifically Syrian refugees. Charlotte Eagar writes about an incredible program from The Trojan Woman Project called Queens of Syria:

Two Syrian women are arguing into a microphone. “I don’t want to see anyone,” Fatima shouts at Reem. “You invited him! You sort it out!” Beside them, Nancy, an elegant Scottish lady of a certain age, says quietly: “Very good! I think that’s it!”

The women grin with relief. Mohammed, the Syrian director, and Sean, the local producer from Aberdeen’s SHMU community radio, give the thumbs up.

This row, although not real, was inspired by real events. Fatima and Reem* are part of a group of Syrian refugees in Aberdeen who spent two weeks making a radio drama based on their lives.

In a local recording studio in a local community centre, the project comes to a climax. As the Syrians — men in black leather jackets, women in Hijabs and sparkly cardigans — mutter over their scripts, local Aberdeen girls in Fuchsia tights pick their way past to dancing class.

Welcome to Kaleidoscope, a therapeutic audio-drama and awareness project for Syrian refugees, part-funded by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and AMAL, and hosted by Aberdeen City Council. Kaleidoscope is just one of the therapy and advocacy projects run by the Trojan Women Project, a group that has, since 2013, been managing similar projects in Jordan and Europe.

Kaleidoscope began with an Arabic production of Euripides’ Trojan Women, with an all-female cast of Syrian refugees, through which the women reworked their stories of exile and loss into the text. That play toured the UK in 2016 with the Young Vic theatre company as ‘Queens of Syria.’

‘The World to Hear,’ a film about the ‘Queens of Syria’ tour – directed by Charlotte Ginsborg and Anatole Sloan – is being shown at the 2018 Glasgow Film Festival Friday.

Since 2013, the Trojan Women Project has run numerous projects, including the first Arabic adaption of the musical ‘Oliver!’ with a cast of Syrian refugee children. In 2014, they created a radio drama set in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp — based loosely on the long running BBC radio soap opera ‘the Archers’ — which was broadcast on BBC Arabic and BBC Radio 4.

“We want people in Britain to understand why we are here.”

Trojan Women is also currently running a music project, ‘If Music be the Food of Love,’ in Jordan with Syrian and local children, backed by the World Food Programme.

Kaleidoscope is the group’s on-going drama project, culminating in a series of radio pieces. It has run workshops in Glasgow and Heidelberg as well as Aberdeen. The Aberdeen episodes will be broadcast in Arabic, by SHMU, a local community radio station, as well as Arabic radio stations. After this, the refugees will work on the English language version of the scripts to record later this year. This will be broadcast on SHMU; BBC Radio Scotland is making a documentary about the project.

“It’s very important to have the script in English,” says Khaled, one of the eight refugee men in this stage of the project. “We want people in Britain to understand why we are here.” He and his brother fled to Lebanon from Homs after seeing their parents killed by a barrel bomb. They were resettled to the UK.

This part of the project started a year ago. Thirty Syrians and five Aberdonians came together in a Methodist Church to be taught how to write episodic radio drama. The initial workshops were led by Liz Rigbey, former editor of ‘the Archers.’ Mohammed Abou Laban and Liwaa Yazjii, an experienced Syrian husband and wife team, are part of the writing and directing team. Kaleidoscope plans similar workshops in Glasgow and then abroad.

The Syrians, all of whom had arrived in Scotland as part of the UK’s resettlement scheme, divided into four groups; three of men, one for the women, each under a writer-trainer. For three days, they shared their stories with the group, then improvised scripts from their experiences. Each group then acted out their stories for the class. The stories were about family members stuck in Syria; children trying to reunite with parents; the isolation of life in Scotland, solved by one group of young men buying bicycles; and refugees trying to send medicine to siblings with rare genetic medical conditions in Lebanon.

The project aims to help Syrians work their way through the trauma and isolation of exile, and spread understanding and awareness of the refugee crisis, through drama. Of 30 Syrians involved, 10 volunteered for a fortnight’s drama and recording workshop. Led by Mohammed, they created two, 20-minute pilot episodes, based on the strongest storylines.

Fatima’s story was a main plotline: she and her young husband tried to get his brother out of Syria. Just 18, the brother was to be drafted into the army, but could not legally be brought to the UK. They tried to raise funds to have the brother smuggled out, but he was killed before leaving. Fatima’s marriage collapsed under the strain. Her husband, grief-stricken, turned to drink but remains nearby. She was left alone in Aberdeen, with two small children. Fatima was then taken up by the single mums in her apartment block. “I don’t understand anything they say,” she says. “I keep finding I’ve agreed to things without meaning to — like going swimming!”

“Now we have a whole new family”

Read more in the article! Audio Drama changing lives!

Dystopian Dialogue

February 21, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Third Coast Review provides a fascinating article interviewing Jeffery Gardner from Our Fair City.

“Greetings, policies.”

