A Critique of Radio Dramas

Post-modern/Traditional Radio Drama

The two Radio Dramas I will be comparing will be a Final Runes, A Tale Of Strange
Bedfellows and BBCs, The Archers. On the surface these two dramas seem
incredibly different but after studying them both they each follow the same basic
codes and conventions to achieve different aims appropriate to their target
audience.
In the episode of the archer the main focus is to celebrate the anniversary of the
womens institute including members of the organisation dressing in period
Edwardian outfits. Alongside this an old friend comes to the village and causes
discussion amongst the residents. Finally we follow a new family as they go
about family activates ending in a cliff-hanger surrounding adoption.
A Journey of strange bedfellows
The Archers uses a greater number of words to the Final Rune production but
uses music and sound-scaping to a lesser extent. The drama itself is set in the
mythical town of Ambridge which is believed to be around Worcestershire the
characters talk with a more rural accent sounding more like a stereotypical idea
of a farmer Thats straight out the village hall aint it . This is appropriate to the
target audience which tends to be older people ranging from late 40 year olds
and above, the characters sound older and seem to fit around the same age as
the TA which would make the characters relatable to them. The vocabulary is
more developed and no slang is used the characters conduct their conversations
in a proper and polite manner for their age, this would sound familiar to the TA as
the style will mirror a fair amount of their conversation styles. Music is minimally
used throughout the production only a theme song is heard at the beginning and
end of the production and added in when necessary to the setting, the same
applies with sound-scaping, it is used at the beginning and end of a scene in
order to communicate the location but as the bulk of the scene takes place it
tends to fade out or disappear almost completely but swells up again when
appropriate like at the end of the second when the noise of children increases at
the end of the scene as henry runs to his parents at the end of the school. For
this radio drama the TA takes the information and enjoyment from what is
actually being said, the plot is shifted along by the discussions of the characters
across the village so there is no need for a complex score or a huge use of
immersive sound scapes.
On the flipside the Final Rune Production focuses less on what is being said and
more on creating an immersive atmosphere for the audience. An example of this
would be the heavy use of mood setting music throughout the piece this I believe
is used to in order to keep the listener alert as the story is mainly told by just one
voice and without music it could become boring. This drama focuses heavy on
creating a detailed atmosphere for the audience using sound effects and
background noise to add depth to the piece an example of this would the
intricate sounds used to signify the clock work man grinding into action this
coupled with descriptive language used by the narrator leads to an immersive
feel to the drama. This is appropriate to the TA as they will demand an accurate
reconstruction of Victorian England through voices and a heavy use of dramatic
reconstruction through sound effects and music.

Aural signposting and dramatic reconstruction would prove a challenge for this
drama, with the Archers they simply have to use birdsong and wind in order to
symbolise that the character is outside and as the archers has been running
since WW2 it is a known fact that the drama takes place in the countryside, Final
Runes production is set in Victorian England, a place where accurate sound
recording did not exists, this alongside its steam punk theme (Its Culture genre in
which it is fantasised that the present day is like Victorian England with steam
providing the main source of power) could make it difficult to produce an
immersive production. An example of their use of effective SFX is heard in the
ballroom scene, they mix in chatter and classical music with laughter at a higher
volume to represent important characters, and this tied in with the vivid
descriptions of the narrator creates an immersive atmosphere. However, The
Archers has to produce a naturalistic true to life soundscape and even though
relevant. SFX is in high demand everything has to be carefully thought out in
order to be immersive there is more room for error with this radio drama than
there is in the Final Rune production. Both productions are however relevant to
their TA, one uses more abstract and complex soundscaping and aural
signposting whereas the other uses purely naturalistic aural signposting and
soundscaping to a lesser extent to set the scene.
However although they may not take such a high priority as the words in the
archers, they are still important and are used appropriately. For example words
such as discombobulated are used language commonly used in the time period
in which it is set this in a subtle way adds to the atmosphere and the believability
of the radio drama. The majority of the words spoken come from the narrator a
well-spoken man with clear pronunciation and although it feels like he is
commenting on events as they unfold the use of language makes it clear that the
narrator is addressing them and is retelling past events. This is different to the
archers who talk mostly in the present tense discussing events as they happen.
In order to communicate the time period in which the drama takes place the
language and words used reflect the high social status of the Victorian era, every
character talks in a clear well-spoken tone, rarely shouts and tends to elongate
the vowels in words, we hear the narrators voice the most and he uses emphasis
to create an eerie effect from the audience as well as alliteration, an example of
this when describing the clockwork would be terrible toys.
There is a lack of direct speech in the post-modern radio drama, although the
narrator addresses the audience he doesnt directly interact with the audience,
however at the beginning of the piece a second narrator who introduces the
radio drama does talk directly the audience for example follow the brilliant
doctor as we go on this voyage of mysterious bedfellows. This creates an
immersive atmosphere for the audience and gets the audience engaged and
listening, it begins to build a small amount of hype for the rest of the drama, the
section I listened to was a free section designed with the purpose of leading the
listener to spend more for the full drama, this makes the small amount of direct
speech important in pushing the listener to buy the rest of the project.
Following on from this a cliff-hanger ending is used in order to entice the
audience. Within the radio drama there is conflict and resolution followed by
even more conflict when as everything is about to be resolved again the drama
abruptly ends. This Postmodern drama uses a cliff-hanger ending in the same
way that the archers does, to hook the listener and make sure theyll return or

