RADIO PLAY DIRECTING: CHALLENGES OF THE BLINDMAN'S THEATRE THE PROS AND CONS: An Introduction

RADIO PLAY DIRECTING: CHALLENGES OF THE BLINDMAN'S THEATRE

BY

AUSTINE LORDLAZDEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND MEDIA STUDIES

UNIVESITY OF CALABAR

ABSTRACT

Radio play also known as Audio play, audio drama, audio theatre,

and radio Drama is an enacted dramatic piece(s) with the use of

voice and sound effects as medium of delivery and communication to

be broadcast on radio or captured in any media storage device.

overtime, the radio has provided for the entertainment, information

and education needs of a mass audience, penetrating boundaries and

reaching locals as a result of the medium's characteristics of

accessibility and affordability. Unlike the stage, TV and Film, a

radio drama lacks visuals. This is a major disadvantage of the

medium. Thus directing a play for the blind man's theatre (Radio)

poses a great challenge to the director who is charged with the

responsibility of making-up for the lacking visuals by using only a

production element - (sound) to create believable mental picture to

arrive at full "Radio-theatre experience". This paper therefore attempts

to x-ray challenges of directing a play for the Blind-man's

theatre. The summation is that when a radio play director is vested

with the required knowledge, understands the medium, acquires

technical know-how and keeps the elements of a radio play at his

finger tips, he is bound for success.

KEY WORDS: Radio play, directing, sound, sound effects

THE PROS AND CONS: An Introduction

Directing is a creative and interpretative art

that calls for versatility, imagination, ingenuity

and technical know-how. A director is an artist who

unifies the bits of a production into a single

aesthetic whole with the aim of satisfying the

entertainment, education and informational needs of a

given audience through the messages communicated via

the Actors on either the Stage, Radio, TV or Film. A

Theatre, Radio, TV or Film director conducts,

coordinates, supervises and manages the making of an

artistic production, guiding the cast and crew to

achieve a vision.

Supporting the attainment of vision, Robert

Wills defines the Art of play directing as the

process of transforming personal vision into public

performance (3). The transformation of personal

vision (script or director’s idea) into public

performance could be deduced to be through the stage,

Radio, TV or film medium.

Directing for these media is a herculean task

that demands first the understanding of each medium.

Thus a Director who wishes to direct for these media

should be schooled in the areas he or she wishes to

delve into. It is recommended that such acquaints

himself with the pros and cons of the medium – Stage,

Radio, TV or Film.

The Radio is a blind man’s theatre. It is deemed

so because of its single medium appeal. It is blind

in the sense that, with closed or blind eyes and open

and listening ears one is entertained, informed and

educated. No message is lost as long as the listening

ear is attentive, hears and decodes. The radio unlike

other media is restricted to the ears. It is purely

auditory. This characteristic therefore makes

directing a play for the Blind’ mans Theatre most

challenging. While the stage TV and Film media posses

visual enablement which aid effective realization of

intent through, colour, visible costume, light, make-

up, props, scenic units, amongst others, The radio is

restricted to dialogue and sound effects.

A radio play director is therefore charged with

the responsibility of delivering a full audio-theatre

experience to the audience ensuring adequate

communication and creating visuals through sound so

as to make up the deficiencies of the radio. It is on

the above premise that this paper is borne to x-ray

challenges of directing a play for the Blind man’s

theatre.

RADIO PLAY – The Emergence

The Roman playwright Seneca has been claimed as

a forerunner of radio Drama because his play were

performed by readers as sound plays, not by actors as

stage plays; but in this respect Seneca had no

significant successors until 20th century technology

made possible the wide spread dissemination of sound

play (Martin Briham 896).

