ABSTRACT
The consensus in audio and radio drama writing is that no liberties can be taken with a listener’s patience and attention. The first few minutes are critical. Without hooking and driving the audience to excitement, enigmatic intensity, intrigue, and curiosity, dramatist and producer fail together. What is the advantage of symmetry and to what extent can mystery be accentuated in sound play beginnings? This chapter includes detailed analysis of the beginning of the following plays: Vissi ‘d’arte by Paul Sirett, Cigarettes and Chocolate by Anthony Minghella, Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher, The War of the Worlds by Howard Koch, three radio plays in Destination Freedom by Richard Durham, The Wasted Years by Caryl Phillips, Lifetime by Nigel D. Moffatt, Undecided Molecule by Norman Corwin, and The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto by Morton Wishengrad.
