Today is Halloween and to celebrate all things spooky, I wanted to share this script of mine that was recently featured at an evening of live radio theatre!
It’s a genre I’ve absolutely fallen in love with over the past couple of years, thanks no doubt to local groups such as the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society and Conundrum Collective. Between them and some others, I try to lap up as much radio drama as possible and taking note of the technique’s specific to the format has posed an exciting challenge to say the least. One’s dialogue, for instance, has to be as specific as possible so as to accurately convey the scene your writing. Remember, there are no visuals! So if it being “sunny outside” is integral to the story, then make sure you have a character say something about the sun. It’s things like that that can trip you up and as I listen to my first recorded script, I realize I could have done a better job with…
Anyways, give a listen here! The Oasis starts at around the 14:00 minute mark.
Listening to this, I certainly took my notes for revisions, etc. but all that aside, I was just giddy listening to Small Fish Radio Theatre’s adaptation of The Oasis. Performed as one piece in a larger narrative, the story tells of a post-apocalyptic world where the inhabitants of a small desert outpost struggle to survive dehydration, marauding raiders and the fact that the sun’s rays are literally getting hotter and hotter by the minute. It’s an idea that’s gone through several revisions in my brain (first coming to mind as a stage play in the winter of 2016 and now finally, a realized radio play).
Now I can’t wait to churn out all the ideas I’ve got and see who’s willing to produce them. That goes for myself too. Radio drama has been seeing a bit of a renaissance lately thanks to the popularity of podcasts and I’d love to take a crack at something longer than 10 minutes. Whole serials! Half hour programming! Advertising!
OK, slow down than there cowboy. First write another and take it from there.
VINCENT HANNAM 