Radio Plays

Discover these captivating plays, originally written for radio and docudrama, that combine dialogue, sound effects and music to create an immersive world.

Plays

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Fred Garrigus (US)
(Radio Play, Drama / 18 any gender)
Adapted as a half-hour radio broadcast including musical interludes, this play is packed full of the thrill of the Mysterious Spirits’ warning, the hard-hearted Scrooge, and all the Christmas joy in the Cratchit home.

A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play by Kevin Connors and Joe Landry (US/UK)
(Radio Play with Music, Drama / 2w, 3m with flexible cast size)
The Charles Dickens holiday classic comes to life as a live 1940s radio broadcast, complete with vintage commercials for fruitcake (extra-fancy), and the magic of live sound effects and musical underscoring. A handful of actors bring dozens of characters to the stage, as the familiar story unfolds: Three ghosts take Ebenezer Scrooge on a thrilling journey to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. A charming take on a family favorite that will leave no one saying “Bah Humbug!”

A Christmas Carol: The Radio Show by David Alberts (US)
(Short Play, Dramatic Comedy / 1 any gender)
It’s Christmas Eve, and with the actors snowed in and unable to make it to the studios of WXMS for the live radio performance of A Christmas Carol, the sound effects person decides to take the audience through the classic tale himself. A rollicking, creative adaptation of Dickens’ classic work for a star performer.

Abrogate by Larry Gelbart (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 3w, 6m)
Hillary Clinton is now president and, in an attempt to sift through the debris of the post-Bush regime, she holds a congressional meeting to explore how the atrocities during the previous administration could have possibly happened. As the hearing progresses, some shocking truths about the infamous conservative leaders are revealed.

Albert’s Bridge by Tom Stoppard (US/UK)
(Radio Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 14m)
In Tom Stoppard’s award-winning first full-length radio play, a philosophy graduate named Albert is employed to help paint the cantilevered railway bridge spanning Clifton Bay. However, Albert spends as much time and energy on philosophizing as he does on painting, until his wife feels ignored and the council becomes concerned about the cost of the project. Witness what happens to the bridge – and to Albert’s dreams – amidst a suicide, a miscalculation that leads to rusting, and a quick-fix of more than 1,000 additional painters.

All That Fall by Samuel Beckett (US/UK)
(Radio Play, Drama / 2w, 6m, 1 girl, 1 boy, 11 any gender)
This radio play follows the journey of an old woman, Maddy Rooney, to the train station pick up her blind husband. In the course of her travels, she meets a carter, a businessman, a racecourse clerk and a stiffly Protestant spinster. Maddy accompanies her husband home, and it is revealed that Mr. Rooney might have been responsible for the earlier train delay caused by a child falling out of a carriage.

Christmas Thieves: A Small Town Radio Play by Greg Oliver Bodine (US)
(Short Play, Comedy / 2w, 3m)
It’s Christmas Eve in America’s heartland, and radio host Bjorn Gundlarrsen is preparing for the telethon performance that will keep his tiny polka station afloat. Unfortunately, the prize troupe of British actors he’s hired has all fallen ill due to a dastardly combination of indigestible foreign meats. With time running out, will Bjorn be able to replace them in time and save the show? After all, it’s not like Christmas is known for miracles…

Embers by Samuel Beckett (US/UK)
(Radio Play / 2w, 3m)
Henry’s father ended his life in the sea; for the rest of his life, Henry is doomed to the sound of the waves roaring in his ears. For 20 years, he has talked incessantly to drown the tempest of his father’s watery grave. His wife, Ada, chatters and listens and endures, his child goes through the incidents of a child’s life, and still the sea roars in the background.

Floodgate by Larry Gelbart (US)
(Radio Play, Satire/Political Satire / 3w, 11m)
The play features highlights of a faux congressional committee’s investigation to determine responsibility for the equally faux, farcically disastrous events that recently swamped and overwhelmed the nation’s capitol. The chief casualty of the hearings: the destruction of what little is left of the English language.

