This week we return to and wrap up our series on ghosts – the spooky, rather than the malevolent type.

Our featured artist is Never Paid Radio, a group out of Prescott, Arizona that first introduces us to a painting of a train depot near the Grand Canyon… A place where a man had an extraordinary experience and lost someone, seemingly forever.

That’s “The Depot,” followed by “Can’t You See the Possibilities,” a story of invisibility and its potential – and downfall!

Finally, we round out this mega-episode with a moving portrait of World War I by the Wireless Theatre Company called Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori.

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Radio Drama Revival – Episode 163

Our friends at the Wireless Theatre Company have announced some new radio plays available for your download NOW in their latest newsletter. Woot!

DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI by Joe Wells

Directed by Fran Kirkham

Edited by Paul Winston Churchill

A touching glimpse into the experiences of the soldiers of the first world war. This series of letters from the front powerfully evokes the horrors and emotions of the men who fought and died on the battlefield, focusing on Wilfred Owen’s eternal question, is dying for your country an honour or a curse?

With: Matt Kirby, Mostyn James, Dhugal Fulton, Joe Wells, James Everett, Fred Godward, Julian Boote, Collette Zacca and Justin Palmer.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI download for free here!

Wait! That’s not all….

COCK OF THE WALK Part 2 by 31 Pumpkins

Edited by Tony Stephens

The long awaited part two of 31 Pumpkin’s Cock Of The Walk! Very funny stuff.  If you like this download, then you’ll  simply love seeing them doing it IN THE FLESH – they have a live show at The Hen and Chickens – Feb 9^th – Feb 13^th.

More details HERE.
COCK OF THE WALK Part 2 download for free here!

Exciting Things To Come…

WTC’s next LIVE show will take place on the 16^th APRIL, at a very exciting new venue.

The LOST Theatre is a brand new, multi-fangled, 180 seater theatre and we will be recording Sci-Fi comedy 2010: Space Commander! By Stuart Price.  It’s an incredible space and will be a great recording. Come along and see for yourself.

Welcome to The Wireless Theatre Company’s vision of the future.  In the year 2062 the human race,     ravaged by population expansion and lack of resources, decided to phase out the human body.

In 2268 the last non-virtual human being died in Ulan Bator of Dysentery.

In 2269 two space engineers, curious at what the extinct human body used to look like, decide to un-freeze Walt Disney. With hilarious consequences.

Tickets available very soon!

• Things are progressing nicely with Wireless Theatre Kids – we expect the site to be up and running very soon, we have some wonderful writers on board. So keep your ears peeled, and let all you parent friends know we’re coming.

• WTC were thrilled to have a lovely article featuring us in this week’s STAGE newspaper.  We’re on page 26, but you can read the article HERE.
• We have two VERY exciting new productions coming up in the next few months, with special performances from two wonderful actors. We can’t quite believe our luck!

HAPPY LISTENING!

www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk

We’ve featured the Wireless Theatre Company many times on the show, and are psyched to hear what they have for us next.  Check out our archives or visit their site at www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk for more audio goodness!

This week our Halloween-inspired Ghoulishness continues its fervor and picks up the pace with a haunting tale of woe from the audio masters of The Wireless Theater Company.

In a remote, aging manorhouse in England, Edgar, the disaffected manor-keeper takes out his frustrations on the sickly owner of the mansion.  But blood shed is hard to take back, and soon Edgar is forced to take more and more drastic measures to hid his evil deeds, and finds the escalating madness impossible to escape.

A gore-iously great tribute to Edgar Allan Poe that both lampoons and celebrates gothic fiction.

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Written By: Stuart Price
Starring: Knight Mantell, David Beck, Jessica Dennis, Leonie Hill, Josh Cass and Andrew Glenn. Foley by Jack Bowman, Dean Elliott and Reuben Anderson.
Edited By: Scott Wiber
Directed By: Stuart Price
Music By: Michael Bruce

This week we welcome back The Wireless Theatre Company, a splendid UK-based audio production group who just keeps getting better… can you believe they’ve only been around for three or so years?  They have close to a hundred radio plays produced now but I have a special heart for their more controversial fare (which is most of it), such as the play we’re about to hear today, Medusa on the Beach.

I previously reviewed this piece in my column, Fred’s Fuze, so I need not laden this entry with more praise.  Enjoy this awesome re-envisioning of the Greek tale of Medusa.

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Radio Drama Revival – Episode 138

This week kicks off a new feature for Radio Drama Revival called Fred’s Fuze. Recognizing that there’s a TON of great stuff I listen to that doesn’t make it on the show (or takes months to get there) I’ve decided to start this to share my love of listening. And to see how shocked or surprised you are at some of the picks!

Why Fuze? Because I do not own an iPod. There, I said it. I also never read Harry Potter or watched Titanic. Once I see where the crowd is going, I go the other way. So it was with the iPod, and let me say, I’m pretty happy with my Sansa Fuze.

So, lest this turn into a product review let’s get into the first installment of Fred’s Fuze – Medusa on the Beach.

***

Title: Medusa on the Beach
Author: Marty Ross
Producer: Wireless Theater Company
Type: Audio Drama
Genre: Modern Retelling of a Classic
Availability: Free Download

My Two Cents: I’ve been listening to the Wireless Theater Company’s work since they kicked off in 2007. Several things have impressed me — one, how deftly they jump from comedy to drama and back again, and two, how much the quality of their work has increased. Not that the first works weren’t good — they’re all solid listens — but they’ve obviously been studying their craft and learning from everywhere they can the last two years. They also seem to be getting access to more resources, which certainly doesn’t hurt!

Medusa on the Beach, I’m happy to say, is really quite a strong statement in audio. I’m a sucker for retellings of Greek myths (a retelling of Orpheus, after all, is what got me into audio drama to begin with) so I couldn’t click the download button fast enough when I heard about Medusa on the Beach.

I wasn’t disappointed. Medusa is a refreshingly original story. The plot has only so many twists — a disparaged small-town woman goes on a killing spree upon discovering Medusa’s head washed ashored — but man is this thing funny and a joy to listen to. Funny? A Greek tragedy? Well, you have to hear it to believe it. As I said, Wireless jumps back from comedy to drama with deft, even cheeky, precision.

Since it’s a free download, do feel free to check it out, just don’t be surprised if you hear it on the show sometime down the line!

Okay, well I’m going to go out on a limb and say only a handful of people from London will actually read this, but I do think the Wireless Theatre Company’s next live radio play sounds pretty killer:

Come with the Wireless Theatre Company as we take you on a journey of madness, terror and gruesome, GRUESOME MURDER! The decaying walls of Stottesden Hall are the setting for our latest LIVE recording of a new radio play by Stuart Price based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and we would love to see you there for an evening of comedy, terror and sinister plinky-plonky piano music. Dare you miss it..?

Thursday 7th May, 7.30pm

Headliners Comedy Club, George IV, 185 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, W4 2DR

Should you actually be able to make it, you can buy tickets here!