If you know about the HartLife Insurance Company, the mole people revolution, or urban legends of ant-people, then chances are you’ve listened to Chicago’s ongoing podcast radio drama, Our Fair City. Now in its eighth season, Our Fair City is the continuing story of the put upon and desperate citizens or policies, living in a sprawling metropolis under the iron grip of HartLife. We had the opportunity to talk to Jeffrey Gardner, Executive Producer, Director, and Actor for HartLife NFP, the group responsible for the podcast. We spoke about Our Fair City’s longevity through eight seasons, what the cast and crew has learned in the radio drama business, and what they have planned with their next project, Unwell.

Gardner himself is no slouch when it comes to the theater arts, having stage credits in at the Sideshow Theatre, New Leaf Theatre, Eclipse Theatre, Steppenwolf Garage, Collaboraction, WildClaw Theatres Deathscribe Festival, and the Chicago Fringe Festival. 

Go to the article and read more of this great show!

Memorizing Lines

February 15, 2018 / / 0 Comments

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got trouble memorizing lines. Of course most actors in the Audio Drama world work in studio and this isn’t so much of a problem, however there may be value in memorizing some large text or being better prepared if you’re doing a live performance. Regardless, thanks to brother Jeffrey Billard, here’s some tips on how to beat the demon of getting those lines down from Backstage- 5 Major Obstacles to Memorizing Lines and 5 Practical Solutions.

Though there are a handful of legitimate obstacles to memorization, they’re easy enough to counter in pursuit of maximizing our memory’s efficiency and capacity.

Here are five of the major obstacles you might face when memorizing anything—whether it’s someone’s name or Shakespeare’s entire canon—along with practical and proven solutions.

1. Not paying attention. 
Without attention, memory is impossible. If you were looking over somebody’s shoulder at a TV screen as they introduced themselves at a networking event, you’d be unlikely to recall their name seconds later. Pay attention. If you read a script but cursorily glance at it instead of reading the actual words on the page, you will recall the script inaccurately, if at all.

Attention is the first essential step to memorization. Sometimes you’ll need to make a special effort to pay attention, but paying attention, in general, is a great start.

2. Having no actual technique.
Memory champions all admit they had poor or average memories before becoming the successes they are today, and that the ultimate boost came down to discovering mega-memory techniques that anyone can master given interest and time.

If you were to memorize the complete works of William Shakespeare for instance, you would do well to create a plan of attack, using either a “mind map” or a “memory palace” for his 37 plays and 154 sonnets, then choosing a place to start, without any time limit. Simply learn one per week and pick up the pace as you become more confident. Start on Shakespeare’s very first sonnet and chip away until you have three memorized, then five, then fifteen and so on.

READ: Learn Lines Like a Boss

3. Trying to do too much in one sitting.
Memorization is not a pie-eating contest. Cut it up, eat it in small pieces, chew well and take breaks to digest. With a little technique and extra time allocated in your day, you can increase your memory capabilities easily.

Already, your mind is probably doubting this is possible but consider that you already know the names of your parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, close friends and work colleagues—you’ve already proven it’s possible. This didn’t happen overnight, but gradually connections and associations were made until there was no other option than to remember them all.

4. Poor allocation or misallocation of time.
Fear of failing tends to force one’s attention to the easy parts because the reward is far greater when success is achieved. But this only further weakens the already-weak links in the chain. The solution is to spend much more time on the difficult parts since they’re the ones requiring more attention, but also get in early and nip potential problems in the bud.

JFK once said that “the time to fix the hole in your roof is when the sun is shining.” Work on your memory when you don’t need it so that when you do, it’s good to go.

5. Believing it’s impossible.
One may begin learning a new task with belief and still fail to become confident, but confidence rarely results without first being led by belief. The most pervasive mythspreventing you from even taking the first step to developing a brilliant memory is the belief that it won’t work. When you meet someone new at a networking event and say, “I’m sorry, I’m terrible with names,” don’t be surprised when you don’t recall their name the next day.

Instead of telling yourself you probably won’t remember something, start by saying you might. Though it’s no guarantee of success, it’s a great deal more likely that you’ll remember that person’s name, that friend’s birthday or the opening line of Shakespeare’s first sonnet the next day than if you told yourself you wouldn’t.

Paul Barry is an L.A.-based Australian acting teacher, author of “Choices,” and a Backstage Expert. Barry runs regular on-camera classes in Los Angeles and online around the world. For more information, check out Barry’s full bio!

Back to the Past

February 8, 2018 / / 0 Comments

With thanks to Theresa Martin who discovered this old gem while researching. Time to reminisce. Twelve years ago, I released my first book of scripts The Shadowlands. Here’s the article from Muskoka Region News:

Former Parry Sound High School teacher Jack Ward recently released this book of plays written for radio.

