Audio Drama Debuts: An Early Spring

March saw audio fiction blossoming from every nook.

Elena Fernández Collins
Bello Collective

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Credit: Pixabay

The month of March was a complete surprise even to me. It was like I wished upon a star for audio drama and even before spring was officially upon us, everyone bloomed out between the cracks. You may have heard of Marvel’s Wolverine from when we interviewed the director, or Gen-Z’s The Mayan Crystal and Otago Access Radio’s Dark Dunedin: Heaven Looks On, recommended in our late March newsletter, so let’s introduce you to many of the other audio fictions that came to our door. You’ll learn about the action thriller we got in Joseph and the comedic space adventure of We Fix Space Junk, and even more of ghost stories, young adult and children’s fantasy, and first-person immersive binaural stories. What follows is a selection of the influx of audio dramas that arrived to my feed.

In our continued dedication to the world of audio drama podcast, this monthly series brings you notable new debuts. Catch up on February’s list here.

Aftershocks

From the makers of Lake Clarity comes this horror thriller set in a mental health asylum, with a very carefully researched background on mental health disorders. It is respectful and genuine in its writing and voice acting, and 10% of their Patreon proceeds are going to mental health organizations for the run of the show.

Six Minutes

In an ingenious move to condense child-appropriate action into a short timeframe, Six Minutes is about a mysterious girl named Holiday suffering from amnesia and a sudden onset of superpowers. Each episode focuses on a specific moment in time, fast-paced but not hard to follow, building a conspiracy adventure six minutes at a time.

We Fix Space Junk

I expected the space shenanigans, but I didn’t expect the dramatic background plot that keeps me listening until after the credits like it’s a superhero movie. A mismatched pair of women get stuck repairing objects across space; the humor is in turn sarcastic and dark, in a way that resonates with me and my understanding of the real world.

Joseph

March brought us a lot of cinematic, fully-immersive fictions. Joseph is a stand-out in this already impressive landscape, with a talented range of creators and actors of color. They bring to life an engaging sci-fi adventure with a cast of characters who are natural even in an unnatural world and sound design that is clever and complicated. There is a fascinating slow-mo action scene, grief and horror and heart-stopping thrills, and a sarcastic bounty hunter with an adorable AI-powered motorcycle in the style of R2D2. Do not miss out on Joseph because this is a phenomenal debut from Ear Epic.

All’s Fair

If you want time-travel machines and parallel narratives, All’s Fair has an all-star cast, excellent music from co-creator Tom Rory Parsons, and a start that already has my time travel conspiracy brain working overtime. I love both Tanja Milojevic (of recent What’s the Frequency? fame) and Pete Lutz (from Pulp-Pourri Theatre) in this as they are both varied and impressive actors who really do create a fascinating dynamic between their characters almost immediately.

Glasgow Ghost Stories

These are strangely intimate ghost stories that feed my need for something eerie and unsettling. Libby Thomas is a wondrous writer, and the episode “Doors” didn’t go at all in the direction I had been expecting, in the best way. (Would that I had such a ghost.)

The Archivist

On a road trip to Texas, six friends encounter what is, probably, the end of the world, all recorded on the tapes of an aspiring author. A series of confusing and worrisome events spiral into the group need for survival and answers. Via an unreliable archivist who censors material, and an interesting form of cold open where the final tape is released first, this show is well-produced and well worth your time.

Tink and Jupiter

A young girl suddenly acquires the ability to bring machines to life, with rather disastrous consequences, when her old video game console runs amok through the streets of New Orleans. Come and follow her and her companions through mishaps and plans that don’t quite work. It’s a comedic limited-run tale suitable for young adults, with a sarcastic main character at peak “I’m done with this.”

The Diarist

The Diarist is what you get if Mad Men and Jane Eyre marry and have a baby, where a secretary becomes the personal assistant to a prickly and strange ad executive and falls in love. It’s about regular people in the 1950s making bad decisions. The voice leads in particular are instrumental in creating a haunting story about people that could have been happy.

Philomena: A Tale from the Cor Novan Sky Almanac

Young adult audio fiction saw a lot of joyful additions this month, including Philomena, originally a novel now adapted for audio by the writer as a wonderfully soundscaped adventure on an airship. The creaking of the ship, the growling of creatures in the first episode, the singing lifting into the sky, all fill the ear alongside the actors and narrator bringing this tale to audio glory.

St. Agnes v. the No Good, Very Bad Book

From Gal Pals Present comes another coming-of-age drama, this time about fourth-graders reading a book that has sex in it and the ripple effect it has across the school of St. Agnes when they are caught. It’s about faith, and friendships, and responsibility, and writer Lia Hagen should be happy with the way this is unraveling so far. And, in particular, I need the actors behind Miss Adeyemi and Caroline to know they’re spectacular.

Calais 2037

This soundscape and story marched into my ears, a vivid first-person immersive political thriller from a company with a focus on eventual VR content-first story production. In Calais 2037, there rages a secret war of exiled English people, one grounded in the fervent beliefs of a return to their England, whatever that may be. They will grab your attention and not let go, with naturalistic, gripping acting, especially from superb actress of color Tanya Fear (whom you may recognize as Claire Wiseman from the TV show Spotless), and sound design that envelops you just like your real world. Headphones on, imaginations open.

The Unforgiven

If you’ve watched the TV show Waking the Dead, this is the audio drama prequel with the original cast and writer. It is not to be missed. If you haven’t watched it, don’t worry, this 5-part crime thriller just might compel you. The BBC quality of sound design continues to impress, though for once I felt like certain effects were overproduced and overemphasized. This is a great tale, especially for those of us that like the BBC’s crime dramas.

The Last Movie

In a surprise move from the people behind TANIS, here is the binge-dropped 6-part horror spinoff about the last movie you will ever see. If you enjoy TANIS and Rabbits or creepy investigative journalism style fiction, this the next show for your ears, with the familiar style of Nic Silver’s narration alongside the great work of “hacker” MK. (The vague sounds of people screaming in the background of the first episode is truly off-putting.)

Grandma Guignol

We can’t forget about the tale about a strange woman named Brenda, covered in scars, a little too tall, with an enormous beehive, who settles in the small town of Whitby to start a bed and breakfast. This is the newly podcast-adapted version of The Brenda and Effie Mysteries, which Bafflegab originally released as audiobooks. And if that description sounds a little Bride of Frankenstein… you’re not wrong.

The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.

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Audio fiction writer at Bello Collective. Creator of the Audio Dramatic newsletter. Linguistics grad student. @ShoMarq