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!

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.

Radio Drama Revival wants to offer huge congratulations to Yuri Rasovsky and Roger Gregg for achieving nominations for two separate, yet equally big awards.

Yuri Rasovsky’s The Maltese Falcon was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album, an enormous accomplishment for an audio drama.

And jeez, if you haven’t listened to The Maltese Falcon yet, do! I raved about it in a review I did a few months ago because it deserved it, and much more. It’s one of the best audio mysteries you’ll hear.

While the actual award went to Michael J. Fox’s, Always Looking Up, let’s congratulate Yuri again for bringing audio drama to a major awards night.

Our compatriot across the sea, Roger Gregg, has been nominted for his country’s Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Sound Design for his work in Barrabbas Theatre’s Johnny Patterson: The Singing Irish Clown.

While this doesn’t honor his radio drama work directly, his sound design is, of course, a direct byproduct of his excellent work in audio drama and the nomination is a huge honor.

Not being from Ireland, I asked Roger what these awards were about. He simply put, “in Ireland these are THE Awards. The only ones that matter when it comes to professional theatre.”

Congratulations again Roger and Yuri, it’s a great day for audio drama when two of our own get the recognition they deserve!

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 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.

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!

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:

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

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