Audio Ensemble
Performance
December 2015
For our next assignment titled ‘Audio
Ensemble’ we have been tasked to bring a contemporary Radio Play to life,
through audio performance. As the
assignment process began we were tasked to read through various radio play
scripts and decide upon which to perform and what the casting will be.
Read Through
Beginning the assignment we were
recommended by various different types of audio plays. These plays offered a variety of different
genres, characters, and intriguing plots.
Although the two main plays that we agreed on were:
·
Atching Tan by Dan
Allum
·
Far Side of the
Moore by Sean Grundy
Both tell interesting stories, told
through intriguing characters, and both make an entertaining script read. What were these plays about?
Atching Tan - The
play tells the story of a gipsy travelling girl, named Lovvie, who has a talent
for singing. She meets John, a drama
teacher, and together they aim to bring new found love for performing/theatre
to life. However, her priorities with
her family, and her boyfriend, pull her back.
This brings about a drama filled scenario where Lovvie must decide
whether to follow her dreams or stay where she belongs?
Far Side of the Moore - This radio play tells a near biographical tale of the late Sir
Patrick Moore’s early career and rise to fame.
Set in the pre-1980s the play follows Patrick Moore and his struggles
socially and actively. We see his
rejections and successions to becoming a television presenter; as well as being
labelled as a “mad scientist”. Similarly
to a BBC television drama we see the story from various point of views, with no
lack of dramatic emphasis. The story is
interesting and the characters are entertaining, all bringing about an entertaining
radio play.
Initial Thoughts
After the read through, of both scripts,
we all had time to express our initial thoughts on the plays.
Which script did I prefer? - Atching Tan
Why? - I
personally found the story and the characters to be more interesting, in
comparison to ‘Far Side of the Moore’.
Instantly I could see ‘Atching Tan’ having a select few similarities to
Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’, in the sense that the two leads want to be
together but there is an elephant in the room about their statuses meaning they
shouldn’t be together. Plus the story’s
progression intrigued me, and I was a gutted for our protagonist at the end of
the play. While I enjoyed reading
through ‘Far Side of the Moore’, the characters and the story didn’t grip me as
much as ‘Atching Tan’. Therefore I was
eager to get a role in this radio play.
Casting
At the beginning of the casting process, was
there any character in particular that I wanted to play?
John from ‘Atching Tan’ - When reading through the script the only character
that seemed “nice” from my perspective was John. John is the drama teacher and plays a crucial
role in this play, as he’s the one who helps Lovvie with her performance skills
and confidence on stage. He is also the
one responsible for giving her a passion for theatre and advising her to follow
her dreams. Plus in his scripted
actions, speech styles, and description, I personally could relate to him, more
than any other character in the script.
In comparison to stage play castings,
there wasn’t as many physical exercises or workshops. Instead we were tasked to pair up, or work in
small groups, take selected scenes from either scripts and explore various
vocal techniques/styles that could support a performance of that
character. I tried out for John and
Nelius (Lovvie’s boyfriend).
As the casting process came to an end I
was relieved to receive the role of John in ‘Atching Tan’. Intrigued to perform this character and gain
a whole new experience in audio performance I was eager to begin rehearsals for
Dan Allum’s ‘Atching Tan’.
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