ABSTRACT
This chapter reprises the developing techniques, devices, and conventions of sustaining listening commitment to sound dramas. What can be learned from the ‘great’ writing in the visual drama media? Significant focus is made on ironic transposition – a concept developed by the author as an enduring method of involving the listening audience in the emotional, political, cultural, and humanitarian dimension of dramatic understanding, identification, and sympathy with plot and characterisation. Does the listening medium require an embedding of climactic resolution, mystery, and intensity within a specific linear time unit? The author suggests a 5 minute frame and explores how this can be achieved. How can sound transitions between scenes enhance and advance the exposition of audio drama plotting and storytelling? The author identifies models from film and theatre, as well as the audio drama genre.
