the Audio Drama Foundation
From a post on Modern Soundling:
The World Service Archive Project, released in beta testing recently, is an earth shattering occurrence. It really is huge. We're close to a tipping point for radio drama. But something is missing. A foundation.
As a professional writer who lives in a world of nonprofit foundations and arts organizations (I work for the largest arts organization in non-metropolitan New York), I've had the chance to observe them in action.
They raise money. They work to boost, enrich and preserve whatever their speciality is. They spread the message. They champion. They protect.
Radio drama has no such institution. It may be the only major artistic medium that doesn't have an incorporated cheerleader. And think of the medium's l…
Titus Groan and Gormenghast, BBC 1984
From a post on Soundling Modern Soundling
Part Two of my series discussing radio adaptations of Mervyn Peake.
Part One Can be found here.
This was a more difficult task than I had anticipated. I found that, in trying to juggle in my mind the multiple audio adaptations and the original source material, it was nearly impossible to clearly refer to the language and keep it in mind without a text in front of me. Something about the very medium makes that a challenge, particularly when discussing works of such length. I took as many notes as I could throughout the listening.
The two plays (Titus Groan and Gormenghast) form the 1984 BBC adaptation of Mervyn Peake's novels. But only the first two. Rock star Sting was a big fan of the novels, and as …
Adapting the Gormenghast Trilogy - ABC Radio, 1983
From a post on Modern Soundling:
Gormenghast is a good candidate for audio adaptation. It has been adapted three times – first by the ABC in 1983, and then twice by the BBC. There was also a four-hour TV version in 2000.
I chose this series because I wanted to examine a narrative that exists in multiple mediums. That's the best way to analyze adaptation techniques. An especially good candidate would be the Sherlock Holmes stories, which have undergone countless adaptations over the years, in every medium possible. But though I do love Holmes (especially the BBC radio series with Clive Merrison), the Peake material is a bit richer.
The ABC radio version of the Gormenghast Trilogy was adapted by Michael le Moignan and Larry Lucas, with producti…
Afternoon Play or Afternoon Drama?
From a post on Modern Soundling
The BBC recently changed the names of their radio drama time slots. Instead of Afternoon Play, the name will be Afternoon Drama, and so on. They have replaced “play” with “drama” across the board.
This presents a conundrum at theAudio Drama Wiki. Early on, we decided that every parcel of drama would be referred to as a “play,” in the same way that an album and a song are both considered “music” - we needed a name to cover all of these similar things. For an encyclopedia, this is particularly necessary. Half the battle is classification. In the way information is organized lies the philosophy and intention behind the effort.
The theatrical origins of radio drama bequeath to us the terminology of the theatre. I d…
The BBC Audio Drama Awards Party
From a post on Modern Soundling:
I'm a bit disappointed that the BBC didn't broadcast the first annual BBC Audio Drama Awards. Not that the ceremony would have been terribly exciting on its own, but a bunch of nerds who belong to a subculture can have a party about anything. And make it work. I once had a party to fix the busted backlight of my laptop, in the dark days before I switched to Mac. On New Years Eve, my friends and I threw a cider tasting party and evaluated 19 ciders from all over the world (including three of my own) and evaluated them on the 100-point wine scale. It's an excellent way not only to transmit enthusiasm about a subject to others, but also to build long-term emotional connections to things (like cider and radio dr…