Today I’m interviewing my costars in Sinbad and The Pirate Princess:  Mark Redfield, founder of Redfield Arts and Poe Forevermore; Caroline Munro (Midsomer Murders; The New Avengers; The Spy Who Loved Me); and Martine Beswick (One Million Years B.C.; Thunderball; Falcon Crest) as we talk about radio plays in the age of digital, the difference between audio work in the US vs the UK and how to bring a play to life with just your voice.

Belle: Hi everyone! Now that we’ve just finished up day one of recording, I’ve got you all to myself!

::laughter::

So, tell me a bit about yourselves and what we’re all doing here. 

Mark Redfield: I am Mark Redfield and I’m the producer, director and one of the actors in Sinbad and The Pirate Princess, which is being done under the umbrella of Poe Forevermore Radio Theater; which is a series of audio plays, although in this case due to the length and style of Sinbad and The Pirate Princess we’re using the term audio novella to differentiate it from an audio play. So, this week we’re recording the actors and in post production we’ll add in the sound effects and put the world around it with that and music. And it will be out on iTunes and cd for folks.

Caroline Munro: Hello, first it was lovely to work with you, Belle.

Belle: Thank you!

Caroline: My name is Caroline Munro from England, if anyone’s curious, and we’re here working on this wonderful thing with Mark our director, producer and main man and I am the Pirate Princess! It’s been so exciting, we’ve had a ball today recording it, it’s been so much fun working with all of you! And with my lovely, lovely friend Martine Beswick. And such a great cast! We’re also here for the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in….where are we?

Mark: Hunt Valley, MD

Caroline: Oh goodness, I sound daft! I’m a bit five hours ahead!

Mark: Well, it’s a big shift! We’ve been concentrating so hard on the show that it’s hard to switch gears from being in a show to show business and conventions and fans and the like.

Caroline: Exactly. It’s a very different gear.  But we had a wonderful time doing this and it was amazing working with you lot.

Martine Beswick: And I am Martine Beswick, and I’m here with my sister over here, maybe not by birth but certainly by spirit. And at the moment, we are playing opposites. I am so thrilled to be doing this actually. It was such a wonderful surprise, and I’m really, really happy because I’ve never done an audio novella before and also, it’s really lovely to work with Caroline! We don’t have any scenes together, but –

Belle: You get to play together.

Martine: Yeah, yeah. And I’m very happy to be doing this and working with all of you. I’m really impressed with the cast, well done Mark.

Mark: Actually you do have a scene coming up together.

Martine: What?!

Mark: You have one.

Caroline and Martine: Yes!

Caroline: And Martine is such an magnificent Baddie!

Belle: Yes, you are such a good bad guy. It is amazing.

Martine: I’ve been training for it for many years.

::laughter::

Caroline: She has! You do it well!

Martine: After playing Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde and I did all the killing.

Belle: It creeps me out how much you enjoy saying, ‘I did all the killing…muauahahahaha’

::laughter::

Belle: Okay, well my first question, since most of us come from Theater or Film backgrounds, and I, personally have never done an audio play before: what’s challenging about bringing this script to life specifically as it relates to being an audio play?

Martine: Well, I tell you, first of all, having never done it before, I had no idea you’d never done it before. Oh my God, I’m really impressed.

Belle: Thank you!

Martine: The thing about it is, it suddenly occurred to me, I’ve got to do it in such a way to make it visual for the listeners. I have no idea how to do it except, when I hear words, my camera goes off. I have an internal camera. So, how do I translate that into making those pictures for people out there? I still don’t know how to do it. ::laughter:: but I think I had moments where I hit certain points, I felt it and so hopefully the audience gets it. So, that’s where I am with that.

Caroline : It is, it’s a different process from film. I haven’t done stage, I’ve done pantomime in England, which is very different.

Belle: Yes, I’ve done Panto before.

