Just because we don’t feel that we get quite enough spooky programming during the month of October, we’re continuing our tradition of re-upping the spooky tales for the month of November. This week, it’s our esteemed friend Roger Gregg, who produced a spooky ghost number with the Gaiety School of Acting’s 2010 class (a Dublin, Ireland based advanced theatre training school).

The show is Scene from Horror Hotel: Episode 1, and by the end of it, you’ll start to wonder where all the other episodes went… The show is masterfully stylized, and not quite a satire of the modern ghost classics such as The Shining. Come on, every haunted hotel needs to have a bath tub, right? Stay tuned for a special secret track at the end…

Before we get into our main feature, Captain Radio is back with a review of Demon Eyes by John Ballentine’s Campfire Radio Theater.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast251.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 251

Some notes from Roger on the production:

The scene features wonderful performances by Margaret McAuliffe and Genevieve Hulme-Beaman.
For location realism, Margaret got in her bathing suit and we filled the bath to record this scene.

The scene was recorded with a portable HD recorder and a Rode Stereo Microphone.

Draining the bath was recorded wild in situ. The other bath sounds were created naturally by the actors in the scene, rising from the bath and so forth. The scripts were taped to the walls of the bathroom to faciliate maximum free movement.

Well, they call it Greek tragedy for a reason – and we have it in full force this week with the conclusion of Roger Gregg’s The Stuff of Myth. Orpheus finally gets his chance to plead for his Eurydice back and – by God – he gets her! But whatever you do, dude… don’t look back. Phil Proctor and Melinda Peterson truly shine in their unforgettable renditions of Hades and Persephone.

This great production won a Gold Ogle in 2007 and has gotten rave reviews as a stage play. After many times trying to schedule this into the show and failing, for May 2011 we’ll be featuring all four episodes of “The Stuff of Myth” plus a bonus mythological encounter as part of RDR’s spring festival of Bacchus.

First up, Captain Radio focuses on emerging producer Tanja Milojevic, whose Lightning Bolt Theater of the Mind production has a new original tale out, “The Swamp.” Don’t get sucked down.

We wrap with Cables to the Ace: 83 from Roger Gregg

Download audio file (rdr-podcast227.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 227

Cables to the Ace: 83 by Thomas Merton, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON, copyright 1968 by the Abbey of Gethsemani.
Music, Sound Design, Production & Direction by Roger Gregg. Crazy Dog Studios. 2011.
Voices: Jamie O’Neill & Alicja Ayres
Voice Recording by Colm Coyne.
Video by John Merriman.

This video is from ‘Selections from Cables to the Ace by Thomas Merton’ – a concept album by Roger Gregg, made with the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Cables To The Ace can be found in The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton.

The seductive backdrop of Ancient Greece returns in sticky sweet splendor in round 3 of Roger Gregg’s The Stuff of Myth. Orpheus recounts the journey to find – and lose – his one true love, Eurydice. In this installment Orpheus finally meets, and loses, his one true love. Tragedy at its funniest!

This great production won a Gold Ogle in 2007 and has gotten rave reviews as a stage play. After many times trying to schedule this into the show and failing, for May 2011 we’ll be featuring all four episodes of “The Stuff of Myth” plus a bonus mythological encounter as part of RDR’s spring festival of Bacchus.

First up, Captain Radio‘s tribute to the prolific production prowess of Pendant Productions, an audio house that has released a staggering 800+ dramas over the years from dozens of podcasts. And a bonus treat from Roger Gregg, a sample of his new poetry/music montage Cables to the Ace!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast226.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 226

Cables to the Ace: 19 by Thomas Merton, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON, copyright 1968 by the Abbey of Gethsemani.
Music, Sound Design, Production & Direction by Roger Gregg. Crazy Dog Studios. 2011.
Voice: John Merriman & Tiernan Kearns.
Voice Recording by Colm Coyne.
Video by John Merriman.

This video is from ‘Selections from Cables to the Ace by Thomas Merton’ – a concept album by Roger Gregg, made with the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Cables To The Ace can be found in The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, – get a copy!

The saucy splendor of Ancient Greece heats up this week as Orpheus recounts the journey to find – and lose – his one true love, Eurydice. In this installment we meet some nymphs, a romping satyr, and a career on the road that ends in a doozy.

