10th International Audio Drama Festival
25-29 March 2024
This is the UNOFFICIAL WEBSITE for the International Radio Drama Festival. The latest news is posted at the TOP of the page; older information is lower down.
Official stuff (entry forms, admin, etc) is on the OFFICIAL festival website: radiodramafestival.org.uk .
How does the festival work?
2024
2023
2022
2021
Detailed notes (about 20 pages): 2024 full programme
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LISTEN TO THE PLAYS
The plays we heard at the festival will be online for a while. Click the link
Listening sessions
to hear them; they are listed by day and broadcast time. The titles and languages of the plays are in the 'listening schedule' shown further down this page.
AUDIENCE AWARD
Voting for our Audience Award is now open!
You have until the 30th April to let us know which work from this year's festival was your favourite.
Submit your vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/23T2FFS
Want to catch up on any AudioDramas you may have missed?
All of this year's works are available to listen to on-demand on our website: https://radiodramafestival.org.uk/listening-sessions/
3 Apr 24
FINAL COMMENTS
THE AWARD CEREMONY
The award ceremony took place on Fri 29 March; the audio of the presentation is given here .
SHORT FORM (up to 7 minutes)
1. Joint winners: The Line, by Raluca Grumazescu, Portable Theatre Timisoara
To the Battle, by Oana Cristae Grigorescu, Radio Romania
2. Faxes in the Storm, by Emily White
3. Arthur & Close, by Resource Productions
LONG FORM: (8-60 minutes)
1. Populist Radio, by Stefano Giannotti, Deutschlandfunk Culture
2. Sisters of Job, by Marta Rebzda, Polish Radio Theatre
3. Alter Ego, by Ulrike Haage, Bavarian Broadcast
DEACON AWARD: BEST YOUNG PRODUCER
Winning play: Faxes in the Storm, by Emily White, Synchromesh.
The award was presented in absentia to the whole team; a collaborative effort
by a group new to radio drama. The play was created as part of the 'Synchromesh' project in Timisoara, Romania, during September 2023.
Congratulations to all concerned.
30 Mar 24
NOTES ON THE PLAYS
SHORT FORM
THE LINE
After the struggles of one of the Capital Years of Culture, a small cultural charity is left bankrupt. In desperation, its members resort to extreme measures whilst having to deal with the absurdity of the system and extreme bureaucracy. The amount of documents the NGOs were required to assemble in order to get financial support are enough to construct a full-size paper pyramid worthy of the Pharoahs.
TO THE BATTLE
A short story by Razvan Ursuleanu, inspired by the reality of the war in Ukraine, seen through a child's eyes. It starts from the manner in which children caught up in war understand things. It is extremely thought-provoking. The piece was made in binaural stereo though the festival played it (as is its custom) in mono.
FAXES IN THE STORM
Set in London, 1989. Jane works in the offices of the national Theatre, answering phone calls and faxes whilst the rest of the company is hundreds of miles away, on tour with The tempest in Moscow. But when things go spectacularly wrong for the production and the world of the play bleeds into reality, Jane has to find a solution ...
ARTHUR & CLOSE
A runt kitten is abandoned by his family. He goes to the city and starts searching for a loving home. The kitten must fight his instincts to be accepted by humans - but at what cost?
(Note that this is a beautifully-written poetic piece, not an examination of animal psychology! - Ed. )
Some pictures from the festival are posted below.
30 Mar 24
LONG FORM
POPULIST RADIO
Populist Radio broadcasts whatever comes across as spectacular and lurid. Accuracy doesn't matter; the form is paramount. Advertisements for absurd products, quotes from reckless politicians and religious fanatics compete for space in this amazing audio extravaganza. Stefano Giannotti probes deeply into the abyss of populist culture.
