THE extraordinary longevity of radio as a live entertainment form is fast realising its potential for reinvigorating the art of playwriting, and Canberra is experiencing the phenomenon, too.

Over the last couple of years, for instance, The Street Theatre and Canberra Rep have staged radio plays, and the resurrected Papermoon Theatre Company has a podcast series, “Paper Moon Radio Theater”.

Now, retired admin officer at the ANU, playwright Bart Meehan, and “CityNews” musical theatre writer, Bill Stephens, have joined forces to create a new play series on ArtSound FM public radio that seems likely to continue into the future. 

Each 30-minute episode of the series “ArtSound Radio Theatre” features one or two short plays, most of them newly written by contemporary playwrights of the Canberra region or sourced from the ArtSound archives.

It’s already up and running, with productions of “Shopping for Underwear” by Harriet Elvin, “The Last Letter” by Meehan and “The Boy Who Came with the Frame” by another “CityNews” writer, John Lombard, among the seven plays broadcast by the time you’re reading this.

Stephens, a long-time presenter at ArtSound FM with all the technical know-how, has provided the directing and technical savvy, while Meehan, whose “Love in Lockdown?” was one of the six plays selected into the UK’s 2020 “Pint-Size Plays” competition this year, is learning fast.

Papermoon’s Tony Turner was to have staged Meehan’s “The Parting Glass” at the Courtyard Studio in April-May this year before covid struck, but during a preview interview on Stephens’ radio program “In the Foyer”, he and Meehan had discussed the use of radio for plays, a conversation which continued after the Courtyard production was postponed.

Meehan was already a radio fan and recalled fondly his childhood in Darwin before TV, when he tuned into ABC radio serials and weekly plays by writers like Ruth Park and Douglas Stewart which were, he says, “absolutely magnificent… I’ve always liked the idea of radio in terms of its audience having to use their imagination”.

He and Stephens agreed with ArtSound on a separate program dedicated to radio plays written and presented by Canberra writers, directors and actors.

Mind you, the season does also include “Village Wooing”, a play told in three conversations written by George Bernard Shaw in 1936, as well as out-of-copyright plays by Alan Ayckbourn and Alan Bennett and an excerpt from “Under Milk Wood”, performed by Richard Burton as an exemplar of radio theatre.

The series also includes introductory segments and interviews.

Stephens says that at one stage, he considered pulling old plays out of the ArtSound vaults, but found problems with copyright and also the quality of shows recorded so long ago. “They would not have made riveting listening,” he says.

Instead he began using his connections with Canberra writers, many of whom have plays in the bottom drawer that have even won prizes. He’d directed a 10-minute Harriet Elvin play with Liz St Clair Long acting, and thought that would work, looked at other entries that were part of “Short+Sweet Canberra”, and is now considering monologues staged by Perform Australia. Happily, he and Meehan found it relatively easy to adapt dialogue-based plays for radio.

Timing is of the essence in radio programming, Stephens says and one question is how much you can fit into an hour program, and how to fill in the gaps.

For Meehan’s part, there was a solid connection with local actors, many like Tony Turner and Elaine Noon from Papermoon, keen professionals such as Joanna Richards and some from “Short+Sweet”.

“My interest as a playwright is in character, rather than a narrative in what the characters feel and how they react. You draw on your own life experience,” he says.

And the enterprise continues. Although he’ll probably do some guest appearances as director and presenter, after co-producing 11 episodes, Stephens believes Meehan is ready to go it alone.

“ArtSound Radio Theatre” Sundays at 4pm, 92.7FM, 90.3FM in the Tuggeranong Valley, online at artsound.fm, and via digital radio. Inquiries from playwrights are welcome via admin@artsound.fm

Series 1:

December 27: “The Christmas Fairy” by Adele Lewin and Nigel Palfreyman

January 3: “Village Wooing” by GBS

January 10: “Odd Girl” and “Home” by Bart Meehan

January 17: “Dreams of Dublin Bay” by Frank Dunn

January 24: “Going Round” by Alan Bennett and “10 Minutes Left” by Bart Meehan

January 31: “Armageddon in Loo Rolls” by Nigel Palfreyman and “Stargazers” by Greg Gould

February 7:” A Comedy of Danger” by Richard Hughes (from the ArtSound Archives) and “Under Milk Wood,” excerpt, by Dylan Thomas