This great production won a Gold Ogle in 2007 and has gotten rave reviews as a stage play. After many times trying to schedule this into the show and failing, for May 2011 we’ll be featuring all four episodes of “The Stuff of Myth” plus a bonus mythological encounter as part of RDR’s spring festival of Bacchus.

First up, Captain Radio‘s review of a hilarious satire of television news, Too Much of a Good Thing. And a bonus treat from Roger Gregg, a sample of his new poetry/music montage Cables to the Ace!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast225.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 225

Cables to the Ace: 50 by Thomas Merton, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON, copyright 1968 by the Abbey of Gethsemani.

Music, Sound Design, Production & Direction by Roger Gregg. Crazy Dog Studios. 2011.
Voice: Cillian O Gairbhi.
Voice Recording by Colm Coyne.
Video by John Merriman.
A Gaiety School of Acting production as part of Gregg’s course on Acting In Audio 2011.

Special Thanks to Dr. Pearson & The Thomas Merton Center. See: www.merton.org

Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

This video is from ‘Selections from Cables to the Ace by Thomas Merton’ – a concept album by Roger Gregg, made with the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Cables To The Ace can be found in The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, – get a copy!

Ahh, ancient Greece. Hot nymphs, raging orgies, much wine, song, and occasional transformations into livestock. All well and good, right?

Well things are more wacky than ever in the sizzling and scandalous interpretation of the myth of Orpheus done by Roger Gregg, The Stuff of Myth.

This great production won a Gold Ogle in 2007 and has gotten rave reviews as a stage play. After many times trying to schedule this into the show and failing, this month we’ll be featuring all four episodes of “The Stuff of Myth” plus a bonus mythological encounter as part of RDR’s spring festival of Bacchus.

First up, Captain Radio‘s review of the terrific Saki satire, the Quail Seed, adapted by 19 Nocturne Boulevard.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast224.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 224

OK, well the Guiness might actually be starting to run out of your system by the time you hear this, but we couldn’t help but raise a cheer for our favorite Dublin-based audio artist this week – Roger Gregg – by replaying some of his excellent work with Crazy Dog Audio Theatre.

So, we got a double feature – first, from Crazy Dog Live, “Ferdia the Druid,” about a druid con artist who gets in over his head when he is send to investigate REAL fairy folken. Followed by the first episode of The Apocalypse of Bill Lizard, a surrealist adventure into the Irish subconscious care of a sexy demon.

Also, Captain Radio is back on the beat with a review of Audie-award nominated radio drama original, “William’s Leap for Freedom” about abolitionist author Wells Brown, who was born a slave in Lexington, Kentucky in 1814.

Throughout his lifetime, Brown was a fugitive slave, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, an abolitionist, an anti-slavery lecturer, an historian, a medical doctor, and a poet. For only $5 you can grab the entire MP3 on ZBS: http://www.zbs.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=16_57&products_id=414 . Produced at National Audio Theatre Festivals’ 2010 workshop.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast217.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 217

Ready for some chills? Then sink into the tub at the Horror Hotel where Roger Gregg has prepared this frightening clip:

From Roger:

The scene features wonderful performances by Margaret McAuliffe and Genevieve Hulme-Beaman.
For location realism, Margaret got in her bathing suit and we filled the bath to record this scene.

The scene was recorded with a portable HD recorder and a Rode Stereo Microphone.

Draining the bath was recorded wild in situ. The other bath sounds were created naturally by the actors in the scene, rising from the bath and so forth. The scripts were taped to the walls of the bathroom to faciliate maximum free movement.

Courtesy of the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Fresh from the Emerald Isle comes this new treat from Roger Gregg, a scene from a new production of Faustus… Roger has been talking about his desire about doing Faustus since I visited back in 2008, and it’s thrilling to see it becoming a reality.

Here is a scene from the new show which will run in Dublin from November 18 to the 26th in Smock Alley Theatre:

I asked Roger whether there will be an audio adaptation of this work, similar to what he did with The Stuff of Myth. Roger says:

Yes … In fact one of the central tenets of the stage show is have an on-going live sound score being performed on stage by all the demons. Using no pre-recorded material, very little amplification and employing many ‘OTR’ type sound effects gadgets in with the musical instruments.

There are many imagistic scenes in which very little is said and the story is conveyed through the movement and actions of the actors and the sound-scape and music.

So the audio version will be a ‘Concept Album’ with alot of musical passages.

This new show is so exciting that I’m tempted to cash in some frequent flyer miles to see the show myself. Share new Crazy Dog’age with your friends!

