By Laurie Steven. September 19, 2022
For many years I’ve thought that Odyssey should launch digital events as a counterpart to our live performances. We could introduce our imaginative shows to audiences across the country, and to digitally-inclined audiences. We could entice them to see our productions live. We could also build relationships with artists across disciplines interested in our field of work.
But how could we translate the magic of what we do into the digital realm? It was a question I had no time to answer with the demands of the theatre. Until the pandemic hit.
At that point I was determined to keep Odyssey producing plays, engaging audiences, and providing work for artists. I also wanted to keep artists and audiences safe.
Blithely, I plunged the Company into the digital world with online training and new play workshops, live-streamed performances, and a video series. Challenging, but a great journey
All this paled in comparison with our next venture – a fantasy audio drama podcast series. It was exciting to involve fantasy fiction writers and folklorists, and an intriguing way to make folk tales resonate with adult audiences.
And how hard could it be, I thought. After all, we would only have voices, language and a bit of sound to consider. No sets, costumes, lighting, choreography, props, staging. Easy peasy.
I was wrong. Audio drama has all the above, it just happens differently in the world of sound. I, and a gang of wonderful theatre makers, embarked on a 2-year labour of love filled with many discoveries to bring this series to life.
In this blog I will share the discoveries of that journey as we unfold the series. My hope is to provide a fun insight into our audio dramas, be creatively inspiring for those who want to make podcasts, or write plays or stories. I also hope it gives heart to those with the inkling of a creative project in mind – go for it!