Girls & Boys by Dennis Kelly (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w)
An unexpected meeting at an airport leads to an intense, passionate, head-over-heels relationship. Before long they begin to settle down, buy a house, juggle careers, have kids – theirs is an ordinary family. When their world starts to unravel, and things take a disturbing turn.

Iris Lee’s Audio Odyssey by Min Kahng (US)
(Radio Play, Comedy / 1w, 1m, 1 any gender)
When her tears from a recent breakup mingle with her earbuds, Iris Lee finds herself thrust into a hilariously strange dream universe where each moment is a send-up of a contemporary radio show genre. This piece can be performed auditorially or theatrically, bringing fantastic sound design and vocal acting to life.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Full Length Version) by Joe Landry (US)
(Radio Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 3m)
This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. With the help of an ensemble that brings a few dozen characters to the stage, the story of idealistic George Bailey unfolds as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve. When an angel, Clarence, shows him the positive impact he has had on his family and the people around him George realizes that he is loved. Also available in a Short Version (US).

Kid-Simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh by Jordan Harrison (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 3m, 2 any gender)
Moll, a girl who invents things, wins the science fair with a machine for hearing sounds that can’t be heard. But when a shapeshifting Mercenary steals the invention (and her heart), she must embark on a quest to save noise as we know it. Accompanied by the last boy-virgin in the eleventh grade, Moll crosses chasms and rafts rivers into a world where sound is always more than what meets the ear. A quirky fable of innocence and experience, featuring live sound effects, mutinous onomatopoeia, and a host of woodsy temptations.

Mastergate by Larry Gelbart (US)
(Full-Length Play, Satire/Political Satire / 5w, 12m)
The C.I.A. has armed banana republic guerrillas with millions laundered through the budget of the forthcoming epic Tet: The Movie. Television reporter Merry Chase provides the play-by-play as witnesses squirm before dimwitted congressional interrogators who want to know what the President knew… Did he have any idea that he knew it?

Murder in the Studio by Agatha Christie (US/UK)
(Collection / Anthology, Melodrama / 5w, 9m)
A collection of three radio plays – including a Poirot story – for live performance, comprising Personal Call, Yellow Iris and Butter in a Lordly Dish.

• Personal Call (US/UK) sees James Brent haunted by his dead wife when he receives a mysterious telephone call, seemingly from beyond the grave.
• Yellow Iris (US/UK) marked Hercule Poirot’s debut appearance on radio. The famous detective is called to the hotel Jardin des Cygnes to solve an old case in which a cold-blooded killer escaped justice and slipped through his fingers.
• Butter in a Lordly Dish (US/UK) sees eminent prosecution barrister Sir Luke Enderby get his comeuppance in one of Christie’s most gruesome and horrifying murders.

Nancy Blue: Girl Detective by Megan Mostyn-Brown (US)
(Radio Play, Comedy / 14w, 2m)
Framed as a radio play, this creative and jaunty noir spoof of Nancy Drew has Nancy Blue searching to uncover who has kidnapped the high school principal. It won’t be easy in a hard-boiled world of mounting suspicions and mysterious events – not to mention diva actresses, a stubborn rookie cop, a bossy older sister and an AV Nerd who always adds her two cents. Can this tough young gumshoe figure out where the principal has vanished to… and what is giving off that awful smell?

Radio Suspense Theatre: The First Episode by Steve Cleberg (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 6m)
It’s 1936 and nail-biting thrillers like The Shadow and Lights Out are all the rage in radio dramas. Tonight, the WSCC station might put itself on the map too when the first episode of their own Radio Suspense Theatre takes the airwaves. As love blossoms backstage and a plucky sound technician steps in for an absent star, the company bands together to bring two original, thrilling tales of suspense to life, framed by music and ads of the era. But what about the real suspense… the ratings? Tune in to find out!

Rough for Radio I by Samuel Beckett (US)
(Radio Play, Drama / 1w, 1m)
An anonymous woman visits a cold, gloomy man, thinking she is there on his invitation. When politeness only extends so far and circumstances become increasingly cryptic, the woman departs, leaving the man alone once more with his “needs,” which we soon learn may require the attention of a doctor. See also Rough for Radio II (US).

Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror – Radio Broadcast by Anthony Dodge & Marcia Milgrom Dodge (US)
(Radio Play, Dramatic Comedy / 1w, 6m, 1 any gender)
A despicable theatre critic has been murdered! Holmes and Watson cross swords with the most famous literary luminaries of the day – Oscar Wilde, Gilbert & Sullivan, Henry Irving, Bram Stoker and a young H.G. Wells – as they come face to face with their own celebrity and pursue the killer in this rollickingly funny whodunit radio play.

Sherlock’s Secret Life by Will Severin and Ed Lange (US)
(Full-Length Play / 3w, 5m)
This original play with musical underscoring – about the world’s most famous detective during his youthful years of collaboration with Dr. Watson – is firmly grounded in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters. It is a fascinating mystery, an enchanting romance and a wonderful comedy.

The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry (US/UK)
(Radio Play, Drama / 2w, 3m with flexible casting)
Inspired by Hitchcock’s classic tale and performed as a live period radio play, this romantic thriller is a fast-paced ride through the signature world of the master of suspense. Richard Hannay is visiting 1930s London when he meets a woman, discovers her murdered, and then must then try to break the spy ring and prove his innocence. From an epic train chase to a feisty love interest, Hannay has his work cut out for him as he searches for the truth about the “39 Steps.”

The Edgar Allan Poe Afterlife Radio Show by Patrick Greene and Jason Pizzarello (US)
(Radio Play, Dark Comedy / 3w, 3m)
When Edgar Allan Poe sets out to keep his stories alive from beyond the grave, an otherworldly radio studio proves to be just the thing in this play that tap-tap-taps at the chamber doors of Poe’s magic. Wandering spirits gather to play the roles in Poe’s most classic works, from The Cask of the Amontillado to The Fall of the House of Usher. But the grim master of the macabre is a little new to radio. What’s all this about commercials? Draw the audience’s imagination into the delicious gothic atmosphere with this flexible piece for audio or onstage performance.

The Great Gatsby: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry (US)
(Radio Play, Drama / 2w, 4m with flexible casting)
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beloved classic comes to life as a 1940s radio broadcast in this spirited adaptation. An ensemble brings more than two dozen characters from the novel to the stage of the WBFR radio station for a live broadcast, punctuated by 40s-era commercials. A story of triumph and tragedy that reflects the decadence of the Jazz Age and the perils of the American Dream.

The Radio Play Disaster by Don Zolidis (US)
(Radio Play, Comedy / 5w, 5m, 3 any gender youth)
Self-proclaimed genius Harlan Bean is ready to make history with his science-fiction radio masterpiece Battle of the Planets. But when the broadcast is in the hands of an ambitious actress with her own vision for her character, several terrified last-minute replacements jumping in and a disgruntled sound engineer out for revenge, the mayhem in the studio makes an alien invasion look like a piece of cake. Radio goes hilariously off the rails in this flexible piece.

The Scottish Play by Graham Holliday (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 7w, 6m)
This fast-paced and witty comedy follows the hilarious travails of Michael, who discovers the extent of the infamous theatrical jinx when he attempts to stage a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with the Shellsfoot Thespians.

Under Milk Wood (The Definitive Edition) by Dylan Thomas (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 17w, 17m, 69 any gender adult)
In lyrical, soaring and earthy prose, verse and song, the most controversial poet of the mid-century stages a twenty-hour midnight pub crawl of a Welsh fishing village, exposing the victorious and the venal among the denizens of a provincial Welsh fishing village.

Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry (US/UK)
(Radio Play, Drama / 2w, 3m with flexible casting)
Spies, murder, love and other trademarks of Alfred Hitchcock come to life in the style of a 1940s radio broadcast of the master of suspense’s earlier films. Containing The Lodger, Sabotage and The 39 Steps, this radio play for the stage is a triple feature – complete with vintage commercials – that recreates a daring train chase, a serial killer’s ominous presence and a devastating explosion through the magic of live sound effects. This spooky, exciting piece is perfect for any space, large or small.