This week we wrap Crazy Dog Audio Theater’s series The Last Harbinger, the chilling and darkly satirical story of Moloch by Roger Gregg.

The Harbinger has been captured by the forces of authority, who are determined to reach a guilty verdict and eliminate the pesky interloper once and for all.  Meanwhile, the sea is rising, once and for all, and the land of Moloch is stuck with the results of the crisis they refused to face.

Part 5 of 5.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast189.mp3)

Download Radio Drama Revival, Episode 189 (MP3)

We continue with Crazy Dog Audio Theater’s series The Last Harbinger, the chilling and darkly satirical story of Moloch by Roger Gregg.

Clickety-clack, no going back – is the sound of a train headed nowhere at a ferocious speed.  The Harbinger brings a message of hope to the people of Moloch… but the people would rather have fat reductions and televised healings.  The government closes in to reach the only verdict they can even as it becomes clear there’s not much time left.

Part 4 of 5.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast188.mp3)

Download Radio Drama Revival, Episode 188 (MP3)

This week we’re back in the Crazy Dog saddle with a double headed from the series The Last Harbinger, the chilling and darkly satirical story of Moloch by Roger Gregg.

In the land of Moloch, an outsider comes from another dimension bringing the hope of saving a dying world… Which the Molochians respond to by trying to kill the guy. Luckily, the old beggar Beng is on this guy’s side, even as it becomes clear that there’s not much time left. Parts 2 and 3 of 5.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast187.mp3)
Download Radio Drama Revival – Episode 187 (MP3)

This week we feature two more delicious bits of audio – a new original five-minute audio short by FinalRune Productions called “The War on Poverty.” After so many successful wars on ideologies, America decides to fight its most entrenched evil – poverty.

Followed by a redux of The Last Harbinger, the chilling and darkly satirical story of Moloch by Roger Gregg. In light of all the madness in our world today, it seemed about time to feature the show again. Part 1 of 5.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast185.mp3)
Download Radio Drama Revival – Episode 185 (MP3)

Fresh from Ireland, a cool new video from a new show, ‘THE BEE-LOUD GLADE: A Living Anthology of Contemporary Irish Poetry,’ with music by Roger Gregg & Crazy Dog Audio Theatre.

Meanwhile, I solicited some pretty candid comments from Roger about the news regarding BBC radio drama:

Behind all this is the well-entrenched paradigm which has been embraced since the year dot over here.

Namely that ‘Radio Drama’ is Theatre on the radio and that ‘theatre’ must always come in the form of ‘plays’.

‘Plays’ are presented in long formats, 90 minutes, an hour, 45 minutes.

Half hour things are ‘Light Entertainment’ or half-hour or less slot ‘Serials’ such as the Archers [which I think is around the 15 minute mark]. … The Radio Networks do the research and time and time again it comes back to them that relatively NO ONE listens to the long-form ‘drama’ – go over half an hour and the numbers go down…down…after 45 minutes down…down…over that .. down …down… gone.

But since ‘Theatre’ and ‘Drama’ MUST always in their paradigm be about presenting ‘Plays’ they are stuck.

I don’t know how many times I’ve banged the drum for SHORT slots citing the wonderful success Dirk Maggs achieved with
so much of his BBC Radio 2 adventure series. Daily in short segments, an omnibus on the weekends and if and when a CD is released or it’s put up on the internet, then you can connect all the daily segments together with discrete track i.d.s between each segment for easy cueing. I have said this in writing to RTE and Radio 2 as well as suggested in writing to a couple of the independent stations,
but NO ONE is interested.

The emprical marketing and listening pattern research is there. Time and time again the statistics and conclusions therefrom are plain to see. Station Programmers meticulously study this data and have adapted old and created new highly successful programming and
styles and modes of presentation.

YET the bastion of ‘Radio Drama’ remains impervious to this. This is one reason why they do themselves no favours and are often regarded as the hindbound nuisance in stations compelled to produce drama.

Youch! Hard truths but worth meditating on. I know that plenty of people listen to long-form drama – on demand – but on broadcast radio it’s a whole different beast.

Roger’s comments bring Tom Lopez’s work on 2 Minute Film Noir, indeed, his work with Ruby and Jack Flanders being released as ongoing serialized shorts. In an environment where attention spans are short and time is precious, less is more.

This week, a tale of lascivious delight and ghosts of the deep below from Crazy Dog Audio Theatre. The tale is Demons of the Deep, from the collection Diabolic Playhouse.

