I’m doing a course in writing a Radio Drama at the moment. It’s a lot of fun, but I thought I’d share this experience.
There are about 10 people in the class, in the first half we wrote stuff, and we’re now in the second half where we actually perform and record 4 of the written small scenes. It’s all radio so you don’t have to look the part, but still, I’m not an actor so this is a bit out of my comfort zone. However, going out of your comfort zone is a good thing every now and then. There are also more men than women in the class, so I get to do more parts than some of the guys. It’s a really nice group of people, a fun atmosphere and everybody is very supportive.
The part that I had to play in one of the scenes basically involves a woman being restrained to stop talking so that the baddies wouldn’t find them. It was hard to get the sounds of the struggle right by just rustling with clothes, so the teacher basically said: you’re going to have to get physical with each other to get this right. Yeah, this was so far out of my comfort zone that it needed a whole new postcode but hey, I was up for doing that. Plus we only had to make the right sounds and I was quite comfortable with the guy I was doing this scene with.
Only, what I hadn’t counted on, was that my body found it a lot harder to appreciate the difference between real and acting and my inner monologue pretty much went like this:
Cloggy’s body: fight – fight
Cloggy’s brain: this is fake. This is fine
Cloggy’s body: struggle struggle
Cloggy’s brain: do not damage your fellow-actor. You actually get on with this guy
Cloggy’s body: I can feel he’s quite skinny. We can totally take him down
Cloggy’s brain: do not pull his face away from the microphone. (poor guy still had to say his lines too)
Then my next lines – a bit after this struggle – were: thank you , you saved my life. I was surprised by how much I didn’t want to say that. I wanted to say something very very very different. Mind won over yet again.
Cloggy’s brain afterwards: that was totally fine
Cloggy’s body: yeah not a big fan of that
So even though I have to give my body a pat on the back for totally being up for the fight, I was really intrigued by how strongly that Fight or Flight response was activated by something that I knew was fake and I have a renewed respect for the (mainly) actresses who have to go through that as a job.
And yes, yet again I’m seeing certain scenes in a whole new light.
They must have. I can’t believe they don’t, especially as they have to get into character as well: look fearful, crying etc. That must make it so much worse.
This course sounds fascinating! I love radio dramas! Although the only radio dramas I’ve heard so far are the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the BBC’s adaptation of A Suitable Boy. Do you have any radio drama reccos? Thanks!
The BBC did a radio adaptation of A Suitable Boy? How interesting! I keep waiting for someone to make a movie of it but of course it would be impossible.
The radio adaptation is Fab. Speaking as someone who can’t decide on favourite books, but if I could, A Suitable Boy would be at the top. The radio adaptation is voiced by some really good Indian actors who’ve done no-mainstream films. A film based on it would be impossible, yes, but maybe a series? (but they’d butcher it i’m sure – _-)
It’s hard to recommend something as things that the BBC does (and they’re pretty much the only place where radio drama gets made) are only available for 30 days after. They did a great adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for example, but that’s no longer on their website…
Ah that’s too bad! the BBC iradio player isn’t available where I live either so… sigh. Not sure if your class might have touched on this but I’ve heard a few audiobooks where they add in background sounds, and read it in a dramatised way, with different actors for different parts. Would this be considered an audio-drama? Is there a difference between such dramas and radio dramas apart from the medium for which they’re made?
There are two different ways of doing books. If they read out the entire text (including all the descriptions) and add sounds, even if they use different actors it’s still considered an audiobook.
If it’s partial text, descriptions have been cut out or cut short, and it’s dramatised, it’s considered a radio/audio drama.
This is really interesting and enlightening. Add in youth, power imbalances, and for many, past traumas, I imagine that that response could be even stronger and more difficult to restrain. I’m glad Hollywood is beginning to bring Intimacy Coordinators to sets to prevent abuse and coercion of vulnerable actors during intimate scenes, but perhaps that needs to extend to all scenarios that place actors in physically (and psychologically) vulnerable positions.
Cloggie
June 14, 2019 at 1:07 AM
I’m doing a course in writing a Radio Drama at the moment. It’s a lot of fun, but I thought I’d share this experience.
There are about 10 people in the class, in the first half we wrote stuff, and we’re now in the second half where we actually perform and record 4 of the written small scenes. It’s all radio so you don’t have to look the part, but still, I’m not an actor so this is a bit out of my comfort zone. However, going out of your comfort zone is a good thing every now and then. There are also more men than women in the class, so I get to do more parts than some of the guys. It’s a really nice group of people, a fun atmosphere and everybody is very supportive.
