Radio Drama: Theory and Practice
London; New York: Routledge (1999), xi, 296 pp.
Contains illustrations, bibliogr. pp. 269-287, index
ISBN 0-415-21603-6 (pbk); 0-203-00627-5 (ebook)
"Radio Drama brings together the practical skills needed for radio drama, such as directing, writing and sound design, with media history and communication theory. From the early audio broadcasts of 1914 and the development of General Electric’s New York WGY station in 1922, through Orson Welles’s startling Hallowe’en broadcast of War of the Worlds in 1938, to more recent radio spoofs and the subversive challenge from ‘media guerrillas’, Tim Crook explores the history and contemporary practice of radio drama. Challenging the belief that sound drama is a ‘blind medium’, Radio Drama shows how experimentation in radio narrative has blurred the dividing line between fiction and reality in modern media. Using extracts from scripts and analysing radio broadcasts from America, Britain, Canada and Australia, the book explores the practicalities of producing drama for radio." (Publisher description)
I. PRACTICE MEETS THEORY
1 A New Media History Perspective through Audio Drama, 3
2 Radio Drama as Modernity, 12
3 The Electrophone or Théâtrophone: broadcasting audio drama before the radio, 15
4 The Six Ages of Audio Drama and the Internet Epoch, 21
5 From Sound Houses to the Phonograph Sound Play, 30
6 A Technological Time-line, 37
7 A Culturalist Approach to Internet Audio Drama, 41
II. SOUND THEORY AND PRACTICE
8 Radio Drama is Not a Blind Medium, 53
9 Sound Design Vocabulary, 70
10 The Cinematic and Musical Inspiration, 90
III. THE NEW RADIO DRAMA FORM: SKITS AND LIVE IMPROVISATIONS
11 Blurring Fiction with Reality, 105
12 Radio Drama Panics: a cross-cultural phenomenon, 115
13 Moving from Burlesque to Propaganda and News, 121
14 The War of the Worlds Effect: Spoonface Steinberg? 136
15 Spoonface Steinberg: constructing the Holocaust as a means of identification, 144
IV. THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WRITING AUDIO DRAMA
16 The Writing Agenda for Audio Drama, 151
17 Creating the Character and Effective Use of Characterisation, 183
18 Writing Dialogue, 188
V. CONSTRUCTING THE RADIO DRAMA/DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
19 The Phantom Distinction, 201
20 Making the Documentary Feature, 213
VI. THE PRACTICE AND THEORY OF DIRECTING AND PERFORMANCE
21 Directorial Responsibility, 235
22 Managing the Production, 240
23 Experimental Direction and Performance, 246
1 A New Media History Perspective through Audio Drama, 3
2 Radio Drama as Modernity, 12
3 The Electrophone or Théâtrophone: broadcasting audio drama before the radio, 15
4 The Six Ages of Audio Drama and the Internet Epoch, 21
5 From Sound Houses to the Phonograph Sound Play, 30
6 A Technological Time-line, 37
7 A Culturalist Approach to Internet Audio Drama, 41
II. SOUND THEORY AND PRACTICE
8 Radio Drama is Not a Blind Medium, 53
9 Sound Design Vocabulary, 70
10 The Cinematic and Musical Inspiration, 90
III. THE NEW RADIO DRAMA FORM: SKITS AND LIVE IMPROVISATIONS
11 Blurring Fiction with Reality, 105
12 Radio Drama Panics: a cross-cultural phenomenon, 115
13 Moving from Burlesque to Propaganda and News, 121
14 The War of the Worlds Effect: Spoonface Steinberg? 136
15 Spoonface Steinberg: constructing the Holocaust as a means of identification, 144
IV. THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WRITING AUDIO DRAMA
16 The Writing Agenda for Audio Drama, 151
17 Creating the Character and Effective Use of Characterisation, 183
18 Writing Dialogue, 188
V. CONSTRUCTING THE RADIO DRAMA/DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
19 The Phantom Distinction, 201
20 Making the Documentary Feature, 213
VI. THE PRACTICE AND THEORY OF DIRECTING AND PERFORMANCE
21 Directorial Responsibility, 235
22 Managing the Production, 240
23 Experimental Direction and Performance, 246