SISTERS OF JOB
Barbara Sadowska was a poet; with Leopold Przemyk she had a son Grzegorz in 1963. Barbara gave her support to the victims of communist oppression. She supported the demands of Warsaw students in 1968 and KOR activists in 1976-77. She was threatened by the communist authorities; her son was subsequently beaten up by the police and died as a result of his injuries. His funeral became a big anti-communist demonstration, a national rally. There was an official investigation; over the course of a year key witnesses were intimidated, threatened and discredited by the authorities; leads were covered up, evidence tampered with, and Barbara lost the will to live. This play documents these events. It was not long before the communist regime was deligitimized by 'Solidarity'.
ALTER EGO
This play was an exploration, in sound, of the film work of the American experimental film-maker Maya Deren. It is a musically-staged production in which her films almost become visible. In her work, Maya cast such artists as Anais Nin and Marcel Duchamp. This biographical play is constructed using notes, essays, interviews and the unknown letters she wrote to her 'alter ego'. The play uses archive recordings of some of the best-known German actors of the day.
30 Mar 24
PICTURES - click on the thumbnails to see them more clearly. Many thanks to Pete Cudmore (first picture) for his excellent sound system.
MONDAY
THE JURY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
FRIDAY - MORE LISTENING; JUDGING & AWARDS
..
ROMANIAN WINNERS - SHORT FORM
THE SYNCHROMESH GROUP
YOUNG PRODUCERS
Nigel and Alison hoisting the pig for the people below...
EMILY WHITE, YOUNG PRODUCER
DEACON AWARD, YOUNG PRODUCERS
Victoria Sweet, Federica Pipia, Emily White.
31 Mar 24
DARRICK WOOD ENTRY FOR UK AUDIO DRAMA FESTIVAL
An audio drama written and produced by two sixth form students at Darrick Wood School in Orpington has been selected for inclusion at this year’s UK International Audio Drama Festival.
The annual festival, now in its tenth year, is held in Canterbury and will showcase a wealth of audio dramas from over twenty different countries. Radio and audio producers from all over the world are invited to submit up to three of their best plays for the festival, from which a shortlist is drawn up. Darrick Wood’s George Norris and James Monaghan submitted their play ‘The Perfect Christmas Present’ in the short-form category and were delighted to learn that it had been selected.
Students at Darrick Wood School have twice won awards at the festival and the school is delighted to have the work of its students featuring again.
During the week-long festival seventy different audio dramas – recorded in multiple languages and translated for the audience - will feature in a series of listening sessions. At the end of the week a jury will award prizes to the best play in three categories (best long form drama, best short form drama and a best young producer).
(extract from https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/24202733.local-students-feature-international-radio-festival/)
21 Mar 24
UKIRDF 2024 FESTIVAL PROGRAMME (as of 21 Mar 2024)