Roger calls it:

A tempestuous black comedy of entangled relationships set against the hunt for a mysterious sea creature. A multi-levelled tale, listeners might also tap into the scores of references to the great symbolist ‘sea creature’ classics: Moby Dick, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, The Tempest and the Leviathan as depicted in the Old Testament.

And gosh, it’s a lot of fun to listen to. See these cool production photos to see how much fun the cast had, too.

Enjoy, “Demons of the Deep.”

Download audio file (rdr-podcast166.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 166

Well, the dust is not yet settled on Halloween and the eeriness seeps into this month… Starting with the original “Ghost Behind the Black Door,” to contrast the same tale we re-told in my 2009 Halloween Live Radio Drama.

So, the story? A couple moves from the city to a remote mansion in Ireland, where every spooky story cliche is abused in this hilariously ghoulish half hour. From the Crazy Dog Live collection.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast147.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 147

A mega-episode here today to celebrate the NATF workshop down in West Plains, Missouri, and then moving on to our focus on this year’s Ogle and Mark Time winners.

Lance Axt, man of many hats, introduces us to several personalities at NATF and gives us flavor of the workshop. We look into the #NATF feed that’s going out on Twitter. And hey! If you’re reading this on June 26, 2009, you can catch the live NATF show on their live stream. Click here to tune in at 8:30 EDT.

Following that up is Roger Gregg’s “The Return of the Bogman Mummy,” produced in tandem with the Gaiety School of Acting. It won the Silver Mark Time Award this year, and as far as I know, Radio Drama Revival is the only place to find it right now!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast128.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 128

Next week: an encore presentation of Waiting for a Window and then my interviews with Great Northern Audio Theater guys, Brian Price and Jerry Stearns.

Hot off the presses from Ireland I’ve gotten word that Roger Gregg’s shockingly original adaptation of Gerry Murphy’s poetry will be returning the stage in Cork, Ireland. Here’s what the jacket has to say:

All the colourful personas that infamously stalk through Murphy’s satirical writing: from his vicious portraits of demented despots and torturers, to his passionate erotic encounters, to his highly personal confessions on love and loss, will come to life in an evening of riotous musical entertainment!

It may be a bit of a swim for most of us to get there, but if you happen to be across the pond already, don’t miss the show, running June 23-June 27, 2009 at the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland. Shows kick off at 8pm.

Possibly more exciting, at least for us distant audio listeners, is a fresh CD that Roger’s pressed from the last time the show was performed… Including some great bonus tracks. I had the pleasure to listen to the pre-release copy and the material’s taken on an even greater sheen since then.

Here’s a taste of it, with a song that may sound oh-so-vaguely familiar:

Download audio file (gerry-murphy-poetry-if.mp3)

I assume that the CD will be available on ZBS, as have previous Crazy Dog CDs. I’ll also may an effort to continue posting excerpts, as this is excellent stuff not to be missed.

Just in case you thought poetry was the realm of dust-covered English professors, think again. And don’t miss the clips of the Gerry Murphy Poetry show available on YouTube.

Ahh, ancient Greece. Hot nymphs, raging orgies, much wine, song, and occasional transformations into a goat. All well and good, right?

Well things are more wacky than ever in the sizzling and scandalous interpretation of the myth of Orpheus done by Roger Gregg, The Stuff of Myth.

This great production won a Gold Ogle in 2007 and has gotten rave reviews as a stage play. Now hear what the buzz is all about in the first bonus episode… and stay tuned the rest of the month for more!

Download audio file (rdr-bonus-01-stuff-myth-1.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival Bonus Episode – Stuff of Myth 1 of 4

This week we dig into Roger Gregg’s uncommonly heard Crazy Dog Live compilation — a series of half-hour radio performances staged live. And what fun it is!

Not all is as it seems with Ferdia the Druid. Learn what awkwardness and hilarity lurks in the celtic mind!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast121.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 121

This week we feature Roger Gregg’s smokin’ adaptation of the Greek myth of Marsyas. Marsyas was just an average satyr, drinkin’, screwin’, sleepin’ and generally carrying on with the band of Dionysus… until he fights a magical horn which changes his life (and attitude) forever.

Off the Audio Gothic collection, which just about finishes this excellent series that I’ve trickled out on Radio Drama Revival for about a year now… The festival of Dionysus continues next week with “The Stuff of Myth!”

