Five months ago, 2015's Radio Drama Soundstart winners peered up at British Broadcasting House for the first time. Now, as their apprenticeships are coming to an end, three participants reflect back on their time with the Radio Drama Company.
What happens in the Green Room stays in the Green Room
Despite being faced with a fantastically busy schedule, there was always time to be found for chats in the Green Room, which soon became one of my favourite places to hang out, not just at the BBC but ever.
Let me set the scene for you: The Green room is a safe haven where actors relax in between scenes; a room consisting of comfy chairs, mugs of tea, chocolate biscuits, grapes and scripts. Oh, so many scripts. It was in this room that I found myself having the most bizarre, tragic, heartwarming and fruitful conversations I’d ever had.
Now obviously, what happens in the Green Room, stays in the Green Room (although, I’m quite open to discuss a Radio Drama Behind The Scenes book deal, if needs be.) Conversations consisting of gut-wrenching auditions, painful experiences of stage fright, juggling family life, the really quiet periods, the really, really quiet periods, nasty Directors, wonderful Directors… the list goes on. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that every single person I had the pleasure of talking to in that Green Room, taught me something. Whether it was a life-changing mistake they’d learned from or just some general friendly advice. Whether they were an extremely recognisable figure in the industry or whether I’d only known them since that morning and this was their first professional job; whoever they were, individually, they taught me something.
It’s now the beginning of 2016 and I haven’t a clue what’s around the corner. But I’m ok with that. Because according to everyone in the Green Room that I’ve spoken to (interrogated), that’s… well, that’s just how it is. And if I do panic about the unknown, I think back to that time in the Green Room when I heard the most terrifying story about... (Now BBC, about that book deal…)
Katie Redford, Actress
Playing Pre-pubescent Boys
One of the greatest aspects of working for the BBC Radio Drama Company is the opportunity and necessity to be versatile. When I was competing in the Carleton Hobbs event I tried to demonstrate my versatility through varied accents and genres, performing contrasting pieces, which ranged from a Glaswegian teenager to Lady Macbeth. However, working for the RDC has shown me there is so much more to it than that.
Due to the fast-paced nature of radio, it is imperative you bring your performance to the read-through but yet have the malleability to completely change that character quickly, if needs be. This makes the work truly exciting. Before I began radio I heard other actors complaining that having a script in your hand and not knowing the lines is restrictive and false; I couldn’t disagree more. Having the script in your hand performing perhaps mere minutes after a read-through is the most liberating and freeing thing for any actor. Without the fear of forgetting lines you can become the character more than ever and focus on what is being said, how it's being said and why.
Radio is totally non-prejudiced towards your appearance meaning you may be cast as something you would never have the opportunity to play on screen or stage. For me, this has certainly been the most humorous element. I have played many nurses, maids, teenagers but most unusually, pre-pubescent boys.
The trend began with a 10-year-old Dorian Gray and then my small boy career just took flight. The culmination of my talent ended with a request for a 12-year-old Arabic boy. I didn't think I could do a Cardiff accent but it turns out I can - as that is what came out of my mouth in the actual recording... At the RDC, you can discover new talents in the most peculiar places.
Evie Killip, Actress
Instincts and bananas
I’m willing to bet that in no other job would you be asked to play a Spanish prostitute in the morning, a 14-year-old schoolgirl in the afternoon and sing a satirical version of "L’Internationale" in the evening, just to round the day off... an average day of life in the Radio Drama Company.
Throughout my time on the Rep, I was asked to play a huge variety of characters ranging from Stalin’s daughter to an asphyxiating child. Sometimes I had up to 10 different scripts to record in a week, playing different characters that all required various accents and working with Producers and Writers, all of whom had very different processes.
Radio is a very fast-paced medium, there is no doubt about it, and for me, fresh out of drama school, it was a real learning curve. After three years of sitting around a table with the rest of the cast, getting to know a character from the inside out, rehearsing for weeks and experimenting with costumes, I was thrust into a medium where a lot of that stuff doesn’t apply.
What I’ve learned most over my five months (aside from how to make eating a banana sound like you’re eating a whole roast dinner) is that once everything else has been stripped away, trusting your instincts is key. Of course you have time to form an idea of what you think is right for the character, but if your producer wants something which is the exact opposite to what you have prepared (which happens more often than you’d think) then you just have to roll with it and let those trusty actor instincts kick in!
It has been five wonderful months filled with beautiful plays, challenging and fun characters, masterclasses in acting and trusting my instincts. Oh, and bananas, lots and lots of bananas.
Rebecca Hamilton, Actress
- Find out more about the BBC Radio Drama Company
- Read A day in the life of the Radio Drama Company
- Also Adventures with the BBC Radio Drama Company & the BBC Norman Beaton Fellowship
- And more Radio Drama blogs on About the BBC
- Follow @BBCRadioDrama on Twitter