- times in minutes
MONDAY
1000 England to Australia 1914, English, 26
1030 The Little Gleaner of Sounds, French, 29
1100 The Sister of Job, Polish, 53
1155 short break
1210 The AntVenture App - The Formica Episode, English, 13
1230 Modesty is an Art, Romanian, 6
.........Verlaine, Tennyson and Arthur, English, 5
.........Wrath of the Goddess, German, 1
1245 Here the mistral blows.., French 15
1300 LUNCH
1400 Arthur and Close, English, 5
.........Dreamland, English, 7
1415 Aurora, Spanish, 23
1440 The Cold of Love, Persian, 49
1530 short break
1540 The Rietavas gardener, Lithuanian, 33
1610 Abandoned: Isabel & the Allentown Mafia, English, 19
1630 Red Doc, ep. 1, Swedish, 55
TUESDAY
1000 Your Most Avid Reader, ep. 1, English, 13
1015 Mixing Memory and Desire, German, 60
1115 The Archive,1: Diligent Dairy Worker, Danish, 11
1130 short break
1145 Populist Radio, German / English, 53
1240 The story of the rainbow, Romanian
.........The Mother, 8 languages, 7
.........Childhood in Tresnjevka, Croatian, 7
1300 LUNCH
1400 Homeriada, Melodrame, Albanian, 26
1430 Solitude, English, 45
1515 Save the Light, Polish, 21;
1540 short break
1550 Descendre, French, 55
1645 Wayward, Ukrainian, 9
1655 The Line, Romanian and English, 7
.........Beograd 1924, Serbian/English, 5
1710 Tinerate fara Batranete .... , Romanian, 25
WEDNESDAY
1000 Last Day, Ukrainian/English/French, 16
1020 Langholzfeld, Romanian, 59.59 ....1120?
1120 short break
1135 Dead Ends, English, 28
1205 Lyricae, Italian, 59.50
1300 LUNCH
1400 Hamlet, no language, 5
.........Food Radio, Persian, 5
.........Lost in France, 6
1420 After work, the clothes hang up their people, German / Rumanian, 54
1520 short break
1525 Life is a dream (or perhaps a wee nap), English, 46
1610 On Ulysses' incredible voyage, English/Italian, 6
.........Adventures of a young Pirate Queen,English, 7
War, Sea and a Parrot,Georgian, 6
1630 Zelenbaba, Serbian, 38
THURSDAY
0915 Femempfangsstella, German & Czech, 37
0955 The Ritual, ep. 1, Czech, 16
1015 Dear Alter Ego, German, 57
1115 short break
1130 To The Battle, Romanian, 6
.........The Audition, English, 6
.........Circumstances, 8 languages, 7
1150 The Barber of Seville, Italian, 40
1230 Bloody Writers, English, 48
1320 short break
1330 Let me finish the chapter, Romanian, 3
.........Faxes in the Storm, English, 6
.........On a Quest, French, 3
Urban Paths: Rue St-Catherine, no language, 7
1350 Lydia, English, 40 - then free afternoon (after 1430 close)
FRIDAY
0930 Benchmark, English, 28
1000 As a sign of love, Georgian, 45
1045 The Perfect Christmas Present, English, 6
.........The magic goldfish in the shelter..., Serbian, 7
.........God Complex, English, 7
.........When it Rained, Persian, 4
1120 The Silenced, Italian, 26
1150 Nagasaki, Dutch, German & Japanese, 35
.........I shot him, Persian, 31
1330 LUNCH
1400 Keli, ep. 1, English/Scottish, 40
1230 In the end, everything will be fine ... , German, 16
1440 Batavia, Dutch, 52
.........There will also be an extra event and an online event; times t.b.a.
If you need a single-sheet version of the above for easy reference, it's here -
apologies in advance for any inadvertent typos.
19 Mar 24
SPONSORS FOR THE FESTIVAL
From the IRDF website: .....
With just 6 days to go until our 2024 festival, we want to shine a light on our sponsors and supporters Nigel and Alison Deacon, Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) and Canterbury BID.
We’re proud to be driven by such passionate and enthusiastic sponsors! We can’t wait to see you in a few days at our first listening session.
19 Mar 24
FESTIVAL 2024
It's already March, and the 2024 festival is just around the corner. This is our poster celebrating 'The accomplishment of many years'. Share it far and wide, and don't forget to book your tickets!
5 Mar 24
ATTENDING THE FESTIVAL
Our 2024 festival is now open for bookings.
Attendance is free. Join us from the 25-29 March in Canterbury or tune in online from anywhere around the world.
Book your tickets for:
We can’t wait to see you there!
1 Mar 24
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
LISTENING PROGRAMME FOR THE FESTIVAL
Here is the listening programme for the five days. Please be aware that there may be minor last-minute changes. However this is the running order as we see it:
12 Mar 24
SHORTLIST FOR THE FESTIVAL
The preliminary shortlist for the festival is now decided. There were 217 submissions; many more than ever before. Unfortunately there are only about 50 listening slots in the 5 days - so it is unavoidable that a lot of very good work won't be heard. But the event is a celebration of the radio drama medium - and the number of entries is very encouraging. We all need stories; it's what we are wired for.
The listening programme will be published soon.
