But Joyce’s words were everywhere in the city that day because from 6.30am until the following afternoon, RTÉ Radio broadcast a complete reading of Ulysses lasting almost 30 hours. He was RTÉ’s most talented radio drama director by a distance and one of the most accomplished in the world, winning a succession of international awards as he embraced each technological advance. Embroiled in a long pay dispute with a management at RTÉ that increasingly viewed radio drama, along with the orchestras, as an expensive encumbrance, discipline was fraying. Coronavirus has given radio drama a further boost and the BBC this weekend starts a series of socially-distanced adaptations of stage plays. All India Radio made its most popular radio plays and serials available online during the lockdown and LA Theatre Works, which has been producing radio plays since the 1970s, has seen its streaming, podcast and audio sales double.

Source: The Irish Times June 13, 2020 03:56 UTC