Edgar Allan Poe radio adaptations : 6 x 30 minute radio adaptations of Poe short stories in serialised form
- Submitting institution
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The University of East Anglia
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- 182641192
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- National Edgar Allan Poe Theater, Baltimore
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
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- Year of first performance
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Professor Hand is an acknowledged expert in the history of horror radio (Hand 2006; Hand 2014), adaptation (founding co-editor of the Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance since 2009), and his own creative-critical work on theatre, radio and podcasting (Hand 2011, 2018, 2019). These radio adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe short stories represent a multi-component output that draws extensively on this knowledge.
Hand’s academic and creative practice expertise were key to his appointment as Artistic Advisor to Molotov Theatre Group, a professional theatre company based in Washington DC, which has a focus on education and theatrical performance in the horror and suspense genre. In 2017, Molotov’s co-founder and artistic director Alex Zavistovich was appointed the artistic director of the National Edgar Allan Poe Theater (NEAPT) in Baltimore, MD. Among its other activities, the NEAPT produces a podcast series, National Edgar Allan Poe Theater on the Air.
Hand was approached to be lead scriptwriter on what was initially a six-part series of audio podcasts. His familiarity with different historical periods of radio drama, through extensive archival work (at BBC Caversham and other archives) and analysis of different radio programmes (Hand 2014), led him to a creative approach where his audio adaptations of these Poe stories were designed as an homage to 1940s horror radio with framing narrative around self-contained stories. The productions have similarly presented the conventions of classic horror radio with music, foley sound effects and heightened vocal acting.
The series was expanded from six episodes into an ongoing series that airs monthly episodes: Hand has adapted twelve Poe short stories to date with several more in development. In October 2020, the Library of Congress formally archived the series for its ‘cultural and historical importance’ (https://tinyurl.com/y23q9tnc).
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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