STORY-TELLING ON THE AIR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 923, 18 April 1957, Page 18

STORY-TELLING ON THE AIR

"C)YNCE upon a time. . ."-and as the story begins, so must we attend. The art of the story-teller is one of the oldest in the world, as long-lasting as it is widespread. It takes many forms, but whether the story is told as history, drama, epic or song, our interest lies mainly in the unfolding events. The narrative tradition is oral, but development of the printing trade and our increasing literacy has meant that most of us read our stories by ourselves instead of gathering round to: listen to the story-teller, Now the story-teller has found a new audience in those who listen to the radio. In the ’30s, "A. J. Allen," one of the BBC’s most popular broadcasters, told stories specially invented for a radio audience. These stories were broadcast in New Zealand up to a few years ago, and we have had here several readers of short stories-Brian O’Bryan and Kenneth Melvin (Tusitala) were two of them. Occasionally New Zealand writers have read their own stories over the air. But some 12 years ago Bernard Beeby, NZBS Supervisor of Productions, had the idea of producing short stories with appropriate music for a setting and with a reader for each particular story. At first there was some diffidence about the project, but time has proved the popularity of this programme. It is specially welcomed by those who may not have the time or inclination to listen to longer plays. The first group of stories was called Stories Old and New. Later the series title was dropped, "There is now a terrific demand," Mr Beeby said, "and we have to keep to a tight schedule. Fortunately, there are many authors of good short stories, all over the world. We have an entry in the Writers and Artists’ Yearbook, listing the NZBS requirements, and the agents end writers overseas know that the NZBS_ uses suitable _ stories. Playwrights who have had a play

La produced sometimes write to say that they also’ write short stories and to ask are we interested? Of course -we are. The NZBS buys only the New Zealand broadcasting rights, so some writers sent published material, but stories do not necessarily sound as well as they read. We have used the work of many New Zealand writers, and there is a long list of authors with one, two or three stories to their credit. Some of the writers whose work has more. often been broadcast are Nancy Bruce, George Joseph, J. H. Sutherland and Temple Sutherland... When a story is submitted to the Productions Department it is read by two people before it goes to Mr Beeby for a final de-

cision. He says of this procedure: "I look for a good plot, with a quick buildup, that is simple and convincing. The plot must be down to the bare bones and still retain interest. I want sound characterisation and preferably strong comedy or tragedy. We accept every manner and type of story, provided it meets our standards, Even with these requirements, this is still one of the most successful fields of publication for New Zealand authors,\They seem to be better in this field than in many others, and many submit considerably better short stories than plays." Once a story has been accepted, a reader has to be chosen for it. There are many readers available-regular recording artists and some specially auditioned for short story reading. Lately Roy Leywood has been producing many of these stories, and we asked him how he selected the readers, "Well, first of all I consider the mood of the story. If it is comic, you need a reader with a sense of humour, with a ‘bubble’ in his voice. Some voices are basically serious. Then there’s the setting. A New Zealand background needs a New Zealand accent, and similarly an Australian story. For English or Contin-' ental stories we like to use a standard English voice, unless a dialect is required. But reading a story is a definite art." The stories must seem to be told, not read. To do this really well, the reader should have a clear picture in his mind and make it come ‘alive for the listener. Before the story is recorded, it has to be timed for length. The usual recorded length is fourteen and a half minutes, and it is a very difficult task to cut a story which is just a fraction too long. Then the music is chosen, to set the right mood. When the reader arrives, the story is rehearsed as carefully as a play, to be sure that the emphasis is placed so as to bring out the meaning most clearly. ;

We asked Michael Cotterill, who had been recording Bus 31, what he thought of this type of work, and how it compared with acting a part, "It’s quite different," -he said. "In a play, you’ve got a character and that’s that. With this, you’ve got to go straight on. You can’t really get inside any of the characters because you have to keep a balance between the narrative and the dialogue, often changing mood and tone with every sentence-a_ difficult thing to do. In dialect plays, for instance, it’s very easy to be carried away by the action and speak the nartrative parts in dialect. As for a story with more than one dialect-!" "You've got to keep your eyes glued (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) on the page," he went on. "You can’t relax for a moment. When they used to record the stories directly on to discs, it was a real nightmare-one fluff and you had to start all over again on a new disc. As you got to the end there was a wave of panic to get it all over quickly before you made the inevitable mistake. Once you make one, you lose the thread of the story, and you remember it until you make another one. It’s much better now that we record on tapes, but it’s still a most difficult thing to do." It is a tribute, surely, to the recording artists that the radio short story has remained so popular with listeners.