It wasn't possible to find two plays produced by the same person.I Chose two plays from radio 4 that were based around musicians. That though was the only real similarity as these plays were quite different. I believe that part of the reason that the production techniques vary between the two so greatly is down to the fact that they are different genres. "Quartet" is a comedy whilst the "Singer" is a drama and a love story. Different approaches have been taken to produce the best work possible, and they are both great plays.I have endeavored to pick out the parallels where i can find them in this producer survey.
Quartet TX Thursday 21st November
By Donna Franceschild A musician loses everything and accidentally gains a jazz quartet.
Robbie ...... Gerry Mulgrew
Stuart ...... Callum Cuthbertson
Iain ...... Stephen McCole
Delilah ...... Katy Murphy
Piano by Eoin Millar; director Kirsty Williams.
There is no monologue in the introduction for this play and it begins with the two main characters. The scene is quite lengthly, I believe this was to enable the writer to set up the characters properly as there were 4 in total in this play. As a listener the initial length of the first scene led me to think that I would need to really listen and that this play would be a slower pace than "the singer", which had more and shorter scenes. The play was set in the lounge of main characters house. The producer used lot's of mic positioning techniques to give the illusion that the characters were moving around the room. Similar to "the singer", "quartet" used ambient weather sound effects which I felt helped to give the scene a lonely oppressive feel which mirrored the main character's mood. As with "the singer" music was used to great effect in the quartet only rather than being used to break up scenes it was used for comedy effect by the actors themselves( comedy drum roll etc...). All the music is diagetic in the play. The script for "quartet" is fantastic and it is this rather than the production( which is rather simple) that carries this play and as with "the Singer" in "the Quartet" Robbie's character arc is central to the story. His journey from his isolation and loneliness to happiness.
The Singer TX Tuesday 18th November
By Lizzie Nunnery
Frustrated musician Martin is infatuated by the sound of Kirsten singing from the flat downstairs and embarks on an affair with the singer and her voice that threatens everything he has.
Martin ...... Mark Womack
Claire ...... Emma Cunniffe
Kirsten ...... Liz Carter
All songs written by Lizzie Nunnery. Music performed by Lizzie Nunnery with Vidar Norheim.
Director Pauline Harris.
The play begins with a monologue from the main character although this is fairly short and characteristic of most of the scenes in this play, which are sharp, snappy and short. The play has several different locations including a flat, college corridor, cafe and train station. The producer has made clever use of mic positioning and eq'ing, rolling off the high frequencies to give the impression of music drifting up from the flat below. The music in this play is both diagetic and non diagetic. It is used to break up scenes and is also used in the scenes played by the characters themselves. There is on scene in which the music used to separate a scene then appears to come out of a radio in the next one. There are three characters in this play but only two appear at any one time, that coupled with the length of the scenes keeps things interesting and easy to follow. The singer also uses interesting ambient effects and like in "the quartet" the noise of rain seems to be used in a scene which is meant to be sad. I don't believe this to be coincidence rather a clever trick to provoke emotion from the listener. This scene made use of the proximity effect during the characters monolges to give the impression that they were talking directly to the listener. In summation of the two my favorite has to be quartet I found the dialogue and humor in the play are witty and sharp and the story line very original. Although the singer was a good play I felt the script weaker than quartet but the production values to be a higher standard and more complex
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