What's particularly strange about this for me is that radio drama should be really compelling - it should be like eavesdropping on someone's conversation and creating a picture of what is going on for myself, rather than seeing what a director has chosen to present on TV. Instead, it normally sounds pretentious and self-conscious, especially protagonist-narrated dramas. I don't know why. Perhaps the actor isn't doing it justice. Perhaps I'm unsophisticated. Perhaps contemporary writers try too hard. Classics are fine, funnily enough - I'm always happy to tune in to Dickens or Austen in the expectation that they'll be OK. It's modern stuff that has me swiping back to the menu in the hope of finding something else that flows without jarring.
Next day
Listened to some more today. Self-consciousness is definitely the main problem, and the theatrical way of talking - however subtle they try to be, it still sounds like they're hamming it up centre stage at the National Theatre.
Today
I've cracked it! It's because we can't see or feel the non-verbal stuff that's going on between the characters, so it has to be made obvious in other ways. Those other ways sometimes have to be woven into the conversation, which makes it sound contrived. And conversations don't flow like that - people interrupt each other, start sentences without finishing them (or change what they were going to say half way through), and say "whatever" a lot. Conversations are disjointed, and supplemented by body language. Radio will never be able to reflect this accurately.
Phew. Now I've cracked that, I can open a refreshing bottle of Shloer.
Next day
Listened to some more today. Self-consciousness is definitely the main problem, and the theatrical way of talking - however subtle they try to be, it still sounds like they're hamming it up centre stage at the National Theatre.
Today
I've cracked it! It's because we can't see or feel the non-verbal stuff that's going on between the characters, so it has to be made obvious in other ways. Those other ways sometimes have to be woven into the conversation, which makes it sound contrived. And conversations don't flow like that - people interrupt each other, start sentences without finishing them (or change what they were going to say half way through), and say "whatever" a lot. Conversations are disjointed, and supplemented by body language. Radio will never be able to reflect this accurately.
Phew. Now I've cracked that, I can open a refreshing bottle of Shloer.
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