Download audio file (rdr-podcast120.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival Episode 120 – Marsyas, the Hippest Satyr

Congratulations to Eric Benson, a listener in Canada who wins our “Name the Theme” contest. He gets a copy of Crazy Dog Live on CD!

Gadzooks! This week we speak to the one-and-only, inimitable, incredible, fiendishly creative Roger Gregg of Crazy Dog Audio Theater.

From deep in his secret lair of audio drama mystique in Dublin, Ireland I picked his brain about his career, his legacy with the RTE, and the future of the arts in a changing world. With a special shout out to Gerry Murphy Poetry.

An interview not to be missed!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast117.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival Episode 117 – A Chat with Roger Gregg

This week on the show we welcome back the work of Roger Gregg with a piece created in cooperation with the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland.

Morgan O’Brien hangs in limbo between life and death, and finds the afterlife a much wilder place than he imagined. Confused, frustrated, and alone, he is forced to confront the reality of his actions made while alive. But is there still time to go back and change things?

Download audio file (rdr-podcast116.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival Episode 116 – The Heart of Morphine

Credits

Written, Directed & Produced by Roger Gregg – © 2009.

Performed by the Gaiety School of Acting’s Graduating Class of 2009

The production was recorded at various indoor and outdoor locations in Dublin with sound engineer Lorraine McCarthy. Post-production, mixing etc. at Crazy Dog studios.

The script was written especially to suit the talents of the cast after a short devising workshop process as part of the Gaiety School?s Radio Drama / Acting-in-Audio course.

Music by Roger Gregg with cast members singing, playing guitar, fiddle and harmonica.

So ya thought Crazy Dog Audio Theater was only about audio drama, right?? About working in the long form drama format?? Think again:

In collaboration with a Tinpot Productions, this series of videos takes the poetry of Irish Poet Laureate Gerry Murphy and transforms into into slammish kinetic sound and visual synergy.

The poems range from the sexy to the fearsome to the subdued, and the team at Crazy Dog does an amazing job of expanding the emotional impact of the words. Extra extra kudos for the music… wish I could get some of this stuff on a CD!

Here’s the whole list of the videos, shareable from the wonder of YouTube!:

• Modern American Myths
• 21 Words For The Security Council
  
• And She Was Beautiful And She Was Ferociously Intelligent
• The Uninvited
• Too Lovely For Words
• Bedtime Story
• Kissing Maura O’Keeffe
• Up Yours Gay Byrne
• Liberation Sequence 1

Be sure to spread them as far and wide as your mouse can take you.

Oh, and let me let it leak that next month I’m headed to the Emerald Isle to see Roger Gregg myself.? With a bit of luck we’ll have even more exclusive interviews to share with you soon for the April line-up.

UPDATE: I did get to visit Roger Gregg in Dublin… and what a time it was! Hear the interview here.

Ghoulish tales for the ear were heard last night as goblins and ghosts radiated out through the radio waves…

Hear it now!

Download audio file (rdr-halloween-2008.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival 2008 Halloween Audio Horror Special

Special thanks due to…

• Crazy Dog Audio Theatre – Marianette 1.1
  
• Bill Dufris – The Horror of Walker’s Point
  
• FinalRune – Dark Passenger
• Echo Fiction – For being a great place to listen to new audio!
• The Grist Mill – The Estates
  
• Kevin MacLoed (LOTS of awesome music on his website)
• Oh… and a shout out to Anne Cammon at WKCR where FinalRune made another appearance… Let’s hear it for the ears in New York City!

In another “Rabbit from the hat” episode, I pull out an amazingly clever and poignant tale from Roger Gregg’s Audio Gothic series — Brad’s Book of Lies. What IS it about advertising that makes THE BOOK so good?

Find out today…

Download audio file (rdr-podcast070.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 70

Well partner, it’s a sad story of that Seany Boy, but when Audio Gothic arrived in the mail a few weeks back thanks to the generosity of Roger Gregg, I couldn’t help but put my ears on it and reschedule everything to get it out on the show.

This tale, referred to cleverly in “The Salmon of Blackpool,” tells about an old Irish farmer who takes his dreams of being a cowboy a little too far.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast061.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 61

And in other news, Henry Howard passed along this link to an interview with Roger on RTE1 — he gets to talk about the legacy of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the latest dramatic reading of the show in memory of Douglas Adams.

