“The Sixties”, a radio drama produced by the Radio Drama Department of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and directed by Mihnea Chelaru has scooped the BBC Best European Drama award. Established in 2012, the BBC Audio Drama Awards reward the originality and remarkable value of British audio drama, on air and online. The awards pay a tribute to the actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in the genre. Created in 2019, Best European Drama celebrate the role of public broadcasters in the promotion and development of audio drama and pools together efforts of radio drama producers from all over the world. Selected as part of other international radio drama festivals such as Grand Prix Nova or Prix Europa, “The Sixties” is a story about the failure of a generation, the first generation of young people cut off from the free world in the early days of communism in Romania. Ema Stere, whose novel “Marcels Children” scooped the award of the Union of Writers in Romania and the “Sofia Nădejde Award for Literature written by Women, is also a talent writer of short stories. We spoke to her about the relevance of the BBC award and the story that inspired the radio drama.
“Its a major award considering the reputation of the BBC. Its also the only prize in the competition awarded to a production created by broadcasters other than the BBC. Created shortly after Brexit, Best European Drama is awarded to a single European production. The Awards Gala, which I attended, included all sorts of sections, rewarding productions in a number of genres: programmes, radio dramas or podcasts. The story of “The Sixties” was featured in the first issue of the Iocan short-story magazine, where it was discovered by Mihnea Chelaru, who wanted to adapt it to radio drama. This is a very personal text for me, into which I poured all my frustrations regarding the fate of my mothers generation. I wrote this text in just three hours. The drama, however, is far longer, also owing to director Mihnea Chelaru, who turned it into a radio gem. The most important thing about collaborations such as this is to enjoy working with people, find common ground with them. In the case of this story, it so happened that both Mihnea and I went through similar experiences, and that certainly made a difference”.
This is not the first time Ema Stere and Mihnea Chelaru worked together. The two also collaborated on other radio dramas produced by the Radio Drama Department of Radio Romania that received international acclaim. For his part, Mihnea Chelaru is known for his groundbreaking use of sounds, his productions having reaped numerous awards in major international festivals devoted to radio drama. More about the experience of directing “The Sixties” from Mihnea Chelaru himself:
“The moment I read the short story in Iocan, I realized I wanted to turn Ema Steres work into a radio drama. Yet I felt the topic was alien to me. Emas universe seemed surreal, echoing Fellinis films, which made it the perfect candidate for a radio drama. However, I had no idea how to approach it. A year and a half ago, I went through an experience that made me appreciate the short story even more. Only then did I realize its overtones, so I adapted it and the result was this small gem.
Ema Stere is a writer I like very much, because she has this ability of noticing details, which could be unimportant for most people. We also cooperated on a project last year, it was a show on a short story by Ema entitled How we should treat our customers, which got a Grand Prix Nova Award at the Short Plays section. If I am captivated by the plot and I like the writers style I can imagine the story even with sound. If I am unable to do that, I cannot adjust the story. Speaking about the soundtrack of The Sixties show I would like to mention that although I am a sound engineer, I left that aside. It was my colleague Madalin Cristescu who has engineered the shows soundtrack and he came up with absolutely fantastic solutions.”
The shows cast also includes Daniel Badale, Constantin Cojocaru, GAVRIL Patru, Ioan Grosu, Coca Bloss, Rodica Mandache, Virginia Rogin, Petru Lupu, Gheorghe Arcudean, Violeta Berbiuc, Julieana Draghici. Andrei Miricescu is the musical director and Oana Cristea Grigorescu, editor. The show, whose premiere took place in 2022 has been posted on the eTeatru.ro website, which also comprises an ample selection of radio plays produced by Radio Romania.
