Radio drama ‘a busy bakery’

Press, 12 November 1981, Page 17

Radio drama ‘a busy bakery’

Writing about his department in Radio New Zealand, the head of drama, Mr Anthony Groser, says: The production of radio plays is a primary function of the Drama Department but by no means the only one. We are responsible for all short stories and serialised book readings and also produce a wide variety ol programme materials for other supply sections and olitside organisations. This includes features, dramatised documentaries, children’s serials and cassettes for the Education Department. Ut might be said that if the recipe calls for any blend of script, actors and production expertise, the Drama Department bakes the cake. In the last year we produced 150 plays, 75 per cent of which were locally writ-

ten; 160 short stories, all locally written; 200 five-min-ute readings and 100 fifteenminute readings; 20 features and three children’s serials. In addition we produced all or part of 125 programmes for other sections and 30 educational cassettes. It’s a very busy bakery. All of this material has to be selected' or commissioned. We receive a vast number of unsolicited submissions which have to be evaluated by the script unit and the production sections. Inexperienced writers whose work shows promise are given help to bring their scripts up to professional standards, whilst established authors are commissioned to write plays based on their own ideas, to dramatise novels or short stories, or to write material on subjects or programme concepts insti-

gated by the department. An example of the last category is “The Armstrong Account,” a 26-part serial which employed five writers. Another is “Top Ten,” a more recent project which will involve 10 writers, each of whom will provide an original play set in consecutive years of a single decade and build around a popular song-hit of the appropriate year. Another recent development has been the commissioning of plays dealing with contemporary social issues and controversial subjects. The broadcasts are followed by panel discussions, often with phone-in questions from listeners. Two of these plays, dealing respectively with the problems of redundancy and drugs, were commissioned for the Continuing Education

unit as part of their broader examination of the issues. On our own behalf we commissioned plays on the subject of inflation, race relations, euthanasia, and also “So Many Everests,” an account of a child suffering from cerebral palsy; it was especially appropriate for the Year of the Disabled, and was featured both on “As It Happens” and TV One’s “Kaleidoscope.” Plays such as these help to create an awareness of the issues presented and add a new dimension to the role of radio drama which New Zealand has apparently been the first country to explore. Another area where we reach out into the community is our involvement both collectively and individually with the theatre. Many of our staff members regularly act and direct for the stage and

are often concerned with radio versions of the same work. The contribution to New Zealand’s cultural life made by radio drama need hardly be spelled out but it should be remembered that for many years it was our only professional “stage.” The survival of our early community theatres was in large part due to the support given by radio to artists who could not have otherwise committed themselves to full-time professionalism. The commitment to actors still exists and is still necessary but has possibly been overtaken by our commitment to local writers. The remarkable increase in local content over the past few years has been achieved without any loss of standards; indeed it is only the high quality which we have helped to develop that has made possible the quantity.