Another source records that Radio Drama, traces

its roots back to the 1880s in 1881 French engineer

Clement Ader had filed a patent for improvements of

Telephone Equipment in Theatre – (Theatrophone)

English-Language radio drama seems to have started in

the United States. A rural line on Education, a brief

sketch specifically written for radio, aired on

Piltburgh’s KDKA in 1921. News paper accounts of the

era report on a number of other drama experiments by

America’s commercial radio stations. KYW broadcast a

season of complete Opras from Chicago starting in

November 1921. In February 1922, entire Broadway

Musical comedies with the originals aired from WJZ’s

Newark Studios. Actors Grace George and Herbert Hayes

performed an entire play from a San Francis co

station in the summer of 1922.

An important turning point in Radio drama came

when Schenectady, New York’s WGY, after a successful

tryout.

On August 3rd, 1922, began weekly broadcast of

full length stage plays in September 1922, using

music, sound effects and a regular troupe of Actors,

the WGY players. Aware of this series, the director

of Cincinnati WLW began regularly broadcasting one-

act (as well as excerpts from longer works) in

November. The success of these projects led to

imitators at other stations by the spring of 1923,

original dramatic pieces written specially for radio

were airing on station in Cincinnati (when love

wakens by WLW’s Fred Smith) Philadelphia (the secrete

wave by Clyde A. Criswell) and Los Ageles (At home

over KHJ) that same year, WLW (in May) and WGY (in

September) sponsored scripting contests, inviting

listeners to create original plays to be performed by

those stations’ dramatic troupes.

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-Drama.

THE RADIO AND RADIO PLAY: Nature And Medium

The Radio is a wireless medium of transmission

and communication to a mass audience. It is one of

the most effective medium of mass communication ever

invented. According to Joe King, Radio is clearly one

of the most popular medium in the sense that it

reaches more people quicker, more often through the

strength of constancy and of running critique of the

medium. (1)

The Radio is accessible in both rural and urban

communities. There is hardly any home without a

radio. Technological developments have added

sophistication of the mobile characteristic of the

medium by making the radio more handy and assessable.

Thus the radio can even be seen in digital pen, flash

drives, MP3, Ipad, Cellular phones, amongst other

digital drives. A mass audience could be reached at

the same time irrespective of the location.

The radio caters for the entertainment,

information, education needs of both the reach and

the poor with myriad of designed programmes ranging

from News, Documentaries, talk-shows, requests,

sports, religious, comedy, people and business, drama

amongst others. Each of these programs has different

approach, technique and design in production. Amongst

them, Radio drama is one with enormous task on the

part of the director.

Radio play also referred to as Radio drama, audio

play, audio drama and some times radio theatre is an

enacted dramatic piece(s) with the use of voice and

sound effects as medium of delivery and communication

to be broadcast on radio or captured in any media

storage device.

An online article extends this thought:

It is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance broadcast

on radio or published on audio medium such as tape or

C.D. With no visual component, radio drama depends on

dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener

imagine the characters and story.

(www.wikipedia .org/wiki/Radio drama)

Tim Crook in his book Radio Drama: Theory and

Practice, Corroborates the auditory characteristic of

the radio drama thus:

“It is auditory in the physical dimension

but equally powerful as a visual force in

the physical dimension”. (87)

Through the sound (dialogue and effects) the

listener of the radio is able to create mental

picture of what he hears. He transforms the sound

into visuals for better understanding. This

transformation is only possible if the director

injects enough sound aesthetic which could aid the

listener to absorb what he hears and make sense from

imaginary visuals.

RADIO PLAY DIRECTING: procedure and challenges

Radio play like a stage play, TV drama/novella ,

and films begins with first an idea. This idea is THE

SCRIPT which brings the director and other production

units to work. A script is a written document of

drama with created dialogue, actions and characters

who execute them. Microsoft Encarta dictionary gives

a deeper insight of a script as:

“The printed version of a stage play,

Movie screenplay, or radio or television

broadcast including the words to be spoken

and often also technical directions”. (2008

version)

The script is the brain-child of a playwright

which is later left in the hands of a director to

give life and meaning. Be it for the Radio, Tv, Film

or Stage, the Director commences his creative process

first, by embarking on a thorough analysis of the

script. This determines his understanding of the

script and the success of such procedure is

inevitable as he is face with the challenge of

conveying meaning to the audience through a single

production element “sound”. Thus a radio play

director begins his art by analysis in order to

understanding hidden meanings and imageries imbedded

in the script. Effiong Johnson elaborates on

understanding the script.

