Module Directory

Audio drama means any kind of drama created for a listener, rather than a spectator. This module will explore how playwrights, actors and technicians make audio drama  - examining the medium from its origins in early radio drama to new possibilities offered by the digital age. We will explore everything from radio plays broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, to headphone theatre to podcast platforms. We will listen to a wide range of audio drama and discuss the possibilities that it offers - from the artistic to the practical.

Students will be introduced to the basics of writing audio drama and short stories. Topics will include how the dramatist creates location, characterization, atmosphere and special effects, dialogue and plotting purely through sound. We will cover how to format an audio script, and we will conduct some sessions in the recording studio, working with microphones and learning how actors and technicians bring a script fully to life.

Our practical exploration of recording techniques will include how to act for a microphone; basic editing skills; and different recording methods such as binaural recording using the binaural 'head' microphone (a technique used in radio but also used by theatre-makers such as Punchdrunk and Complicite when making headphone theatre.)

Much of what we discuss will focus on techniques of writing drama that can be applied to other media such as theatre, television or film. However, throughout the module we will be thinking about the particular possibilities and the constraints of audio: how does the listener know where they are? How many characters can we have in one scene without confusing the audience? How do sound effects work and when should the writer organise and select them?

We will also explore the possibilities offered by what Angela Carter calls 'The Amazing Picture Palace': the freedom to travel to exotic or impossible locations; the opportunities for the poetic or interior; the creation of intimacy. We will look at key figures in the history of radio drama who have expanded its potential, from Dylan Thomas to Samuel Beckett to Angela Carter and contemporary writers , whilst also looking closely at the state of audio drama and story-telling today - thinking about opportunities for new writers and looking at the practicalities of how to explain and pitch ideas. Teaching is by weekly sessions that will involve listening to and reading radio plays, tutor talks, discussion, individual writing exercises and group work.

The aims of this module are:

• To provide students with an understanding of the wide range of artistic and practical possibilities that audio drama offers.


• To develop students' skills as writers in creating location, characterization, dialogue and plotting when writing audio drama.


• To introduce and develop practical and technical skills in the making of audio drama in studio including performing using a microphone, acting, using specialist recording techniques such as binaural sound; basic software and editing skills.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Have developed a critical understanding of the key works and figures in audio drama who have expanded its potential.


2. Have investigated and critically evaluated the state of audio drama today, including its opportunities for new writers.


3. Have gained an understanding of the practicalities of how to explain and pitch ideas.


4. Have developed their skills in writing and making audio drama as dramatists, actors and technicians.

Resources:

Our main resource will be listening to drama broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and 3. BBC Sounds has radio drama which you can listen to normally for 30 days after first broadcast.

All the online resources at BBC Writers' Room are invaluable: www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom

Students will be expected to listen to audio dramas during the course of the term and discuss their thoughts on these plays. Some classic audio plays which we recommend reading are:

• Beckett, Samuel. All That Fall in Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber, 1986.


• Carter, Angela. Come Unto These Yellow Sands in Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Four Radio Plays. Newcastle: Bloodaxe Books, 1985. (In library).


• Hall, Lee. Spoonface Steinberg and other plays. BBC Books: London, 1997.


• Plath, Sylvia. Three Women. (available online, or photocopy can be purchased).


• Thomas, Dylan. Under Milk Wood. (In library).

Recommended Reading on audio drama:

• Grove, Claire and Stephen Wyatt. So You Want to Write Radio Drama? Nick Hern Books: London, 2013. (Highly recommended for this module).


• Caulfield, Annie. Writing for Radio: A Practical Guide. Crowood Press: Marlborough, 2009.


• Crisell, Andrew. Understanding Radio. Routledge: London and New York, 1994.


• Crook, Tim. Radio Drama: Theory and Practice. Routledge: London and New York, 1999.


• Davis, Rib. Writing Dialogue for Scripts. A and C Black: London, 2005.


• MacInnerny, Vincent. Writing for Radio. Manchester University Press, 2001.


• MacLoughlin, Shaun. Writing for Radio. 1988.


• Roberts, Philip. (ed.) Plays Without Wires. Sheffield Academic Press, 1989.


• Spencer, Stuart. The Playwright's Guidebook. Faber and Faber: London, 2002


• Teddern, Sue and Nick Warburton. Writing for TV and Radio. Bloomsbury: London, 2016.


• Boardman-Jacobs, Sam (ed.). Radio Scriptwriting. Seren, 2004.


• Hill, Christopher William. Writing for Radio. Bloomsbury, 2015.

This module will be delivered:

• A weekly 2-hour class.