(Ebook) Writing Audio Drama 1st Edition by Tim Crook ISBN 9780415570770 0415570778

1 Radio Drama Is Born and Is in Its Cradle

The Medium of Almost Unlimited Possibilities

The Problem with Stereotypes

Audio Drama Is Spoken Word – for the Ear and Not the Eye

David Pownall – ‘Sound Theatre Is a Performance Art of Special Purity’

Shakespeare as Radio Drama

David Pownall’s Laser Test – An Epiphanous Use of the Microphone

BBC Advice and Guidance: Past and Present

Special Characteristics and Early ‘Secrets of the Radio Drama’: Reith and Shaw

Seeing with the Mind’s Eye, Studio Production, Perceptions of the Future, Art and Excelsior: Archer, Drinkwater, Jeffrey, Smythe, and Thorndike

Companion Website Resources

2 The Psychology of Writing and Listening

Darkness Epiphany Plays of 1923 and 1924

The Not So ‘Comedy’ of Danger

The Dweller in the Darkness

Companion Website Resources

3 Instrumental Utilitarianism in Radio Playwriting: The Evolving Thoughts of Val Gielgud

The Wireless Play – I. For the Aspiring Dramatist

Val Gielgud. The Wireless Play – II. Choice of Subject

The Wireless Play – III. Length and Method

The Wireless Play – IV. ‘How Many Studios?’

The Wireless Play – V. People of the Play

The Wireless Play – VI. A Practical Example

Concluding Thoughts for the Writer on the Medium with ‘Unlimited Possibilities’

Companion Website Resources

4 Achieving the Long Form Audio Drama

Audio Drama’s Key Elements

Analysing the BBC’s Life Lines Using Gordon Lea’s 1926 Template Radio Drama and How to Write it – ‘The World in a Buttercup and Jewels Against a Background of Black Velvet?’

Reginald Berkeley’s Bridging Achievements in Dramatising Consciousness with Modernist Technique

L du Garde Peach – The Mary Celeste: A Mystery of the Sea – Long Form Radio/Audio Drama

Tyrone Guthrie – Rhythm and Long Form

Companion Website Resources

5 Beginning the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices

Who? What? Where? When? Why, and How?

Vissi d’arte by Paul Sirett. IRDP for LBC 1990. English Version Compared with the NRK Norwegian Version

Cigarettes and Chocolate by Anthony Minghella. BBC 1988

Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher. CBS 1943.

The War of the Worlds by Howard Koch for Mercury Theatre on the Air CBS 1938

Richard Durham’s Origination of Characterisation in Radio Play Openings

Opening the Long Form – Caryl Phillips The Wasted Years (1984) and Nigel D. Moffatt’s Lifetime

Verse Plays by Norman Corwin and Benjamin Zephaniah – Some Model Beginnings

Conclusions

Companion Website Resources

6 Characterising the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices

Characters Unique to the Audio Drama Medium

Creating the Character and Effective Use of Characterisation

Conclusions

Characterisation in Morton Wishengrad’s The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto (1943)

Companion Website Resources

7 Dialogue and the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices

Writing Dialogue – Key Principles

Companion Website Resources

8 Sustaining the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices

Ironic Transposition of Character in Audio Drama Play Development

Ironic Transposition – from Conrad to Bleasdale

Dramatic Ironic Transposition Through Interiority

Ironic Transposition Through Tagged Words, Phrases and Sounds Between Scenes

Companion Website Resources

9 Plotting the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices

The Mechanics

Audio Drama Plot Peculiarities

Analysing Plot Structure in The Wasted Years (1984) by Caryl Phillips

Checklists for the Audio Drama Writer

Companion Website Resources

10 Ending the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices

Complicating and Enhancing Conflict Struggles

Locations of Ironic Effect

Audio and Radio Dramatic Endings

The Haunting Ends of Lucille Fletcher’s The Hitch Hiker and Sorry, Wrong Number

The Filmic Sophistication of the Ending of Caryl Phillips’ First Radio Play The Wasted Years

Endings in Richard Durham’s Destination Freedom Plays

Trust in the Listener’s Imagination. Bertolt Brecht’s The Trial of Lucullus

Conclusions

Companion Website Resources

11 Film, Internet, and Stage Dimensions to Sound Storytelling: Techniques and Devices

Cross-Media Projects

Dad’s Army Ten Seconds from Now

Sorry, Wrong Number – Radio, Film, Radio

Citizen Kane – Radio Play on the Screen?

Radio and Film – Oluwale by Jeremy Sandford

Companion Website Resources

Bibliography

Books and Journals

Academic Theses

Giles Cooper Award winners

Newspaper, Magazine and Online Articles

Radio and Audio Programmes referenced in the text

Archives

Films and Television Drama referenced in the text

Internet Sites and recommended radio and online listening

Paul Ashton’s Perfect 10. Blog at BBC Writers Room

Script Room latest: radio drama

John Yorke’s 10 Questions

Writing Radio Drama

Monday–Friday 10:45–11am Radio 4 (repeated at 19.45 weekdays)

Monday–Friday 2:15–3.00pm Radio 4

Saturday 2:30–3:30pm Radio 4

Sunday (time varies) Radio 3

Life Lines Podcast

BBC Radio Four Extra Podcasts and Podcast Radio Hour

Script Library – Radio Drama

Making Radio Drama – the bad news and the good news

Writing for Radio – Find Your ‘Itch’

The Writer's Prize commission: Bang Up

Creating Home Front – Radio 4’s epic new First World War drama

Red Velvet – Rediscovering Ira Aldridge

Writing The Archers: From idea to airwaves

Five things I know about writing The Archers

Gordon House talking about key things when writing radio plays. 1 Nov 1996

Ten tips for writing a radio play. 2020 BBC World Service International Radio Playwriting Competition

Companion website pages

Additions and updates for individual chapters.

Special subject pages

Index