Alright, so hats off to the Sonic Society for first airing the news of great new Crazy Dog Audio Theater videos up on YouTube. I’ve only started to scratch the surface of this great new resource Roger’s put up for us all to enjoy, such as a sound effects tutorial and a video of musicians rocking out for the production Marsyas, the Hippest Satyr (part of the Audio Gothic collection which I hope to air on the show soon… as in tomorrow).

I could’ve used this one when recording Dark Passenger:

A Radio Drama Revival Exclusive! With much gracious thanks to Roger Gregg and the Crazy Dog Audio Theater, I’m pleased to share with you some of these shots behind-the-scenes of the production of The Salmon of Blackpool. To get a sense of what is going on in some of these shots, make sure to listen to the interview with Roger Gregg where he talks about the production in more detail.

Roger Gregg directs a scene for Salmon of Blackpool. All of the indoor scenes were recorded, well, indoors. Even the smashing crashing and carrying-on at the end of Episode 1! Wine glasses were hurled to Roger’s tile floor in the same room where the scene was recorded, no foley sound stages here — nor OSHA compliance, I imagine.

Roger Gregg and actress Sarah Greene record Sinead’s fateful song in Roger’s living room.

Here Roger is working in the studio to develop a more produced track of Sinead’s song, versus the “in-situ” version recorded above.

All the scenes in “Salmon of Blackpool” were recorded in the field, even ones in the car!

Here’s where it gets fun — actor David Murray was directed to “freak out” in this scene where the prima donna movie star, Johnny Gallagher, first encounters the symptoms of the disease that will lead to his slow decline into a miserable death.

The cast of Salmon of Blackpool sits back after a triumphant recording session — just in time for curious Dublin police to cruise by wondering what all the screaming was about?

Thanks again, Roger, for these great shots, and for sharing about all the hard work and synergy it takes for an incredible story like this to come to fruition! If you missed it, here are the short links to Salmon of Blackpool:

• The Salmon of Blackpool, Episode 1
• The Salmon of Blackpool, Episode 2
• The Salmon of Blackpool, Episode 3
• The Salmon of Blackpool, Episode 4

Roger Gregg, the multi-talented force behind Crazy Dog Audio Theater, is one of the most fascinating people you can talk to about audio theater in world today… and this week we’re graced with almost 45 minutes of his insightful anecdotes and tough critique of the current state of independent media in the world today.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast056.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival! Episode 56

Things aren’t looking good for Johnny Gallagher in the last episode of The Salmon of Blackpool, but the story of Richie’s little fish isn’t over yet. Sinead makes a break, Sheldon comes from the states, and the bond between Richie and Johnny is tested in the powerfully moving final episode of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre’s magnificent tale.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast055.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival! Episode 55

Crazy Dog Audio Theatre‘s The Salmon of Blackpool Credits:

Written, Directed and Produced by Roger Gregg.

CAST:

David Murray: Johnny Gallagher.
Sarah Greene: Sinead Murphy.
Michael Sheehan: Richie Ryan
Morgan Jones: Doctor Whitman
Georgina Miller: Nurse Marcella.
Liam Heffernan: Donal MacSweeney
Roger Gregg: Sheldon Berkus.
Other parts played by the above members of the cast.

Mark McGrath: Sound Engineer, location recording.
David Grimes: production assistant.

Music composed and performed by Roger Gregg.

Vocals by Sarah Greene.

Recorded and post-produced the Summer of 2007

In the third episode to Crazy Dog Audio Theater’s gripping “The Salmon of Blackpool,” Johnny Gallagher continues to deteriorate as Richie gets fire rained down from him by Sheldon. All the while, Richie struggles to understand who Johnny is deep inside, and the people and place that made him the inferno of a man he is.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast054.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 54

Crazy Dog Audio Theatre‘s The Salmon of Blackpool Credits:

Written, Directed and Produced by Roger Gregg.

CAST:

David Murray: Johnny Gallagher.
Sarah Greene: Sinead Murphy.
Michael Sheehan: Richie Ryan
Morgan Jones: Doctor Whitman
Georgina Miller: Nurse Marcella.
Liam Heffernan: Donal MacSweeney
Roger Gregg: Sheldon Berkus.
Other parts played by the above members of the cast.

Mark McGrath: Sound Engineer, location recording.
David Grimes: production assistant.

Music composed and performed by Roger Gregg.

Vocals by Sarah Greene.

