Interview with producer of Bow Down Shadrach, Kate Orgias

Background

Kate has been interested in the media ever since before she was 11. While at school she contacted newspapers, TV, and radio stations and worked voluntarily for them to gain experience. When she left college she went to broadcasting school at the Christchurch Institute of Technology and completed a Bachelor of Broadcasting degree. Since then she has been working for Radio New Zealand. Bow Down Shadrach is her first major production project.

Why did you choose this novel to make into a radio play?
I had read Bow Down Shadrach when I was younger and had really enjoyed it. I came across it again after I had finished my degree and realised that it had the potential to make a great radio play. I developed a proposal which I submitted to the drama department at Radio New Zealand. It was accepted and we were able to go ahead with the project.

Why did you decide to record some of the play on location rather than in a studio?
We recorded scenes from the play in a church, a house, a playground, and on a farm. The advantages of this were that you get all of the natural backgrounds sounds that you want built in. You don't need to find them and then layer them in after the voices have been recorded. It makes the editing process much easier at the end.

The other advantage was that as quite a few of our actors were children, they were able to go off and make noise, run around and let off steam in between takes. A studio can be quite stuffy with a number of people in it. The disadvantages are that bad weather can delay the recording process, and sometimes you get wild sound that you don't want, such as planes flying overhead. If that happens, you need to stop or re-take a scene.

What were some of the challenges that you faced in making this radio play?
We were able to source sound effects that we wanted fairly easily, so I think that my greatest challenge was the pre-production side of things. Organising the rehearsal and production schedule was difficult as we had a comparatively large cast, many of whom had other commitments that we needed to fit around. It was very time consuming communicating with everyone, and I think that the schedule was revised 20 times before recording started.

Working with young actors can also be a challenge. They may not be used to working in the same way as professional actors, but also have lots of energy which is a good thing. The best thing to do overall is to roll with the punches and work with the team that you have.

What do you see as positive features of radio drama?
There is a realism that you can achieve with radio drama that is difficult to achieve on the stage. The sounds that you use can be real sounds. You can create a large environment which is very exciting. You can also create almost any environment that you want to without the need for set or even a stage. Actors can play roles that they might not be suited to physically – and even do it in their pyjamas!