Radio Drama. Production, Language and Narrative Choices: Three Approaches to the Creation of Space in Time

Abstract

To create on the sole ground of time a space that would not exist elsewhere, and make characters act in this space: that is what radiodrama is about. The radio drama format had great presence in Spanish Radio main chains and stations until the late eighties. With some exceptions, such as, between 1993 and 2003, the very popular Supernatural and Tales, by Juan José Plans in Radio 1, and the commitment of Radio 3 between 1999 and 2003, with the serial by Carlos Faraco When Juan and Tula went to Siritinga and many other fiction features, fiction had since little prominence in the Spanish radio. However, in the second decade of this century, that has even seen the summoning of an International Radio Drama Congress, patronized by the TEA FM School of Saragosse, now in its fourth Edition, the interest grows among professionals and students, and the “majors” in Radio Broadcasting, though timidly, seem to be recovering fiction and bringing it back to their programming schedules. Just two examples: in the public radio the serial Don Quixote of the 21st Century, in addition to other fictional features, programmed every six months; and, in commercial radio, the Cadena SER, the serial by Mónica León Criminal and Black or The Christmas Carol, wich has been it’s greeting to the audience the last three seasons. This article deals with the concept of radio theatre and other forms of fictional radio and with the evolution of the format in the radio broadcasting history. It finnaly offers three approaches to fictional drama for radio, and it’s results, through three different ways to face narration, action and radio language, in three plays produced by the National Radio of Spain: Cabeza de Vaca: the Many Lifes of Alvar Núñez, Heirs of Time and Heart of Darkness