Radio play season in December

CRN celebrates the revival of the radio play with the distribution of some great plays during December.

They'll be playing in both Extras 1 on Wednesdays at 13:04 EDT, and live on Saturday nights at 20:00 EDT, and will be available for DDN capture.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Written originally in 1939 by Joseph Kesselring, it was made into a highly successful film in 1944, before first being broadcast on radio in 1946. The action concerns a drama critic Mortimer Brewster, who returns to his family home in Brooklyn to visit his two sweet Aunties and his slightly insane brother (who thinks he is President Teddy Roosevelt), only to find that between them they have killed 13 men with spiked elderberry wine and buried them in the cellar. Recorded live in front of a studio audience, by the Woodstock Players (pictured) and 2SER. 56 minutes. Playing Wed 4 Dec (Extras 1) and Sat 7 Dec.

Said the Spider

A small community is on edge after a local crime, and the weather conditions aren't helping. A 20-minute slice of radio noir adapted by Coast FM Gosford. 21 minutes. Playing Wed 11 Dec (Extras 1) and Sat 14 Dec.

Hearing Voices

Sydney's Radio Skid Row got a new generation of writers together to redicover audio drama, with its uncanny ability to conjure weird and wonderful worlds out of sound and voice. They came up with six new Australian plays for radio which were performed by actors in front of a live audience – with live sound effects. One of the feature actors is Play School's Jay Laga' aia- who not only acts but does a ukelele solo at the end! Durations TBC. Playing Wed 18 Dec (Extras 1) and Sat 21 Dec.

Batfeet

Do you have dreams in which you're being chased by things you're not sure you should be afraid of, like a vampire on a segway, or the ghost of a chicken? This play from Sydney-based Nick Coyle is about life's end, focusing on a man who has died being confronted with the life he has lived. Recorded live by fBI. 39 minutes. Playing Wed 25 Dec (Extras 1) and Sat 28 Dec.

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The Community Radio Network is the CBAA's satellite program distribution service. If your station has produced a radio play or radio serial, and would like to make it available to the network for a subsequent special, contact CRN today.

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Pictured: The Woodstock Players (from Arsenic and Old Lace)