HALIFAX – Jack Ward loves radio drama. A previous teacher of English, drama and computers at Parry Sound High School, he’s been writing his story ideas. Although he now lives in Nova Scotia, Parry Sound continues to be a source for his inspiration. “It’s the people and the bay,” said Mr. Ward. “This dichotomy of living in a small community that is filled in the summer with big city folks. Parry Sound is the kind of place you would want to raise your kids, as seen by so many of my old students who still speak fondly of growing up there.” Mr. Ward teaches occasionally and has been working as his own consultant for computer software. While in school he headed the computer club, guitar group, and helped out with drama and the student newspapers. Now add author and playwright to his credentials. Shadowlands Theatre was a concept Mr. Ward came up with while finishing his English degree and attending Guelph University. He was hosting different literary radio shows for the campus radio station, and knew that a “twilight zone” like radio series would be a lot of fun. “After all, radio is the ultimate medium for story telling,” he said. “It requires no sets, no makeup, and much more imagination than television or movies. And with people constantly on the go, books on tape are at a premium for commuters and those who love to listen to drama.” Ten years later, and the dream has taken flight. With his friend Andrew Dorfman, Mr. Ward has gathered dozens of interested actors together and written an impressive series. More than 26 radio plays, all approximately 45 minutes long and all varying in subject matter from comedy, mystery, horror, suspense, fantasy, and science fiction. Collectively called The Shadowlands, Mr. Ward delves into moral questions and political quandaries of the day. His two-part episode Great Day for a War, explores a fictional event in a global news broadcast when the United States declares war on an African nation, because of recent terrorist attacks. Sound familiar? He has more mini-series in his toolbox. From a hard-boiled detective by the name of Phillip Graves in his four-part Graves Shift series or a hilarious parody of Buck Rogers with Biff Straker and the Spaceways! Mr. Ward is looking to catch both young and old audiences alike. Already his talent has caught the eyes of the publishing world. His book, Shadowlands Theatre: The Deadly Sins Scripts has been released by Crystal Dreams publishing in the U.S., and he recently released his first radio play, in the classic thriller style called Right Number, Wrong Party over CKDU-97.5-FM in Halifax. More information about Mr. Ward, his book and compact disc recordings of his plays can be found on his website: www.shadowlandstheatre.com. (now of course www.sonicsociety.org or www.evicuna.com– J.W.)

Wolvie Goes Audio!

February 6, 2018 / / 0 Comments

You know it had to happen! The Nerdist presents the latest in an audio drama adventure series with Wolverine.

Marvel and Stitcher announced in late 2017 that they’d teamed up for a new audio drama podcast, Marvel’s first scripted podcast endeavor, featuring Wolverine. Ahead of March’s debut episode of Wolverine: The Long Night, Marvel has released the first audio trailer for the ten-episode series, which finds Wolverine far removed from the world of the X-Men. The Hobbit star Richard Armitage is providing Wolverine’s voice for this story, and the trailer indicates that even Logan isn’t sure about what kind of man he really is.

Wolverine/Logan will be the star of his own story, but he will also share the spotlight with FBI agents Sally Pierce and Tad Marshall. The Long Night is set in Burns, Alaska, where a savage serial killer has left of a trail of terror in their wake. An amnesiac Logan is the town’s prime suspect, and the trailer indicates that his claws and his kinship with wolves have created a local mythology about his powers. Pierce and Marshall lead the hunt for Logan, but they may find that they have common ground with him when the town’s dark secrets come to the surface.

Green Arrow writer Ben Percy scripted Wolverine: The Long Night for director Brendan Baker. In addition to Armitage, the cast is headlined by Celia Keenan-Bolger as Agent Pierce and Ato Essandoh as Agent Marshall, with Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Scott Adsit, Bob Balaban, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and more in supporting roles.

Wolverine: The Long Night will premiere on Stitcher Premium on March 12 before getting a wider release on all podcast platforms this fall.

Jim French Passed Away

December 21, 2017 / / 0 Comments

From Sibby Wieland and World Audio Drama Day:

We are sorry to announce the death of Jim French, of Jim French Productions, yesterday, December 20th, 2017 at the age of 89. French was a legend in the Puget Sound region, working as a disk jockey and producer, but he was best known worldwide for keeping the flame of radio drama alive on American network radio through the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, continuing well into the podcast age. At its height Jim French Productions were syndicated on hundreds of stations, including “Harry Nile” and “Imagination Theatre” and were also available as audio cassettes, CDs, and most recently as podcasts. He was known for his kindness and generosity, and he treated writers, producers, crew and actors well. JFP even let next generation streaming stations – Sound Stages Radio and others – to distribute his shows. He was also a guest with REPS (Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound). Thank you for everything, Jim.

Our deepest regrets and best wishes to the friends and family of this innovator of modern audio theatre. Farewell Jim.

 

Forbes Finds ADPP!

November 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

In a recent article by Sarah Rhea Werner Forbes had a great article on 7 Podcast Communities to Join. One of the communities (the bonus eight) was the awesome Audio Drama Production Podcast community. Congratulations, Sarah Golding and the Lads from Scotland! From the article:

I didn’t initially include the Audio Drama Production Facebook group because I wasn’t initially an audio drama creator. But as I fumbled and flailed my way through creating my very first audio drama, Girl In Space, the information I gleaned and the people I met within this group became invaluable. So if you’re interested in fictional podcasts (which are exploding, by the way), join this group and be amazed.

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