In 1938, Orson Welles narrated and broadcasted live an adaptation of HG Wells’ The War of the Worlds—it is a story of an ongoing Martian invasion of Earth—as part of his radio drama anthology over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Wells’ tactful writing juxtaposed with the persuasive enactment by filmmaker Welles convinced many listeners that an invasion had happened for real, causing mass panic. The episode emphasises the power of audio drama.
The art form of audio drama has been around for long, thanks to radio. In recent times, such acoustic dramatic performances have become popular due to podcasts. With live theatre brought to a standstill because of the pandemic, theatre professionals are now experimenting with multiple formats, thus bringing audio drama back into the limelight.
A novel approach
By adding a fresh touch to the conventional practice of audio drama, theatre professionals are expanding the boundaries of the art form. Shatakshi Sen (21), a member of The Dramatics Society of Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), found inspiration in ‘Sruti Natok’, a form of play-reading that is popular in Bengali theatre. Sen, along with her team of seven, decided to adapt Rabindranath Tagore’s Raktakarabi (Red Oleanders) into an audio play. “It took us an entire pandemic to adapt to this mode of storytelling. It may seem restrictive at first but I think that makes it quite an exciting medium, at times more than the visual one. It is very interesting to think about how to capture an audience just through sounds,” she shares. Similarly, Pihu Kalra (21) and Gaurangi Sehgal (20), also part of the same society at LSR, adapted French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit into an audio play in November 2021. “This medium has a lot of scope for people to indulge in theatre,” comments Kalra.
Challenges galore
While exploratory and experimental, the audio medium poses a number of challenges. In the absence of visuals, the onus lies with the performers to evoke a sense of drama using only sound. “Natyashastra [the Indian treatrise on dramatic arts] emphasises two things: sound and visual. But with audio plays, there is just sound. This is, hence, challenging for an actor. It is not just about delivering the lines the right way, but it is also about feelings and emotions,” shares West Delhi resident Kuljeet Singh, founder of Atelier’s
Theatre Company.
Stage and film actor Swati Das, who was part of the cast of A Little Drape of Heaven—an audio play directed by Indian playwright Mahesh Dattani and produced by Not a Theatre Company—in December last year, further adds, “In a stage play, there is a physical and psychological give and take that takes place between you and your audience. But in an audio play, everything revolves around you and the mic that is in front of you. Silences and pauses change completely. The mode of rehearsal is not conventional.”
The bigger question
Since audio plays lack visual quotient, many feel that the medium does not live up to the experience stage plays can offer. “We can call them quasi-theatrical performances, not purely theatrical. If seen from the lens of the classical definition of theatre, the visual is completely missing,” remarks Singh. Acknowledging his standpoint, Das further elaborates, “I feel maybe the quasi-nature of audio plays has a little to do with the writing. If the writing is really evocative then it very well can offer a complete theatrical experience for the viewer.”regardless of such contentions, one cannot ignore the role of audio dramas in keeping theatre alive at a time when physical performances have come to a standstill.
Experience theatre afresh
‘A Little Drape of Heaven’: Available on Insider
‘Raktakarabi’: Available on Spotify and YouTube
‘No Exit’: Available on Spotify