CHARACTERISATION in radio drama
See ALAN BECK'S FORMULA FOR THE MAIN CHARACTERS (in a fixed-end soap) at http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/soap/soap-character-formula.html
| Creating a character who exists in time and space, who acts, and who has ideas and emotions. |
| Back Story - Information that helps flesh out the skeleton story of the radio play. For example, an accident in a character's past that informs the person's actions in the present.
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| · Character conception - from stereotype to psychological complexity |
| · Plot function - how the characters serve the plot |
| · Formal function - characters or aspects of them specific to theatrical communication: narrators, confidantes, foils, etc. |
| ABOVE FROM Wallis, Mick, and Shepherd, Simon, Studying Plays, 1998, London: Arnold |
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| character in terms of dynamic relationship |
| Individualising the type |
| Social context of character |
| Secondary characters |
| dramatic conflict - various types of conflict - subversive conflict of humour |
| surprise and deception |
| What do appearance, gestures, facial expressions, voice signify - in the Lifeworld? |
| How do creative radio actors embody these gestures, looks and glances in their radio acting? |
| How do radio characters interact with each other - beyond the words? Note the 'umms'. |
| Grouping of characters in the scene - what is the radio blocking in studio production? |
| How do characters create suspense, ambiguity, wrong clues, complexity, and certainties? |
| See - William Ash, The Way to Write Radio Drama, 1985, London: Elm Tree Books. |
To Analysing radio drama
To Radio Drama Theory Lesson Plan
