Twelve-part radio drama series starts today (3 Nov 06) on CBC Radio 1 at 11:30am Eastern Standard Time.
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Welcome to Afghanada
A new radio drama — yes, radio drama — focuses on the Canadian military opposing the Taliban
CBC story in 12 parts looks at the escalation of hostilities through the eyes of four soldiers under fire Greg Quill, Toronto Star, 3 Nov 06
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&col=969483191630&c=Article&cid=1162507816738&call_pageid=968867495754It's the last thing we might have expected from the studios of CBC Radio's all but moribund drama department: a new and provocative action series that tells the story of Canada's changing role in the Afghanistan conflict from the point of view of a small contingent of 20-something soldiers. Sent overseas as part of the reconstruction force, the Canadians find themselves engaged in deadly daily battle with the Taliban and an insurgent militia.
"Radio drama has been more or less on hiatus, with the exception of some comedy sitcoms and the regular Sunday night production," James Roy, executive producer in CBC Arts & Entertainment, told the Star in a recent interview.
Roy produced and directed the 12-part war series Afghanada, one of the most ambitious and challenging projects CBC Radio has undertaken. The first 30-minute episode airs today at 11:30 a.m. on Radio One.
"The idea is to tell the story of the people who are actually doing the work — in this case, four young soldiers from different parts of Canada — without getting into policy issues and the bigger picture." And with the death toll rising, it's a story Roy figures Canadians will want to hear.
"We haven't set out to get in the faces of politicians, but to try to convey what happens at ground level, where political decisions impact the characters in the story," Roy said. "We were looking for something topical to present as a continuing radio drama, and this fits the bill perfectly."
Those characters, played by young Toronto actors Billy Mac- Lellan, Jenny Young, Paul Fauteux and Sam Kalilieh, find themselves grappling not just with the lethal details of their mission and the difficulties of maintaining normal human relationships under fire, but also with mystifying elements of Afghan culture, history, values and beliefs in their efforts to survive in a war-ravaged landscape where nothing they see and no one they meet can be trusted.Former Afghan movie star Khan Agha Soroor — who now lives in Toronto and operates Ariana Telephone News, which issues daily reports about his native country culled from television, radio, Internet services and newspapers — has two key roles in Afghanada: as an Afghan shopkeeper trying to steer clear of the violence, and as the series' official consultant on Afghanistan, its people, customs and language. He speaks Hindi, Urdu, Dari and Pashto.
Soroor's wife Mazida, also a prominent actor in Afghanistan before the family came to Canada in the early 1980s during the Soviet occupation, also has a role in the drama, as well as their son Qais and daughter Wajma.
The series is the creation of four veteran stage, television and film writers — Andrew Moodie, Greg Nelson, Adam Pettle and Jason Sherman — who pitched the idea back in January, just as Canada's role in Afghanistan was changing.
"It was a brand new story then," said Nelson, whose credits include the popular award-winning CBC Radio comedies The Dudley Chronicles and the CTV legal drama The Associates.
"Our first combat units were just going into Kandahar, and we thought a subjective action drama about the relationships and difficulties faced by a small group of soldiers would appeal to CBC Radio, which identifies itself strongly with news and current affairs."
The tricky part was not, as listeners might assume, creating the sounds and terrifying immediacy of modern warfare. CBC Radio and TV news footage provided Roy with ample audio material: gunfire, ricochets, rocket fire, explosions.
"War is a lot easier to create for radio than TV," Roy explained. "The hard part is keeping the narrative clear in often very complex and noisy situations where there are many characters and lots of movement."
In conventional radio drama, those issues would be resolved in the dialogue, but the writers and producer weren't willing to sacrifice the radio vérité of Afghanada by giving their characters too many improbable lines for exposition purposes.
Instead, the narrative is reinforced with voice-overs by the four main characters in which they "think aloud" during the heavy action scenes, letting the listener in on their impressions, movements and feelings.For Nelson and his writer colleagues, the burden is finding authentic raw material on which to base their fiction. Active members of the Canadian military are not allowed to talk about their experiences, and although the series has two retired military advisers providing input on processes and procedure, first-person accounts of the Afghanistan fighting are hard to come by.
"We get most of the material from media reports about soldiers' day-to-day lives," Nelson said. "We scour every resource we can for details. The research is extensive."The bonus in writing for radio is that it takes less time to get an episode on air than with television. We're able to follow real events pretty closely, and to respond very quickly to the mood of the country."