Recorded and post-produced the Summer of 2007

This week, we sink deeper into the world of Johnny Gallagher, an Irish moviestar on the terrible road to death, and Richie Ryan, the man sent to document the “feel good” story behind this fallen icon. But as is made poignantly clear, it is hard to find the the “feel good” in this tortured man’s life.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast053.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 53

Crazy Dog Audio Theatre‘s The Salmon of Blackpool Credits:

Written, Directed and Produced by Roger Gregg.

CAST:

David Murray: Johnny Gallagher.
Sarah Greene: Sinead Murphy.
Michael Sheehan: Richie Ryan
Morgan Jones: Doctor Whitman
Georgina Miller: Nurse Marcella.
Liam Heffernan: Donal MacSweeney
Roger Gregg: Sheldon Berkus.
Other parts played by the above members of the cast.

Mark McGrath: Sound Engineer, location recording.
David Grimes: production assistant.

Music composed and performed by Roger Gregg.

Vocals by Sarah Greene.

Recorded and post-produced the Summer of 2007

Oh radio drama fans, do we begin a treat for you today… I am absolutely tickled to bring to you, for the first time broadcast in the United States, the latest startling, bold, gripping, and mesmerizing tale by Crazy Dog Audio Theater… The Salmon of Blackpool

Now the phrase “audio movie” gets kicked around a lot in audio circles, but this work is by far the first to show just what an “audio movie” can be. Cut-throughs, fades, in-scene sound effects, stunning performances and the feeling of being in a real room with these people… “Salmon” does all this and more, propelled along by the cutting words of Roger Gregg, who shows us his skills as a literary writer are on par of that of his biting satire.

Today we begin to learn a little bit about the world we’ll be visiting for the next four weeks… A world where two Irish talents collide in their hometown, a place neither ever wanted to return to, in a situation riddled with irony and dotted with a desperate search for truth, all while voices from across the Atlantic cry out for the “feel good.”

Whether “Salmon” makes good box office is up for your ears to decide. But it’s a hell of a story.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast052.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 52

Crazy Dog Audio Theatre‘s The Salmon of Blackpool Credits:

Written, Directed and Produced by Roger Gregg.

CAST:

David Murray: Johnny Gallagher.
Sarah Greene: Sinead Murphy.
Michael Sheehan: Richie Ryan
Morgan Jones: Doctor Whitman
Georgina Miller: Nurse Marcella.
Liam Heffernan: Donal MacSweeney
Roger Gregg: Sheldon Berkus.
Other parts played by the above members of the cast.

Mark McGrath: Sound Engineer, location recording.
David Grimes: production assistant.

Music composed and performed by Roger Gregg.

Vocals by Sarah Greene.

Recorded and post-produced the Summer of 2007

After an amazing month playing The Last Harbinger, I had the absolute honor and pleasure of speaking to Roger Gregg, whose work with Crazy Dog Audio Theatre is about as original, compelling, and well-produced as it gets. In this discussion, we get to learn about the grit that drives him to write what he does and the siren’s song of Ireland that brought him where he is today.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast034.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 34

Last week, the Harbinger cried out his fervent message to the world of Moloch… a world not ready for the terrible news he brought. Now, captured by the authorities and thrown in front of a corrupt tribunal, we learn more about the “justice” of Moloch than we ever cared to imagine and see what hope the Harbinger may yet bring to the world in these darkest moments.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast033.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 33

In our continuing Crazy Dog-liness, we follow the Harbinger in his run from the law and reluctant public appearance to make his dire proclamation to the people of this dying land. But are the people ready for such a revelation? And how will the authorities react to such a blatant affront to their power? Find out in the riveting fourth installment of The Last Harbinger.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast032.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 32

Sorry I’m so late getting the word out for this, but there have been two incredible new Crazy Dog Audio Theatre productions airing this month on RTE 1! ? The two stories are about as different as two stories can be, but showcase they the same incredible production and acting value we’ve come to expect from Crazy Dog, while exploring entirely new terrain.

“The Stuff of Myth” particularly attract my attention as it’s based on the myth of Orpheus, which was the myth at the heart of my first production Day of the Dead. ?This time, however, it’s a musical comedy, which, as Gregg says, “Summons up scenes that you might have only seen in Greek pottery.” ?It’s an adaptation of an acclaimed stage play, and enjoys a seamless transition to the infinite landscape of the ear.

