An audio drama is a purely acoustic performance which is dramatized with theatrics to convey the ideas to the audience. It largely depends on dialogue, music and sound effects due to lack of visual element. The dialogues, music and sound effects are different elements of radio drama which helps the audience to visualize.
With the advent in technology and rise in popularity of radio as a tool of public communications, radio drama was introduced post world war I. Gradually, it gained widespread popularity within a decade and by 1940’s it was a leading international popular entertainment. It started losing its audience with the rise in television industry but still remains extremely popular. Here are the important elements of the audio drama.
Characters
Characters define a radio drama. The entire storyline dwells on the characters. A radio play generally has fewer characters than a staged play as radio is an audio medium and the voice retention value is lesser for the audience. It is important for characters to have distinctive voices. It helps the audience to identify actor by the voice. . The character's voice provides a range of information about the character, their age, ethnicity, social background, etc which helps in plot development. Characters help in building connection with the audience outside the play. Audience relate with the characters and their journey.
Actions
Describing actions is extremely important in a radio drama as audience cannot see the actions. The actions are not restricted to physical locations. Actions define the characters and the further consequences of the story line in the drama. They are shorter than stage play scenes because radio plays tend to be shorter than stage plays and because radio drama do not have as many pauses in the dialogue for action.
Sound Effect
Sound effect plays a key role in a radio drama. It adds the atmosphere to context of dialogues and the entire drama. It is a crucial element in radio drama production. Sound effect plays a vital part as vision is not part of the production. Due to lack of visuals, audience might get confused about the time, place and setting of the play if the right sound effect is used. Sound effects guide the mood and atmosphere of the radio drama. It provides additional information about the context of the play.
Silence
Silence is an important part of a radio drama. It is used to create dramatic tensions or conflict in the drama. It is commonly use in suspense and thriller radio plays to establish a scene or major plot development.