29 Feb 24
FESTIVAL UPDATE
Thank you to everyone who submitted this year. This is one of the most international mixes of applications we’ve ever received. We are some way from announcing our shortlist but we wanted to note for the first time entries from:
and to hear the following languages: Albanian, Scottish, Turkish, Japanese, Kiswahili, Korean, Malaysian and Greenlandic. It’s amazing to see the global passion and reach of audio drama, and for us to be able to connect listeners with such an exciting array of voices.
15 Feb 24
UPDATE... FESTIVAL ENTRIES
The final submission count for this year’s festival is in and we are absolutely blown away by the overwhelming response. Our submissions team has been hard at work cataloguing and responding to all your applications - the next step is for our jury to start listening to all the amazing audio dramas we received. This is the most international festival we’ve had. The 217 entries are from 32 countries in 32 languages. We’ll be announcing the short list in a few weeks - so stay tuned!
7 Feb 24
THE REDUCTION IN BBC RADIO DRAMA
As a writer who has written quite a number of plays, series and adaptations for BBC radio, it has been sad to see how the department has atrophied and the output has withered to half of what it was. It gave me my start as a professional writer. I am one of many.
Perhaps a good way to begin to spread the word about this much-revered though little-valued sector would be for the Guardian to have regular radio drama reviews, in the same way that it covers TV, films and theatre.
Moya O’Shea, London
(....The Guardian, 26 Jan 2024; reproduced by permission; thanks Moya)
2 Feb 24
RADIO DRAMA MATTERS NOW MORE THAN EVER
Your editorial on radio drama raises the question of whether it still matters (The Guardian view on radio plays: an underrated cultural resource that must be preserved, 19 January).
The answer must be a resounding yes. No other dramatic art form so directly demands that its audience is a creative partner; no other dramatic art form can take the audience anywhere, in any era; no other art form is so suited to our technologically sophisticated, culturally divided world.
In 2014, we ran the UK’s first international audio drama festival, sharing 30 plays from 12 countries, mostly the work of national broadcasters. In 2024, we have had 200 submissions from 26 countries on five continents, the vast majority by independent producers who will have distributed their work online. The 50 or so plays we choose to share with an in-person and online audience at the end of March in Canterbury will be in 23 languages and hugely diverse. With an English-language script to hand, these plays are truly a window into different cultures and a powerful international cultural connector.
Does radio drama matter? Yes, more than ever.
Melanie Nock
International Arts Partnership
(....The Guardian, 26 Jan 2024; reproduced by permission; thanks Mel)
27 Jan 24
UK INTERNATIONAL AUDIO DRAMA FESTIVAL
I'm pleased to report that 215 entries have been received for the 2024 Festival; double last year's total. Amazing! More information will be posted soon. Now for the mammoth job of sorting through the applications.
21 Jan 24
SUBMISSIONS: FOUR DAYS TO GO
Thinking about submitting to our festival? Then hurry up and get your applications in - submissions close this Friday.
We’re accepting feature length dramas (up to 60 min) and short form dramas (up to 7 min) in any language and from any country.
We promise, this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss.
Apply here: https://ow.ly/QR5v50QqSX7
18 Jan 23
SUBMISSIONS: ONE MONTH TO GO
There's only 1 month left before submissions close on our 2024 festival.
We’re looking for:
-Full length & short form audio dramas
-International applicants
-A multitude of languages
Deadline is 19 Jan. Apply here:
https://ow.ly/Ri1M50QjKOE
19 Dec 23
YOUNG PRODUCERS' AWARD
From the UK International Radio Drama Festival ... "We’re thrilled to announce that the Deacon Award - sponsored by longtime supporters Nigel and Alison Deacon - is back this year for producers under the age of 30."
Winners will be chosen from the festival shortlist and will receive a prize of £1,000.
Eager to have your work featured in our 2024 festival? Apply now to be considered. Click the festival link at the top of the page.
7 Dec 23
ENTRIES UPDATE
Uk, Germany, France, Italy, America, Iran, Argentina.
