stagedesign 
radio plays
Development of radio plays
When the radio people started to broadcast TV programs after the invention
of the cathode-ray tube, they used radio plays that had been optically changed.
Today, radio plays are produced by TV people... unfortunately.
A little anecdote:
When I was an inexperienced younker and responsible for the stage setting
of Kishon’s „The License", I was asked how I was going to represent the
rural Israel to the audience, my answer was:
„... glaring light on the outside, using cloth for subdued lighting and of course
the obvious smell of the country!"
The director roared with laughter... „The obvious smell of the country!?!"
After a short glance at the director, the team of assistant directors stabbed
me mockingly in the back as well.
At the première at the „Kleine Komödie", it was there, the rural atmosphere:
the au goût.
The auditorium was full of smelling country air. Through the
curtain, I could watch the audience sniffing, secretly gossiping, and applauding
as the curtain opened.
Deep inside I was satisfied; the trip to the countryside,
collecting fresh
cow-patties in a dampened carrier bag, the three boards for the „organic
product" and two fans.
This combination was an absolute sensorial
challenge for the „smoking
society" of that time.
Today, I develop radio plays, which stimulate and play with the senses of the
listeners...
No, no smells... but radio plays, which are supported by sounds
coming from everyday life realistically presenting the action, and the plot which
passes on the unpredictable vagaries of everyday life to the listener - the life
he knows, he is afraid of, or he is smiling at and waiting for a compelling scene...
only then, with the negation of his expectations, the real radio play starts!
Like a one-act play in the galley, during a hurricane and distress... it's not the
stage that has to sway, no – the guests on their seats in the audience are the
sinking ship.
Difficult, but feasible!