Caroline: You have? Yes, it’s fantastic, but it’s not Shakespeare, I haven’t done that, So, it’s all been film. But, I have worked with Mark before on a radio play, so it’s like dipping my feet back in the waters. But it’s hard! But I think, absolutely what Martine says about the visuals. You basically, you read your script, get as much as you can about the character and then enjoy it and make it as real as you can.

Mark: For me, there’s a couple of different things I’m minding at the same time. The key to this piece is, it’s very melodramatic, very old fashioned fairy-tale. Trying to keep it interesting, there’s a great deal narration that carries the story, which is very different from what I’ve done before, so that when we do get to a scene it has more of an impact.

What makes a good hero/villain?

Mark: As a director, the key to that is casting voices that are rich and can seize the melodrama and run with it, yet when they get to the quiet moments they are natural and real. Because if it’s all one speed and it’s all one rhythm that’s boring.

Caroline: And certainly, your character (Martine), you have to find the lights and shades.

Martine: No, you can’t be one note.

Caroline: And she’s not, she’s really not

Martine: That’s tedious. For you and the audience.

Belle: And tiring.

Martine: For everyone involved.

::laughter::

Martine: Color, never just a baddie, or a goodie. Like, Caroline’s character, little miss goody two shoes here is a pirate! She’s killed people!

Belle: And your character, she’s psychotic. Yet, she’s a good ruler and beloved by her people.

Mark: Yes, as a director, it’s shaping the actors with the right voices to the right characters, so that they are coming to life, which has worked out very well. These characters are living in a very strong way.

Belle: Why did you want to be involved in this production?

Mark: I wanted to make something that people in their 50s and 60s could enjoy and share with their children and grandchildren without having to worry too much about language and that kind of thing.

Martine: Wouldn’t children like this too?

Belle: I think so, I think it’s just scary enough but still fun.

Martine: Just a little bit of fright!

Mark: Yes, this is one of several of plays we have coming up in the next few years that are specifically targeted to families so that maybe you can put it on in the car and get the children to put the tablets/phones away and get enraptured as a family.

The spark that started this with Stuart Voytilla, who’s my long time writing partner, was I wanted to work with Caroline again. We, Caroline and I, were working on a project called Harker and The Shadow of Dracula, which is next in the list of things we’re going to do but is a long gestating project. So we wanted to do something else and I thought, ‘Hey, why don’t we do something with Sinbad?’ Which, Caroline was in a great film called The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, which was produced by Charles Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. 

So, I thought, ‘Why don’t we do something that would resonate with Caroline’s fans?’ And then into the pot I thought, ‘Why don’t we drag Martine into this?’ ::laughter:: As, in Caroline’s own words, they’re great mates and had never worked together. Wouldn’t it be fun if they were adversaries?

The other part of it was to give the female characters some real meat. Because, let’s face it, in the older movies the female characters were a little passive.

Belle: A little?

::laughter::

Mark: But also, Sinbad, in the movies he’s a very reactionary character. Not to take away from marvelous performances but he doesn’t do anything so I wanted to give him a part where he actually did something, I wanted to give him an actual Hero’s Journey. So, we layered in the mystery and made Sinbad a bit of a detective in this. And now all of these characters have actual arcs.

Belle: What’s the difference between US and UK audio work?

Mark: Well, in the US we don’t really have audio plays any longer. At best we have books on audio, which is very big business around the world. And even when we did, it was just Hollywood actors who didn’t really infuse the work. So, it was very truncated dialogue with very stiff performances and lots of sound effects. It didn’t really paint a picture. And when you did get a show like Gunsmoke, which had depth and resonance, it went away when it became a tv show.
Whereas in England, to this day there’s a range of audio drama: from what we’re doing, something very melodramatic and over the top, to almost David Mamet type works, to supplementals to televisions shows like Doctor Who.

Belle: Well, it’s been a pleasure everyone, I look forward to working with you all again, and thank you again Mark for casting me and introducing me to these wonderful ladies.

Martine: I’m loving this. It’s been wonderful!

Caroline: Yes! I was so scared at first but it’s been fantastic.

Mark: Well, thank you ladies, you’ve been amazing.