buy into the radio drama in order to hear the next instalment. There is a higher
priority for Journey Of Strange Bedfellows to entice the audience as the rest can
only be heard for a price whereas the archers is public access, however the
archers does need to maintain a strong and dedicated following and by using a
cliff-hanger ending they draw new followers and keep regular listeners hooked
The plot is developed in various ways in both of these productions, one of these
uses inferred and suggested information in small portions to move the plot to a
cliff-hanger ending whereas the other uses a more traditional story telling
method.
The most notable narrative difference between The Archers and the Final Rune
production is that the Archers is a series, whereas Final Runes production is a
one off story. The Archers uses a cliff-hanger ending at the end of each episode
in order to keep the listener interested and to guarantee a listener the following
week (Having never listened to the Archers before this, I wanted to keep on
listening after the end of the episode), in this episodes case we followed a single
parent with her son and her partner who fulfilled multiple family scenes like
picking him up from school and tending to a bruised knee, before at the end of
the episode the father wanting to adopt the son and marry the single mother.
This is intriguing as we did not get a chance to listen to the mothers reaction
and as the whole show is based around village gossip to a degree, we didnt get
to listen to the villagers reaction. The Final Rune production did not use a cliffhanger ending as it is one continuous story however it utilised other conventions
instead. An example of this is the constant narration throughout from the main
character, as it is told from the first person perspective it sounds like the narrator
is talking directly to you (Who am I to ponder to such events, I Hunter Brown
your host guide and servant) and retelling the story to the audience, the only
break in this narration is conversations between characters, flashbacks and
credits. Flashbacks is another technique used in Final Runes, as the narrator is
talking in the past tense he reflects on when his partner Faiths Uncle dies, they
use a high level of reverb and a quick fade to indicate the flashback. This drama
is a regular user of fades as is the Archers but for different purposes. The Final
Rune Production uses fades as a way to indicate foreboding and when there is a
break from narration, for example when Annette and Faith discuss the clockwork
man at the end of their conversation the laugher trails off into an eerie echo and
elsewhere in the piece the narration quickly fades out so there is a notable
difference between the narration and conversation.
A flashback can be used to highlight important information and remind the
audience of important information relevant to the story. No flashbacks are used
in either of these pieces as they both follow a strict linear narrative. The use of
silence and fades are heavily used however but in different ways. For example in
Bedfellows Silence is used for dramatic effect, in the climax of the first half of the
drama when it is discovered that someone has died the music and sound effects
abruptly fade out, and on the sound of that narrator announcing death, the
drama falls completely silent and remains silent for 5 seconds before a door
creaks and the narrator carries on with the story, the silence creates an eerie
and creepy effect for the listener, it also helps to communicate the seriousness
of this characters death. Fades are barely used in this post-modern drama as the
narrative is one continuous story taken from one perspective sounds and music
fade in and out around the narrator however there are no complete fades (like

