Radio Romania’s Radio Theatre received three nominations for the Theatre Union awards for best radio theatre production. The
productions in question are: A century of Romanian theatre in Chişinău – The revenge of forbidden memory,
written by Mariana Onceanu, Radio Noir. Crime stories (Season 1), staged
by Mihnea Chelaru and The Tudor Vladimirescu Case written by Gavriil
Pinte. Today, however, we will be introducing you to director Mihnea Chelaru,
who is well-known for his innovative work in the field of sound art, having won
many prizes at important radio drama international festivals, such as New York
Festivals World’s Best Radio Programs and the 60 Second Radio competition in
Montreal.
We spoke with Mihnea Chelaru about his passion for radio drama, his
recent nomination for the Theatre Union awards and about how he ended up
staging the radio five stories from the Bucharest Noir collection
published by Tritonic and written by Bogdan Hrib, Tony Mott, Dan Radoiu, Daniel
Timariu, Ștefan Decebal Guță. The five episodes were first broadcast in 2021
and were launched simultaneously on Radio Romania’s news and current affairs
channel and at eteatru.ro, under podcast. Mihnea Chelaru not only staged these
shows, but was also responsible for their artistic production and sound design:
Mihnea Chelaru: First and foremost, I am a big fan of film noir
and when I discovered such excellent Romanian works in this genre I really
wanted to make this series. So I contacted Attila Vizauer, the editor-in-chief
of the National Radio Theatre, and the writer and editor Bogdan Hrib and told
them about my idea, which I have to say seemed a bit crazy to me, but which
they liked. That’s how this series was born, and I’d like to continue it. I
gave it the title Crime stories. Season 1 precisely because I’m planning
to continue the project, and hopefully we’ll have Season 2 and 3. The first
season was a success, with traffic to the page doubling after it was launched
online at etreatru.ro, so the public like crime stories. We even attracted new
public, as more people rediscovered radio theatre during the pandemic.
Mihnea Chelaru is the first to introduce on-location
recording into Romanian radio theatre. This was back in 2008, when he recorded The
Barber of Seville directed by Toma Enache. More shows followed: Argentina,
directed by Ilinca Stihi, The Metamorphosis, directed by Ion Andrei
Puican, Over the Rainbow, directed by Mihnea Chelaru and Ion Andrei
Puican, and My Poor Father, directed by Attila Vizauer, all of which
were recorded using the same technique and won prizes at international
festivals.
Mihnea Chelaru: Young people are accustomed to
receiving information fast, the development of the media contributed to this. As
I’ve noticed in the international festivals in which I’ve taken part, the plays
of up to 40 minutes were the most popular. Even radio people have difficulties
focusing on plays that are longer than this, regardless of how well a play is
produced. Being a film director myself, I tried to bring the radio drama sound closer
to film sound, while keeping the elements that help radio drama. And because my
father worked for Radio Romania too, as a music director with the National
Radio Theatre Department, I’ve listened to radio drama since childhood. And even
then I hated hearing a voice that sounded like it was recorded in a room, and
hearing birds chirping in the background, I couldn’t connect those elements. This
is why I tried to bring the actor in the original location, to have it all
sound as if recorded in the same place.
During the pandemic, the public seems to have rediscovered
radio theatre. Mihnea Chelaru says there is growing interest in this genre:
Mihnea Chelaru: In many countries, such as Russia,
Norway and Canada, the radio drama departments of public broadcasters were closed
down. But over the past few years this genre has seen an upward trend, the
public is once again interested in radio theatre and some of the departments
that had been closed down were reopened and started producing shows again. In
the US as well, radio theatre was a thing of the past even 10 years ago, but
recently a lot of private producers emerged, who make radio plays, so the genre
seems to be reborn. This year we have the Grand Prix Nova International Radio
Drama Festival, which Radio Romania has been organising for nearly a decade. And
the public will be able to meet a group of passionate people who love radio
theatre.
Cosmin Şofron, Daniela Ioniţă Marcu, Nicoleta Lefter,
Ion Arcudeanu, Marius Călugăriţa, Cristi Dionise, Bogdan Isopescu, Sabina
Lepădătescu and Alin Potop are among the cast of Radio Noir. Crime stories
(Season 1). (C.M., A.M.P.)