The part that I had to play in one of the scenes basically involves a woman being restrained to stop talking so that the baddies wouldn’t find them. It was hard to get the sounds of the struggle right by just rustling with clothes, so the teacher basically said: you’re going to have to get physical with each other to get this right. Yeah, this was so far out of my comfort zone that it needed a whole new postcode but hey, I was up for doing that. Plus we only had to make the right sounds and I was quite comfortable with the guy I was doing this scene with.
Only, what I hadn’t counted on, was that my body found it a lot harder to appreciate the difference between real and acting and my inner monologue pretty much went like this:
Cloggy’s body: fight – fight
Cloggy’s brain: this is fake. This is fine
Cloggy’s body: struggle struggle
Cloggy’s brain: do not damage your fellow-actor. You actually get on with this guy
Cloggy’s body: I can feel he’s quite skinny. We can totally take him down
Cloggy’s brain: do not pull his face away from the microphone. (poor guy still had to say his lines too)
Then my next lines – a bit after this struggle – were: thank you , you saved my life. I was surprised by how much I didn’t want to say that. I wanted to say something very very very different. Mind won over yet again.
Cloggy’s brain afterwards: that was totally fine
Cloggy’s body: yeah not a big fan of that
So even though I have to give my body a pat on the back for totally being up for the fight, I was really intrigued by how strongly that Fight or Flight response was activated by something that I knew was fake and I have a renewed respect for the (mainly) actresses who have to go through that as a job.
And yes, yet again I’m seeing certain scenes in a whole new light.
Midnight
June 14, 2019 at 1:30 AM
Thank you for a very enlightening post. You made me wonder, do they have nightmares occasionally??
Cloggie
June 14, 2019 at 1:33 AM
They must have. I can’t believe they don’t, especially as they have to get into character as well: look fearful, crying etc. That must make it so much worse.
Sa
June 14, 2019 at 1:50 AM
This course sounds fascinating! I love radio dramas! Although the only radio dramas I’ve heard so far are the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the BBC’s adaptation of A Suitable Boy. Do you have any radio drama reccos? Thanks!
Cloggie
June 14, 2019 at 2:33 AM
Comment was deleted
bbstl 🧹
June 14, 2019 at 7:57 AM
The BBC did a radio adaptation of A Suitable Boy? How interesting! I keep waiting for someone to make a movie of it but of course it would be impossible.
Sa
June 15, 2019 at 9:42 AM
The radio adaptation is Fab. Speaking as someone who can’t decide on favourite books, but if I could, A Suitable Boy would be at the top. The radio adaptation is voiced by some really good Indian actors who’ve done no-mainstream films. A film based on it would be impossible, yes, but maybe a series? (but they’d butcher it i’m sure – _-)
bbstl 🧹
June 15, 2019 at 4:23 PM
Yes, let’s have a series! It’s one of my favorite books as well 😁
Cloggie
June 14, 2019 at 9:15 AM
It’s hard to recommend something as things that the BBC does (and they’re pretty much the only place where radio drama gets made) are only available for 30 days after. They did a great adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for example, but that’s no longer on their website…
Hitchhiker’s Guide is an absolute radio classic.
Sa
June 15, 2019 at 9:47 AM
Ah that’s too bad! the BBC iradio player isn’t available where I live either so… sigh. Not sure if your class might have touched on this but I’ve heard a few audiobooks where they add in background sounds, and read it in a dramatised way, with different actors for different parts. Would this be considered an audio-drama? Is there a difference between such dramas and radio dramas apart from the medium for which they’re made?
Cloggie
June 15, 2019 at 12:26 PM
There are two different ways of doing books. If they read out the entire text (including all the descriptions) and add sounds, even if they use different actors it’s still considered an audiobook.
If it’s partial text, descriptions have been cut out or cut short, and it’s dramatised, it’s considered a radio/audio drama.
Not sure if I explained that very well…
Sa
June 16, 2019 at 12:34 AM
ah! yes! thank you for explaining 🙂
egads aka Dame Maggie
June 14, 2019 at 6:38 AM
This is really interesting and enlightening. Add in youth, power imbalances, and for many, past traumas, I imagine that that response could be even stronger and more difficult to restrain. I’m glad Hollywood is beginning to bring Intimacy Coordinators to sets to prevent abuse and coercion of vulnerable actors during intimate scenes, but perhaps that needs to extend to all scenarios that place actors in physically (and psychologically) vulnerable positions.
Also, that sounds like a cool class.
Cloggie
June 14, 2019 at 8:47 AM
It’s a really cool class and I’ve learned that telling a story when all you’ve got is sound, is very hard.