6 Dec 23
THIS YEAR: VENUE IS THE CATHEDRAL LODGE
Thinking of joining us in person for our 2024 festival? We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be in a brand-new venue, The Canterbury Cathedral Lodge.
You'll enjoy a fantastic and eclectic mix of international radio dramas whilst nestled in the heart of the Canterbury Cathedral Precincts - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The space is not only steeped in rich history, but it’s also a stunning location for celebrating over 100 years of AudioDrama and the 10th anniversary of our festival.
Want to feature your work? Submissions are open and there’s still plenty of time to apply - though don’t wait too long or you’ll risk missing out! Find out more here:
https://ow.ly/c7nY50QbUT0
29 Nov 23
THIS YEAR'S ENTRIES - UPDATE
This year, we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of our festival with the theme
The Accomplishment of Many Years.
Entries are invited for full-length and short form work in any language and from any country - so send us what you've got.
Entries coming in now ...... two months to go before the deadline. Remember that if you commit to joining the jury, we will accept your work into the festival.
22 Nov 23
ABOUT THIS EVENT
The UK International Audio Drama Festival 2024 is back. A unique chance to hear wonderful audio drama lasting from 1 minute to 1 hour. A whole range of languages but English translations provided . A rare chance to hear work from other cultures and other countries. Everyone welcome to join the jury discussion at the end of the day and even to join the jury and make awards. Thanks to our sponsors: ALCS, Arts Council England, Canterbury BID and Nigel and Alison Deacon.
Location: Canterbury Cathedral Lodge, 25-29 March 2024. We look forward to welcoming producers and audience alike for an exciting and stimulating week of listening and discussion.
ONLINE LISTENING SESSIONS
The UK International Audio Drama Festival 2024 will be available for real-time collective online listening in our new hybrid festival format
Listening to audio drama with others is a rare treat! After the success of last year's online festival, we are offering those who cannot make the journey to Canterbury, the opportunity to enjoy the spirit of the festival but online. Hosted, collective zoom sessions will bring the festival to you where you are and enable you to share the joy with others around the world. We hope also to enable remote participation in the jury sessions too.
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WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE LANGUAGES?
THE 2024 FESTIVAL IS NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
We're excited to announce that our 2024 Festival has opened for submissions with a closing date of 19 Jan 2024.
There are two categories for this year's event: full length and short form. Cash prizes are available in both categories for the winning works chosen by the jury. Application forms and regulations are available on the website.
The regulations and appplications forms can be found on the Festival website, here .
And we are very much looking forward to welcoming everyone back in person for a week of wonderful listening, and conversation.
Deacon Award
We are delighted to announce that this award will continue; it is for young producers under the age of 30. The Deacon Award will chosen by the jury from the shortlisted works. This award is generously sponsored by our long time supporters, Nigel and Alison Deacon.
Back to Canterbury
We are very much looking forward to welcoming everyone back to Canterbury for an in-person event. There is no substitute for a conversation over a cup of coffee or pint of beer and the opportunity to get to know people and their work in more depth. And we know how much audiences love listening to audio drama together.
But we also understand that a range of constraints will always prevent some people from travelling so we are building on the success of last year’s online festival and will ensure that anyone can tune in remotely too.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
SUBMISSIONS
Deadline will be 19 January.
We can't wait to listen to the amazing works you send us this year. Hope to see you all in Canterbury!
To get in touch with the Festival team, please email radiodramafestival@gmail.com
COVID ISLAND DRAMAS, 4
Andy Jordan, producer of more radio plays than we can count (not counting The Archers).
Covid Island, episode 4
COVID ISLAND DRAMAS, 3
Jonathan Keeble, radio actor, and voiceover artist, interviewed by Clive Perrott.
Covid Island, episode 3
COVID ISLAND DRAMAS, 2
Jack Klaff, actor, writer and academic, interviewed by Maureen Younger.
Covid Island, episode 2
COVID ISLAND DRAMAS, 1
Nigel Deacon, radio drama collector, chemist and apple breeder, interviewed by Jack Klaff.
Covid Island, episode 1
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