R4 Wrap for May 2013 – Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth

Having rehearsed our original adaptation on Sunday afternoons in the month of April at the Learning Kitchen, we recorded the vocal tracks for future broadcast on Saturday, May 4 at ICRT FM100 studios in XinShuang. We were finished in a reasonable amount of time (six hours) and all seemed pleased with the day’s work.

After the recording date, our cast list shifted, as there were three members who would not participate in the live performance, scheduled for May 19 at the NTU College of Medicine. The new cast met on Sunday, 5/5 at LK where we were accompanied by our “Noisemakers”, Sherry Li and Evelyn Philbrook (pictured above).

Between 5/5 and showdate, there was one Sunday: we worked in the venue at NTUCM, “The Small Round Theatre”. It was  a “dress rehearsal” only roughly speaking, as we still had details to work out. But it’s often been noted that, in the world of radio drama, detailed planning and carefully noted instructions can be a more efficient means to a successful end than repetitive rehearsal.

We presented our Macbeth twice on Sunday May 19th, the first house was nearly full, only a handful of empty seats. The second house was half-full: still a decent turn-out. We have noticed before that the Sunday evening show is not a good “seller”.

Back at the studio during the following week, Ping Liu and I edited our six-hour taping session down to approximately 45 minutes. Music and sound effects will be added when I return from my summer in the States. I’ll spend time over the summer reviewing the music selections we used for the live show and expanding on them. (More music is used in a radio rendition, overall, than a live show.) Sound effects for the broadcast rendition will be found in the ICRT sound library.

The broadcast of Macbeth has not been yet been scheduled.

I’ll be in the States from early in June until mid-August and I plan to put in time preparing for Dracula. I want to be in touch with prospective cast members, as it may be possible to make some casting decisions with the help of the internet and audio files. More about that in my next post.

We are growing fast! Our sustainability will depend on some more help behind the scenes. This month we welcomed an extremely valuable Project Manager Jen Wen and it is fortunate that she has been able to find assistance among the Red Room community members. We also attracted a young audio technician but it looks likely that he will be unavailable in the fall. Our wish list, for personnel, includes: Audio Technician & Photographer/Videographer. It’s been strongly suggested that we contact area schools as likely venues with enthusiastic audiences. This calls for a Liaison to Educational Institutions. a person dedicated to communicating with the English departments in the various area schools.

Can you help out? contact Ruth at r4.radioredux@gmail.com.