…understanding is a directors coming to

terms with both the direct and implied,

textual and sub-textual, denotative and

connotative meanings of the script.

Understanding includes philosophy or

ideology, religion or belief(s) movement and

the genre of the script (1)

When the radio play director acquaints himself with

the world of the play by being familiar with the

covert and overt meanings of the script's

composition, he proceed to the next stage –

Audition and Casting: The audition process is where

the director scouts through, examining the different

“talents” (Actors) available with personalities

traits which could fit into the created characters on

the script. Unlike the stage, Tv and Film, the

audition for radio actors takes a different dimension

since it is purely audio. The director auditions for

voice Actors – those Talents whose voices could

possibly pass for the role. The director at this

stage needs to be tactful and careful in other not to

select and cast Actors whose voices are similar. If

this factor is not well checked during casting, the

director may run into the problem of having voices

that are same and it becomes difficult to different

between the two characters when they speak.

Once the casting is completed, THE REHEARSAL

process sets in. The Rehearsal is the preparatory

stage of the production where the director takes the

Actors through the demands of the script. The

Director “Blocks” them for the radio recording. Actor

Acquaint themselves with the world and lives of the

script and gets ready for recording. The blocking on

radio play differs from the blocking in other media.

In radio the actors are meant to understand off mic

(s) and on mic(s); proximities (which in the TV and

film signifies) close up, medium, long etc.

Rehearsing for the radio play could take minimal

number of days than in other media. This is so

because, actors may be allowed to go recording with

their script. Nancy Prince and Jeanie Jackson write

on the duration of rehearsal:

“How much rehearsal time needed will depend

on the abilities of the actors the length of

the play, and the difficulty of the play”.

(177)

Immediately after this stage comes the TECHNICAL

PHASE where a Mock recording could be done to

ascertain possibilities and deficiencies. Characters

are thought by the director how to flip the script

without making muffling noise with it, positions and

distances, kill of dead air, how to flow without

making a mistake obvious amongst others.

RECORDING PROPER:

Recording a radio play is like the performance

proper for the stage and principal photography for

TV and film. Recording here is the act of making a

permanent or retrievable copy of sounds. In this case

the sound and dialogue of the Actors. Here, what was

rehearsed is brought to the studio. A radio play

director should be cautious and sensitive to

environment. He must know what to record in the

studio and outside the studio. He needs to have

variety in ambience sound. Exterior scene would give

better fill and ambience effect true to nature if

recorded outside. For example, in the recording of

the radio drama serial “Linda’s joint for Wildlife

conservations society, the director Liwhu Betiang and

other crew decided to map out scenes that have

interior ambience like Town council, Palace, and

exterior - Forest and an open joint. The different

scenes were recorded as the environment demanded,

thus different locations, which would give fill of a

drinking joint, market and forest were taken to such

places.

In recording the director sits with the sound

engineer with a head plug or he hears the out put

from the feedback speaker if they are in the studio.

An assistant director stands closer to the Actors to

ensure Actors maintain adequate (proximity) closeness

and distances from the microphone. He ensures that

the actors are on cue on time. The assistant director

takes instruction from the director on “takes and

repeat takes”. A sequence call of scenes and episode

must be made to differentiate scenes and also aid

post production. while recording the director and

assistant director ensures that sound effects that

could be achieved during recording is adequately

included. E.g if actors are suppose to drink, clink

glasses, eat, muffle pares count money, break

glasses, such effects which could easily be realized

must be included in other not to run into

difficulties of planting already made south effect

with many sound totally alien and may not be in

harmony with actors actions and lines.

THE POST PRODUCTION is the final phase before

broadcast. Here the bits and pieces of the recorded

drama are put together through a process called

editing. Bad takes, noise, unnecessary and unwanted

bits are removed, sound effects and music which may

help the plot is added. Post production is not for

the Editor alone. The director must ensure his

presence to know what to pick and what to drop.

