Radio plays...interested?
Fri, 22 Mar 2002, 01:15 pmMichelle5 posts in thread
Radio plays...interested?
Fri, 22 Mar 2002, 01:15 pmRadio plays were a specialty of their own and incredibly popular until tv came along. Alas, they were gone before I came along, but I did get to hear one, about 15 years ago and have been fascinated with this form of acting ever since.
I would really like to hear from other people who have an interest, love of or even experience in doing plays specifically for radio. It is a unique form of acting all its own. Would be interested to hear particularly from people in Melbourne, but anywhere else is great too.
Michelle
I would really like to hear from other people who have an interest, love of or even experience in doing plays specifically for radio. It is a unique form of acting all its own. Would be interested to hear particularly from people in Melbourne, but anywhere else is great too.
Michelle
RE: Radio plays...interested?
Sun, 24 Mar 2002, 10:02 pm Your right Michelle, radio plays can be a lot of fun. I was involved with radio plays for a number of years in Sydney. Our group known as the Radio Players , operated from a community radio station based in Sydneys Northern Beaches.
The main source of our plays was from local playwrights. The reason reason for this was ,that it overcame the problem of copyrights. It goes without saying, that this also helps local writers, who benefit by having their works go to air . We had a regular group of writers who managed to supply the Players with a very high standard of plays.
The plays varied in duration, from 10 minutes up to about 30 minutes. From time to time a series was performed. A series could go over 4 or 5 weeks.
When a play was presented to the Players, it was read by the group, sitting around a table. All sharing the same script, looking over shoulders, quick passing across the table etc. Awkward for sure, but all part of the fun. From the reading the play was cast, and the play would be read through again, once or twice, in order for the actors to get a feel for the script.
The actual play would be put on tape, and never went live to air, like when working on the stage mistakes can be made ,and are made. But unlike a live performance, when we made a mistake the recorder would be stopped ,and we would simply do the lines again.
Plays were done on a regular basis with the group, meeting once a week. A play could take anything from a week to several weeks to " go to air ". Sounds where possible, were done during the reading, eg. door closing, phone ringing etc. Other more complicated sounds, including music was done later.
There, are several people in Perth who are currently working on getting a group together to produce radio plays. We will be starting with The Importance of Being Ernest. The plays like Sydney will be broacast from a community radio station.
Think of the advantages of radio plays. No more lines to learn, if you make a mistake we simply wipe and record again. And then theres the big one, provided your voice does not "rattle" you can still play the part of a young lover, even though your 90. And last but not least if you fancy yourself as a writer, heres your big chance
The main source of our plays was from local playwrights. The reason reason for this was ,that it overcame the problem of copyrights. It goes without saying, that this also helps local writers, who benefit by having their works go to air . We had a regular group of writers who managed to supply the Players with a very high standard of plays.
The plays varied in duration, from 10 minutes up to about 30 minutes. From time to time a series was performed. A series could go over 4 or 5 weeks.
When a play was presented to the Players, it was read by the group, sitting around a table. All sharing the same script, looking over shoulders, quick passing across the table etc. Awkward for sure, but all part of the fun. From the reading the play was cast, and the play would be read through again, once or twice, in order for the actors to get a feel for the script.
The actual play would be put on tape, and never went live to air, like when working on the stage mistakes can be made ,and are made. But unlike a live performance, when we made a mistake the recorder would be stopped ,and we would simply do the lines again.
Plays were done on a regular basis with the group, meeting once a week. A play could take anything from a week to several weeks to " go to air ". Sounds where possible, were done during the reading, eg. door closing, phone ringing etc. Other more complicated sounds, including music was done later.
There, are several people in Perth who are currently working on getting a group together to produce radio plays. We will be starting with The Importance of Being Ernest. The plays like Sydney will be broacast from a community radio station.
Think of the advantages of radio plays. No more lines to learn, if you make a mistake we simply wipe and record again. And then theres the big one, provided your voice does not "rattle" you can still play the part of a young lover, even though your 90. And last but not least if you fancy yourself as a writer, heres your big chance