the ones used in the archers). As the Archers narrative is told by multiple
characters in a variety of different locations, fades (tied in with aural signposting)
communicate to the listener a change in setting and characters. For example
When the setting changes from the schoolyard to the church environment the
sound of children yelling and playing slowly fades and after about 3 seconds
silence the sounds of people talking (with a large amount of reverb fades up to
suggest that the women have gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the
suffragette movement as told earlier in the narrative.
Arguably the most important aspect of a good radio drama is characterisation.
This process creates who the character is to each individual listener. This is done
incredibly well in a tale of strange bedfellows as the narrator creates an intricate
auditory environment an example of this is the line between jacket and coat
becoming blurred by recent fashion accompanied by men striding in tall top hats
and ridiculously intricate moustaches Hunter brown, your host, guide and
servant. In many ways I have been in the pursuit of the unobtainable follower on
from this the narrator hunter brown goes on to describe himself myself not
being interested In such frivolities keeping my self-clean shaven and my hair
neat from this small piece of information we can understand how the character
presents himself in society and how he doesnt fit in to the highlife seen later in
the drama. Characterisation is heavily used in order to make the listener like and
sympathise with Hunter Browns love interest in comparison to the other girls in
attendance Miss faith geibel my love, such sweetness such beauty he then goes
on to describe her family her parents died in a coach accident and old geibel a
creator of wonderful and amazing clockwork innovations. One of the most
effective ways of creating a negative opinion of a character is through the voice
of Annette geibel, her voice is high and irritating it seems as though her voice
has a particularly high volume so her annoying obnoxious boisterous laugh
physically hurts the listener, we also learn that Annette is an unlikable character
through her insulting of faith no men are quick to compliment your gowns faith,
most of them are mine after all and from a prior season we learn from this that
Annette is an unlikable bitchy and annoying character. This process is repeated
with every character, the accent adopted by old geibel the toymaker for example
is an old German accent to suggest that he is a maverick, he takes a nervous
and fidgety tone and has a sort of maniacal laugh this creates a sense of
foreboding for the listener and makes them suspect him, this turns out to be a
correct suspicion as old geibel is behind the murder of Annette in the first scene.
The Archers as it is a series focuses less on characterisation as regular listeners
will already be familiar with the characters and their personalities. However as a
first time listener myself I was able to pick up on a few things. First of all was the
high social status of the villagers, everyone at least spoke with a posh twang or a
thicker country accent and it was easy to tell from their enunciation of words and
their vocabulary for example use of the word bunting and suffragette and
rapturous;. I can also tell that the characters in the show hold strong Christian
beliefs as even at a party celebrating the anniversary of the suffragette
movement they stand a sing Jerusalem. It is easy to tell who has moved into the
village from the voices, the people who have been raised in the village have
strong country accents whereas the people who have moved in have smoother,
soft voices.

As far as structure is concerned they are both the same length but for different
reasons. Both Radio dramas fall at around the 20 minute mark.
The Archers is short and simple this means that large stories like the following of
the rugby world cup can be stretched out over a number of weeks, it also means
the audience might be less likely to lose interest, it means the show can also be
broken into smaller 5 minute scenes covering a variety of issues around the
village. For a tale of strange bed fellows however, the length is purely to make
the listener pay for the full story. the radio drama i listened to was an extract
from a full hour drama, which you had to pay 5 to listen to. The radio drama
ends abruptly leaving the audience on a cliff hanger and begging for more, over
the duration of this extract we learn about the characters the set up the issues
faced ahead and just as we are about to enter a new chapter the music fades,
whereas the archers has a short length in order to keep the drama short and
sweet, a tale of strange bed fellows has one in order to get the audience hooked
and then rip it from them in order to make them buy the full drama.
The Archers does not use titles and credits in its radio drama I believe this is
because of the dramas long running and as it is a series credits and titles are not
needed, the only thing close to titles is the theme song played at the start of
every episode.
A tale of strange bed fellows does however use titles and credits because it is a
stand-alone drama. It details the production behind it (Final Rune) and the writer
of the drama