It was such a joyful coincidence for BBC to have released a 3 hour radio drama featuring one of my favourite actors (Hayley Atwell, queen of my soul) at the same time as our studying sound and sound media. It enriched the experience and really forced me to pay attention to how sound and voice are manipulated to tell the story clearly in that special medium.

The work was called The Magus, adapted as a radio play from John Fowles’ postmodern 1965 novel of the same name. Narrated in first person, it was a psychological mystery set in a remote Greek island, the city of Athens, and London – vastly different locations each requiring its own distinct atmospheres.

Here is a link to the play but it expires in a couple of weeks – I’m sure the other available plays are equally well done though! Here is a link to one of Hayley Atwell’s short audio interviews discussing her love for radio/voice artistry and its difference to her more visual Marvel shows. Her voice is so rich and luscious ugh #perfection

This isn’t the first radio play I’ve listened to, I used to love the Lux Radio programs from the 30s and 40s where they would recreate popular films into one hour radio adaptations. The sound in those were a little more contrived especially to the contemporary listener more used to realism in media. Also, technology has come a long, long way, and microphones and editing have become a lot more sophisticated which allows for more freedom and, of course, more challenges.  The subtlety of the incidental background tracks were excellent as with the sound mixing to create the distance characters had between each other. That was perhaps the coolest part of it – the creation of distance in sound. The distance and mood was clear when characters were getting to know each other walking along the beach – and the complete change of scene when they were getting intimate in that evening.

The sound editing as the dialogue zoned in/out of narration and scene was also interesting to observe. When we were in the narrator’s consciousness, it was only the voice by itself. But we would weave in and out of the scene – atmosphere/outside world would fade in and out mirroring the character’s stream of consciousness. Other sounds would trickle back in ensuring smooth transitions between narration and world.

In relation to that was also pace and changeover between scenes. Sometimes there is silence just long enough to be noticeable without losing dynamics, sometimes it is just a breath and change of energy. On a story telling level, the swift creation of contrast was impressive. They really mastered the manipulation of rhythm so that the show never got too boring or confusing (at least in regards to location and time. The plot is a whole other thing…).

I definitely want to create something like this at some point. It’s a different mode of story telling that I think is really worth exploring and might even make a trendy return what with the rise of podcasting.