Following it up is the gritty drama “The Salmon of Blackpool,” about a talented young screenwriter hired to write the biopic of a dying Irish movie star. ?Yet, rather than finding a hero, the young man finds a terribly disturbed man, and is caught between the needs of his assignment and reality, which never ties up as neatly as the movies.

I’m terribly excited to check out these new Crazy Dog works, though bummed that quite a good chunk of it has already been played. ?If you want to catch what I’m sure will be stunning finales to these two compelling serials, tune in this coming Sunday to RTE 1. ?The stories air back to back starting at 8PM GMT, which I think lands at 3PM EST
and noon PST, and together run about an hour.

In our continuing coverage of The Last Harbinger by Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, we follow the Harbinger’s very rough entry into this tainted new dimension, and learn more about the strange characters who inhabit it.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast030.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 30

And so we begin our dark yet funny tale, of a world killing itself, its land, its air… Crazy Dog Audio Theatre comes to the show with the debut of the marvelous Last Harbinger, which I glowingly reviewed a few months ago.

Well, thanks to the generosity of Roger Gregg, we’ll have the opportunity to hear this cutting radio satire in its entirety during the next few weeks, culminating in an exclusive interview with the man himself!? But for today…

The land of Moloch was dying. Hope arrives in the form of an outsider from another dimension. Yet, will his message fall upon deaf ears? We find out in this nodule-packed first episode.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast029.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 29

Well, we’ve careened through outer space, been sucked into small towns with their fair share of secrets and heard some new old time radio, and this month, Radio Drama Revival! enters yet more bold new terrain with the American premiere of an incredible audio folktale/satire, the acclaimed “Last Harbinger” by Crazy Dog Audio Theatre from Dublin, Ireland.

The land of Moloch is dying. While the seas rise and dark pollution saturates the skies, the rich giggle and preen their nodules while delighting in a gigantic festival celebrating… themselves. Those who are poor and dying suffer because God doesn’t like them, and God would have nothing any different. It is to this dark world that the Harbinger comes, bringing a message of hope and peace.

Yet, the powers that be don’t want hope. Or peace.

Tune in Thursdays (1-1:30PM) in August for an incredible ride through a terrifying world that’s all too familiar, riddled with biting satire and compelling characters. Echoes of Dosteovesky and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” and performances by Ireland’s top talent (with guest appearance by Firesign Theatre’s Phil Proctor) saturate this tale originally produced for RTE1 Radio 1, the national radio station of Ireland.

Even the most perfunctory audio theater fan is likely to know of and love the productions of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, Roger Gregg’s absurd radio dramatic exploits broadcast throughout the Green Isle with CDs blessedly made available by ZBS and Lodestone. Gregg’s work oscillates from the high, medium and low brow with philosocomic stories ranging from the reality-bending Bill Lizard to the disconcertingly relevant Infidel, a story of two brother knights caught up in the Fifth Crusade. The Last Harbinger, the latest Crazy Dog production to grace my ears, cleverly blends both styles of production in one outstanding production that you just need to hear.

The planet Moloch is a very, very distant world unique from ours in all ways, where the poor are exterminated at whim by the police while the privileged guss about their beautiful (and sometimes synthetic) nodules. Everyone is cheery, happy, and fat, at least, those with God on their side. And who cares about the others anyways?

We are drawn into this world via an enchanting, fairy-tale style narrator but very quickly realize that this is no fairy tale. The story opens upon a great celebration of Moloch’s…. greatness… covered by a giddy, patriotic press who laud the people who start beating a snap-addicted bum for no apparent reason. This celebration is interrupted by the appearance of a mysterious harbinger from another world, who brings a terrible warning and a message of hope to this doomed world… The bringing of which ensures his immediate persecution by the state.

Harbinger spans 5 action packed episodes (26 mins apiece) with gripping pacing, impressive performances, and a rich soundscape of natural sounds, effects and music. The acting is excellent across the board, with a cast of Dublin’s finest, Crazy Dog regulars, and a couple of internationals (including Firesign’s Phil Proctor).

There are plenty of great moments in the production, but favorites of mine are this runaway blues song performed by the snap-addicted bum, and a Dostoevsky-ian confrontation of the Harbinger and the forces of the state near the end. While the story is at its core very dark, humor makes the ride terrifically enjoyable and the story concludes on a powerful poetic note.

Harbinger is truly a production showing off the height of audio drama, and the range and breadth of Gregg’s skills as a producer, writer and actor. Heavily recommended.

The Last Harbinger is available on ZBS and Audioville.