War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast by Joe Landry (US)
(Radio Play, Drama / 1w, 5m with flexible casting)
An alien invasion throws humanity into chaos in the classic sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds – but all it took to cause real-life panic in the streets was Orson Welles’ 1938 radio adaptation, which listeners mistook for news. Now, ten years later, the WBFR radio ensemble recreates the colorful events surrounding the infamous evening, including the full original broadcast. Complete with vintage commercials and live sound effects, this radio-play-within-a-radio-play is a thrilling homage to the form’s golden age and timely reminder of what fear can do to a society.

Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully by Eddie Robson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 3m)
Adapted from the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, this play ingeniously combines elements of science fiction and the idyllic charm of rural British life. Katrina Lyons only visited Cresdon Green for the weekend to see her parents (and, incidentally, ask if they might lend her the deposit for a flat). Unfortunately, this happened to be the weekend when aliens launched an invasion of the village and put a force-field around it. She is trapped in the place where she grew up, under the cosh of alien oppression, living with her parents. Katrina must save the world from the alien warlord’s invasion of the Earth – and also get out of here. See also Series 2 (US/UK).

Words and Music by Samuel Beckett (US/UK)
(Radio Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3m)
This radio play sets up a dynamic between “Words” and “Music” as two character voices, existing in an uneasy relationship and under the command of a mysterious figure named Croak. A somewhat distracted tyrant, Croak issues commands to both Words and Music – whom he calls “Joe” and “Bob” respectively – to formulate expressions on a series of topics including “Love,” “Age,” and finally “the Face.”

World War II Radio Christmas by Pat Kruis Tellinghusen (US)
(Radio Play, Dramatic Comedy / 8 any gender)
This moving holiday show recreates the experience of attending a recording of a 1940s radio show broadcast on Christmas Eve during World War II, using period songs and stories inspired by actual veterans. This year includes the songs “Accentuate the Positive,” “I’ll Be Seeing You” and “Sing, Sing, Sing,” all brought you by Vaseline Hair Tonic: “Tame your dry scalp with just five drops a day!”

And a few bonus musicals!

A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol by Walton Jones, David Wohl and Faye Greenberg (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 6m)
It’s Christmas Eve, 1943, and the Feddington Players are now broadcasting from a hole-in-the-wall studio in Newark, NJ, all set to present their contemporary take on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. With noisy plumbing, missed cues, electrical blackouts, and the over-the-top theatrics of veteran actor (but radio novice) William St. Claire, this musical is an entertaining excursion into the mayhem and madness of a live radio show.

Miracle on 34th Street: A Live Musical Radio Play by Lance Arthur Smith and Jon Lorenz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play with Music, Comedy / 2w, 2m, 1 any gender + ensemble)
When a department store Santa claims he’s the real Kris Kringle, his case gets taken all the way to the Supreme Court. With live Foley effects and a score of holiday carols, this radio play adaptation of the beloved classic will melt even the most cynical of hearts.

Radio Gals by Mike Craver and Mark Hardwick (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 1m)
In 1920s Arkansas, music teacher Hazel C. Hunt hosts a radio broadcast on WGAL, featuring a wacky quintet of local singer/musicians who set hearts thumping and toes tapping with rib-tickling songs, homey chat and plugs for a rejuvenating tonic. It’s all the zany hilarity you expect from the creators of Pump Boys and Dinettes and Smoke on the Mountain.

The 1940s Radio Hour by Walton Jones (US)
(Full-Length Musical / 5w, 10m)
Set during a live 1942 broadcast of The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade, this marvelously theatrical and nostalgic show features a panoply of lovable characters, including a harassed producer, a drunk lead singer, a fame-hungry delivery boy, a beleaguered second banana, and a trumpet-playing sound effects man who chooses a fighter plane over Glenn Miller.

For more recommendations, visit Concord Theatricals in the US and UK.