Radio Romania’s Radio Theatre received three nominations for the Theatre Union awards for best radio theatre production. The
\nproductions in question are: A century of Romanian theatre in Chi\u015fin\u0103u – The revenge of forbidden memory,
\nwritten by Mariana Onceanu, Radio Noir. Crime stories (Season 1), staged
\nby Mihnea Chelaru and The Tudor Vladimirescu Case written by Gavriil
\nPinte. Today, however, we will be introducing you to director Mihnea Chelaru,
\nwho is well-known for his innovative work in the field of sound art, having won
\nmany prizes at important radio drama international festivals, such as New York
\nFestivals World’s Best Radio Programs and the 60 Second Radio competition in
\nMontreal. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We spoke with Mihnea Chelaru about his passion for radio drama, his
\nrecent nomination for the Theatre Union awards and about how he ended up
\nstaging the radio five stories from the Bucharest Noir collection
\npublished by Tritonic and written by Bogdan Hrib, Tony Mott, Dan Radoiu, Daniel
\nTimariu, \u0218tefan Decebal Gu\u021b\u0103. The five episodes were first broadcast in 2021
\nand were launched simultaneously on Radio Romania’s news and current affairs
\nchannel and at eteatru.ro, under podcast. Mihnea Chelaru not only staged these
\nshows, but was also responsible for their artistic production and sound design:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mihnea Chelaru: First and foremost, I am a big fan of film noir
\nand when I discovered such excellent Romanian works in this genre I really
\nwanted to make this series. So I contacted Attila Vizauer, the editor-in-chief
\nof the National Radio Theatre, and the writer and editor Bogdan Hrib and told
\nthem about my idea, which I have to say seemed a bit crazy to me, but which
\nthey liked. That’s how this series was born, and I’d like to continue it. I
\ngave it the title Crime stories. Season 1 precisely because I’m planning
\nto continue the project, and hopefully we’ll have Season 2 and 3. The first
\nseason was a success, with traffic to the page doubling after it was launched
\nonline at etreatru.ro, so the public like crime stories. We even attracted new
\npublic, as more people rediscovered radio theatre during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mihnea Chelaru is the first to introduce on-location
\nrecording into Romanian radio theatre. This was back in 2008, when he recorded The
\nBarber of Seville directed by Toma Enache. More shows followed: Argentina,
\ndirected by Ilinca Stihi, The Metamorphosis, directed by Ion Andrei
\nPuican, Over the Rainbow, directed by Mihnea Chelaru and Ion Andrei
\nPuican, and My Poor Father, directed by Attila Vizauer, all of which
\nwere recorded using the same technique and won prizes at international
\nfestivals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mihnea Chelaru: Young people are accustomed to
\nreceiving information fast, the development of the media contributed to this. As
\nI’ve noticed in the international festivals in which I’ve taken part, the plays
\nof up to 40 minutes were the most popular. Even radio people have difficulties
\nfocusing on plays that are longer than this, regardless of how well a play is
\nproduced. Being a film director myself, I tried to bring the radio drama sound closer
\nto film sound, while keeping the elements that help radio drama. And because my
\nfather worked for Radio Romania too, as a music director with the National
\nRadio Theatre Department, I’ve listened to radio drama since childhood. And even
\nthen I hated hearing a voice that sounded like it was recorded in a room, and
\nhearing birds chirping in the background, I couldn’t connect those elements. This
\nis why I tried to bring the actor in the original location, to have it all
\nsound as if recorded in the same place.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
During the pandemic, the public seems to have rediscovered
\nradio theatre. Mihnea Chelaru says there is growing interest in this genre: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mihnea Chelaru: In many countries, such as Russia,
\nNorway and Canada, the radio drama departments of public broadcasters were closed
\ndown. But over the past few years this genre has seen an upward trend, the
\npublic is once again interested in radio theatre and some of the departments
\nthat had been closed down were reopened and started producing shows again. In
\nthe US as well, radio theatre was a thing of the past even 10 years ago, but
\nrecently a lot of private producers emerged, who make radio plays, so the genre
\nseems to be reborn. This year we have the Grand Prix Nova International Radio
\nDrama Festival, which Radio Romania has been organising for nearly a decade. And
\nthe public will be able to meet a group of passionate people who love radio
\ntheatre.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Cosmin \u015eofron, Daniela Ioni\u0163\u0103 Marcu, Nicoleta Lefter,
\nIon Arcudeanu, Marius C\u0103lug\u0103ri\u0163a, Cristi Dionise, Bogdan Isopescu, Sabina
\nLep\u0103d\u0103tescu and Alin Potop are among the cast of Radio Noir. Crime stories
\n(Season 1). (C.M., A.M.P.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Radio Romania’s Radio Theatre received three nominations for the Theatre Union awards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[45127,34794,45126,31180,30248],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-163781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture","tag-chelaru","tag-drama","tag-mihnea","tag-radio","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n