Established in 2006 to improve the accessibility of theatre,
the Bunbury Banter Theatre Company specializes in radio plays, which have been broadcast on numerous radio stations as well
as being available for purchase and/or download from the company's website.
What distinguishes this company's work from other radio
drama outfits, both in the United Kingdom and United States, is their understanding of how listeners consume the genre.
Rather than sitting down on a specific occasion to listen to a piece, we copy the plays on to our listening devices and enjoy
them as we are doing something else: I, for one, listen to most radio plays while travelling to and from my place of work
(although I'd like to assume the role, I am unfortunately not a full-time radio reviewer). Sometimes the time-windows
for listening to plays are limited: the Bunbury Banter Theatre Company have responded to this by creating short dramas, lasting
between 10-15 minutes each, which often prove more convenient listening as compared to Radio 4's 90-minute long plays.
Despite the shortness of the
plays, they are nonetheless extremely well written. I quote three examples: Jack Williams' Happiness, from
Series Two (Sci-Fi Fiction) creates a dystopian world in which happiness as a concept is disseminated by central government
- rather like Orwell's 1984-world - but no one appears to be able to enjoy it. Even when individuals do experience happiness
for themselves, it is fleeting and often illusory. Tamsin Astbury's My Name is Daniel (Series 5 - Dystopic
Worlds) continues the dystopian theme by imagining a mechanized world in which individual expression counts for nothing.
Names are supposed to distinguish individuals from their counterparts; in this world people are often reduced to clones.
Bruce Shakespeare's The Beast Within (Series 7 - Horror and Terror) is a satisfying piece in which a know-it-all
radio personality receives his comeuppance from a much younger colleague, who turns out to be not quite what he expects.
The quality of the recordings
is wonderful: sound effects and music create worlds that are genuinely terrifying, and complement the quality of the writing.
If you haven't come across Bunbury Banter's work yet, please do so; you won't be disappointed.