After a first cut of the drama, a preview copy is

presented to the director to hear and spot errors for

correction. When this is done, the Radio play is

ready for broadcast.

RADIO PLAY: The Elements And The Director

In radio play directing, a director has salient

elements of the medium to consider. The management of

these elements will either make or mar the entire

radio play production. This elements include;

Narration, music, dialogue and sound effect. These

elements are arrived at as a result of the medium’s

lack of visuals. Thus the director must be able to

make-up the lacking visuals with the outlined

elements above.

Narration: Through narration, an sight is given about

the radio drama. Also, narration is the only way the

Casts and crew could be acknowledged and credited for

roles and functions like opening credit and end

credit. A radio play director must consider this for

success.

A post on slideshare.net on radio drama refers

to the shadow (A radio drama) which ran from 1937 to

1954 as one of the early radio plays that employed

narration to lay down the ground for the show.

Slideshare.net/mobile/mrs-bauerart/history-of-radio-dramas

Dialogue: Often referred to as language or diction,

is the only medium characters use to communicate. Its

function in radio drama cannot be over emphasized as

it is pivotal to the success of the production.

Through the dialogue or language characters give

information, reveal characters, expose theme of the

play, establish level of reality, tempo and rhythm of

the play. The director should know that it is through

this that the characters can be identified. Thus to

establish characters, there name must be mentioned in

the dialogue, repeatedly for clearer mental picture

of who is speaking and is been spoken to.

Music

Music is another element of Radio Drama that the

director needs to consider. Its role is pivotal as it

helps create mood, furthers the plot. Music gives

insight to the theme of the play. The radio drama

director must as a matter of fact have good ears for

music, know genres of music and kinds that could best

be injected into the play at any given time. The

music injected should help in actualizing the

aesthetic of the radio play. The music should be able

to deepen the play and aid the listener to understand

and appreciate the play.

Through music, transitions are made to establish

the beginning and end of a scene it also enable

mental visualization of the play and scenes.

SOUND EFFECTS

Often noted as (SFX) they are effects (natural

or created) to depict environment of the play. Sound

effects like music also deeps the understanding and

appreciation of the radio play. They may come in the

forms of clinking glass, vehicle sound, raving

engine, dogs barking, cricket sounds, cockcrow, foot

steps, door slams, bell amongst others.

All the effects generated enhance the realistic mood

of the radio drama. Therefore a director should

develop mastery of these elements to successfully

deliver a radio play.

ENSURING DELIVERY: A Conclusion

Directing a play for the blind mans theatre is an

endeavor that posses a great challenge for the

director. This challenge could be summarized as

ensuring delivery. The director of a radio play must

master the medium and understand that he only can use

sound and sound alone to create pictures which the

audience must understand and read without stress or

strains. The director must therefore equip himself

with the elements of the medium avoid use of product

brand names (Eva water, Maltina, Star), fowl

languages and direct names of public figures. This is

to avoid for the former, extra charges for

advertising brand names, and the later, safety and

securities reasons.

Thus when a radio play director is equipped with

the above knowledge and technical know-how, he would

arrive at a radio play worthy of broadcast and

ensuring an audio-theatre experience.

WORK CITED

Johnson, Effiong (2003): Visions Towards a Mission: The Art ofInterpretative directing. Lagos, Concepts publicationlimited.

Johnson, Effiong (2013): Script Understanding Analysis andInterpretation for performance. Cape Coast, Universityof Cape Coast Press.

King Joe (1995): A producer’s Guide to Radio, TV and Filmproduction techniques. Calabar Juh crow pub Ltd.

Prince Nancy and Jackson Jeane (1997): Exploring theatre;(mimmeapolrs 1st Paul, New York, Los Angeles, SamFrancisco) West publishing company.

Wills, Robert (1976): The Director in a changing Theatre.California: Mayfield publishing company.

Slideshare.net/mobile/mrs-bauerart/history-of-radio-dramas

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-Drama.