Guest Blog: Actor Joseph Adelakun On Boundless Theatre's Dystopian Fiction Podcast RADIO ELUSIA

Radio Elusia is a world where the simple act of speaking or listening - even if you're an average person with no ill intent - can get you into serious trouble. I find this such a dramatically exciting premise, and that's what drew me to this project. What's great about the way our writer Nina Segal has put this world together is that the listener is automatically a part of this world just by listening... and is therefore potentially in trouble.

I don't think listeners will be alienated by how the world of Elusia works, as there are quite a few parallels with ours, which we got to talk about in rehearsals. Apparently, in this type of audio work, you don't really get rehearsals, but our director Rob Drummer made sure we had a week. The majority of us (myself included) were new to this medium, so it was a great way to get comfortable before recording.

Also, throughout rehearsals we would stand to allow us freedom to move and keep the energy up (I think I won the award for having their script fall off their music stand the most!). We talked about how our private communication is or can be monitored through smart devices, as it is in Elusia, and how the powers-that-be can use their power to suppress those who don't do as they say.

What's uncanny is that right now, our world is even more like Radio Elusia in a way we didn't anticipate in rehearsals. Our communication is restricted due to the current coronavirus outbreak, so listeners will surely be able to relate to this concept. Although knowing that Radio Elusia was conceptualised, developed and recorded way before we got to the situation we're in - and yet the podcast is being released now - is a little eerie!

I've found working in this podcast medium very insightful - the listener can hear every nuance in your voice and there are no visuals to guide them. Therefore, I had to be engaging and truthful in a way that's different to working in theatre when I have a set, costume and my facial expressions and body to help me communicate. I also think this laser focus on communicating only through the voice helps me become a better actor.

When it comes to recording, if you make a mistake, you can stop and go back over a section - and trust me, there were times when this privilege came in handy. When we were recording, I drank lots of water to stay hydrated, however, a by-product of this was that I had lots of little burps! My character Raphael has very long passages in the first episode and there were many occasions where I'd be in the flow of something, and then I'd have a little burp slowly surfacing, and I'd wonder if I could suppress it until I got to the end of the line... Something tells me I won't drink so much water between takes the next time I get an audio job like this.

As well as having gone for an exciting ride, thinking about our rights and privacy, I hope listeners will leave the series with a little more. The story centres on teenagers who speak out against injustice at great personal cost, and some young people who Boundless Theatre work with were invited to watch a run-through in rehearsals. They shared how they enjoyed seeing the representation of young people being brave and strong, and felt inspired. I hope our listeners feel the same.

Listen to Boundless Theatre's Radio Elusia here

Photo credit: captvart

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