BBC Radio Drama: Soundstart induction week 2015
Hannah Khalil
Digital Content Producer, About The BBC Blog
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In June I blogged about the winners of the BBC Norman Beaton Fellowship and BBC Carleton Hobbs Bursary, part of BBC Radio Drama’s (((soundstart))) programmes to bring new voices into radio drama. Well, from Saturday 25 July (2015) those winners started their induction week; a sort of baptism of fire introducing them to all things Radio Drama Company, to give them a sense of what to expect during their time as apprentices in the company.
Aside from meeting and getting advice from experts in all the areas of the nuts and bolts of Radio Drama, they also prepared and performed a showcase for all the in-house producers. Here’s the newcomers’ first week schedule – and just looking at it you get a sense of the wide range of skills any radio actor needs to develop and hone:
Saturday:
- Introduction to Radio Drama
- The rhythm of studio with Drama Producer Sasha Yevtushenko
- The Studio Manager's Perspective with Mike Etherden
Sunday
- Mic Technique with Mike Etherden
- Wild Tracks with Anne Bunting
Monday
- A tour of BBC Broadcasting House
- Life on the Radio Drama Company part 1 with Clare Ewing
- Shakespeare Masterclass with David Timson
- Radio Comedy with Ed Morrish
Tuesday
- Single Voice Recording with Elizabeth Allard
- The World of Sound with Piers Plowright
- Life on the Radio Drama Company part 2 with Carl Prekopp
- Accent Masterclass with Elspeth Morrison
Wednesday
- The Writer’s Perspective with Marcy Kahn
- The Director’s Perspective with Jonquil Panting
Thursday
- Showcase platform performance with Sasha Yevtushenko, Mike Etherden and Jenni Burnett
On Wednesday I snuck in to Studio 60A (and avoided sitting on the very creaky prop chair) to have a listen to seasoned director and producer Jonquil Panting talking to the inductees. It was a lively and informative session. She gave the actors an idea of how producers work in-house at BBC Radio Drama and how they think when they are casting. Jonquil also gave them an idea of how quickly radio drama is made: a drama of 45 minutes or an hour in length is recorded over two days, and the actors get one read-through at the start of day one, before getting stuck in to the studio recording. But she reassured them all that they had been chosen as part of the RDC because they were, “the right people for the job” and added, “Don’t worry if, after a take, you see me in the cubicle with my hands over my eyes, I’m not despairing, I’m listening”.
There was discussion of the merits and challenges of tablets versus paper scripts (there are no issues with noisy page turns with a tablet, but when speedy rewrites need to be scribbled in the margin you might be stuck) and concerns over how likely a mic was to pick up a rumbling tummy (“Very likely – don’t worry it happens to everyone”) were aired. The key advice, “Always have a banana and a pencil handy”.
Finally Jonquil talked about Radio Drama as a family within the BBC and welcomed the inductees into it. As they all went to the Green Room for their next session and I skulked back to my desk, I felt a genuine excitement about hearing these exciting new voices on radio in the coming months.
Hannah Khalil is Digital Content Producer, About the BBC Website and Blog
