What radio plays should I listen to?
May 17, 2012 1:33 PM Subscribe
Where to start in researching the 'best' radio plays?
I'm curious about listening to a smattering of radio plays. I'm not very concerned about genre -- drama, comedy, mystery, whatever is all fine. I just want to take a look through the medium and see what comes up.
Can you give me your best recommendations for radio plays? I'mleaning towards the contemporary, but any really amazing things from the past are welcome too.
I'm curious about listening to a smattering of radio plays. I'm not very concerned about genre -- drama, comedy, mystery, whatever is all fine. I just want to take a look through the medium and see what comes up.
Can you give me your best recommendations for radio plays? I'mleaning towards the contemporary, but any really amazing things from the past are welcome too.
Try the L.A. Theatre Works podcast - a new radio play every week, performed by famous actors, of all different genres.
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:44 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:44 PM on May 17, 2012
Seconding the BBC Radio 4 recommendation, and adding that if you want to download them rather than stream, there's a weekly podcast (Drama of the Week) featuring one of their current plays. Sometimes it's a comedy, sometimes a drama, sometimes it's experimental. They're not all my cup of tea, but the writing and production values are very good.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:00 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:00 PM on May 17, 2012
Quiet, Please. Sparse, unhurried, unsettling.
posted by Iridic at 2:51 PM on May 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Iridic at 2:51 PM on May 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
I have wasted many a day listening to Old Time Radio plays on archive.org.
Choose a characteristic that appeals to you and see what pops up.
X-Minus-One was spectacular if you love someone's golden age of science fiction.
A Canticle for Liebowitz was written in the '60s but turned into a radio play in the '80s. That's a little more contemporary. Post-apocalyptic Catholic science fiction. I stole this book off my Mom's bookshelf when I was a kid. Loved it. Listened to it a few months ago. Different, but great.
posted by Seamus at 3:02 PM on May 17, 2012
Choose a characteristic that appeals to you and see what pops up.
X-Minus-One was spectacular if you love someone's golden age of science fiction.
A Canticle for Liebowitz was written in the '60s but turned into a radio play in the '80s. That's a little more contemporary. Post-apocalyptic Catholic science fiction. I stole this book off my Mom's bookshelf when I was a kid. Loved it. Listened to it a few months ago. Different, but great.
posted by Seamus at 3:02 PM on May 17, 2012
Thirding or Fourthing checking out BBC Radio 4 radio plays (or radio 4 extra where they're repeated). One that particularly stood out for me was a radio adaptation of "The Mouse That Roared" - I had a long walk, had my radio with me, and walked an extra mile out of my way just so I could finish listening to it :-)
posted by BigCalm at 4:15 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by BigCalm at 4:15 PM on May 17, 2012
The Big Broadcast on WAMU is a weekly show of old American radio programs. It's kind of like a sampler of the most famous shows from the 30s through 50s.
I also second the archive.org suggestion.
posted by NBelarski at 4:15 PM on May 17, 2012
I also second the archive.org suggestion.
posted by NBelarski at 4:15 PM on May 17, 2012
The original version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a radio play. It's rather awesome.
posted by kyrademon at 4:42 PM on May 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by kyrademon at 4:42 PM on May 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
When I was a kid, I was briefly obsessed with Hayward Sanitarium, a horror radio play. The episode Razor was one of my favorite.
posted by geryon at 5:27 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by geryon at 5:27 PM on May 17, 2012
Bert Coules and Stephen Mulrine (who, alas, doesn't have a website) are doing a lot of really interesting adaptations for the BBC, along with their original work. Anything by either writer is great.
Also, whatever you can find by R. D. Wingfield is just going to be dynamite. He was active maybe 1955-1980 writing crime dramas (some with a comic twist) for the BBC.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:49 PM on May 17, 2012
Also, whatever you can find by R. D. Wingfield is just going to be dynamite. He was active maybe 1955-1980 writing crime dramas (some with a comic twist) for the BBC.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:49 PM on May 17, 2012
I just learned about this today - The Star Wars Original Trilogy Radio Dramas. Haven't heard it, but it's probably worthy of checking out. (Trivia bit: John Madden, director of Shakespeare in Love, directed the dramatizations of A New Hope and Empire.)
posted by puritycontrol at 7:35 PM on May 17, 2012
posted by puritycontrol at 7:35 PM on May 17, 2012
Orson Welles presents The Mercury Theater on the Air, The Campbell Playhouse, Les Miserables, and some other things.
If you don't mind recordings that are getting near a century old, you can't do much better.
posted by Winnemac at 8:21 PM on May 17, 2012
If you don't mind recordings that are getting near a century old, you can't do much better.
posted by Winnemac at 8:21 PM on May 17, 2012
purity, I just came in to suggest the NPR programs. We borrowed the CDs from the public library.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:02 PM on May 18, 2012
posted by wenestvedt at 1:02 PM on May 18, 2012
I've been listening to the Decoder Ring Theatre plays recently. They're effectively new renditions of old-time radio programs (mystery and comedy).
posted by RyanAdams at 10:44 AM on May 21, 2012
posted by RyanAdams at 10:44 AM on May 21, 2012
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The work of Joe Frank is essential. Dreamy, dry, and strange.
Chris Morris' Blue Jam was an amazing radio series which featured both sketches and monologues. The sketches go far beyond dark comedy, into something surreal and sublime. There's a "best of" album, but the show is best experienced in its original format, where sketches were blended in with dreamy songs. I'm not going to link to full episode bootleg downloads, but I will link to this YouTube channel of Blue Jam monologues.
posted by Sticherbeast at 1:40 PM on May 17, 2012 [2 favorites]