17th April 2009
Less is More: Radio Acting
Uncovered
As RWCMD celebrates its eighth winner of BBC Radio
Drama's Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award, Senior Acting Lecturer,
Marilyn Le Conte explains the joys and challenges of acting for
radio.
Studies show that 90% of communication is
non-verbal. Facial expressions, gestures and eye contact are vital
in conveying emotion and meaning. So how then is it possible to
create a believable character and engrossing atmosphere using only
your voice?
According to Marilyn, there are four things
employed when making radio drama: voice, sound effects, music and,
particularly important, silence. Carleton Hobbs, legendary radio
actor, lived by the rule, less is more, and was able to
convey emotion and presence with very few words.
Acting for radio is not a simple skill to
master. There are many challenges that a radio actor faces. You
must read without sounding as though you are reading and turn pages
without making a noise. Radio microphones are extremely sensitive
and can be very unforgiving; they pick up every detail so every
detail must be perfect! A wide range of expression and colour must
be expertly portrayed by the voice, a very specific art. “You
can really make people listen to the smallest sound,” Marilyn
explains whispering.
Marilyn spends a lot of energy persuading her
students to consider radio acting as one of their employment
possibilities. The genre has many advantages; a radio project is
very quick to produce due to the lack of visuals so a radio job can
be done in a day or less, it can lead into voice over work for
which there is a huge market and is usually done by just a small
proportion of the work force, and there is more new writing in
radio than in any other genre bar Hollywood film so the amount and
range of work available is enormous.
You can play any character that suits your
voice. You may not be typically good-looking but long to play the
dashing hero. In radio if you sound like Romeo, you can play Romeo!
In addition to this you are much more likely to land a lead role
as, unlike film and television, there is no star culture in
radio.
One of the worst things about working in
television and film is that you often have to get up very early to
have your make up/prosthetics/costume done. This is not something a
radio actor has to deal with!
“Sometimes (on screen)
you can look grim and you’re not supposed to… but on the radio you
can look like the wrath of God and nobody cares as long as you
sound like an angel!”says
Marilyn.
BA Acting students at the College benefit from
Marilyn’s vast expertise in this area and the use of professional
standard studio equipment. They start studying radio acting in the
autumn term of their second year and in the summer term they
produce a radio project, usually directed by Gordon House, retired
Head of BBC Radio Drama. Many RWCMD students have gone on to
find employment in local and national radio productions as a
result of this unique training experience.
BBC Radio Drama's Carleton Hobbs Bursary
Award is one of the year's main highlights for final year
undergraduates. Around 80 students from 20 UK drama colleges
compete each year for this prestigious award and RWCMD has
produced eight winners and four runners up since
1996.
Marilyn coaches students in intense rehearsals
in the period running up the the competition, usually on Saturday
mornings. The students compete live in front of a panel at
Bush House in London. The RDC are looking for distinctive,
versatile radio voices to form the next Radio Drama
Company. The actors need to show a special
talent for performing for microphone, good sight reading
skills, range and an understanding of studio etiquette and
procedure.
Marilyn Le Conte joined the College in 1986.
After graduating in Drama from Hull University in 1971 she worked
extensively as an actress and her experience in radio drama led to
her current job at RWCMD. She is co-author of the ‘Radioactive’
series of radio audition books with Marina Caldarone for A&C
Black/Methuen, and a freelance dialect consultant.