THE enormous radio support materials

THE ENORMOUS RADIO - TEST AUDIO

This ‘taster’ audio offers an insight into the ‘animal translation’ vocabulary used in the ‘audio seance’ experience. The sample begins with a documentary field recording of a dingo pack calling at dusk, in central Australia, followed by a machine-translation of this field recording. The dingo to English language translation (also spoken by a human reader in this test sample) was produced by simply feeding the original field recording through speech enhancement and an English translation software, resulting in a series of uncanny statements.

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT

As part of FRAME Documentary Lab 2024, a 6 month program supporting innovative documentary concepts, we built a proof-of-concept prototype for The Enormous Radio concept featuring three old radios, as well as generating the installation design renders above (see Midjourney renders by Sarah Walker above).

THE NIGHTLINE - PAST WORK Sample

The Nightline by Roslyn Oades & Bob Scott with collaborators, is a major theatrical audio installation experience about loneliness and connection. The work features hundreds of real-life late-night anonymous voice messages, epic surround sound composition and fifty interactive telephone tables, each equiped with 8-channel audio ‘switchboards’. The Nightline was commissioned by Utp and RISING 2021, followed by presentations at Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Bleach Festival and the 2024 Carrefour International de theatre festival in Quebec, Canada.

INDUSTRY ENDORSEMENTS

“Ligne de nuit (The Nightline) was love at first sight for us. This immersive experience transforms our city into a big theatre, uncovering a special window into the lives of night owls. By listening to those touching and intimate stories shared by people who live by night – night workers, insomniacs, those who live in the shadows – at the other end of the line, we dive right into their lives.” 

— Programming committee, Quebec’s Carrefour International de Theatre Festival

“It is almost impossible to describe the beauty, the fantasy, the tenderness, the smarts of this very original work. (The Nightline)”

— Neil Armfield AO, International director of Theatre, Film & Opera  

“I've been a huge fan of Oades' work for many years. While in Australia as a guest of APAM 2016, I saw Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday and was blown away by the combination of intrepid social engagement with daring artistic innovation. And, on top of that, it was hilarious, which is a very difficult trifecta to pull off!”

— Darren O’Donnell, Artistic Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex (Toronto)  

“Understated, disciplined and acutely observant, Roslyn Oades is one of our country’s most compelling, original and brilliant artists and our most acclaimed documentary theatremaker. I love how the development process behind each of her works is as fascinating as the content - all different, and all deeply considered, consistently original, with a knack for excavating the most extraordinary real-life stories and experiences…  Ros’ unique gift is her capacity to forge deep connections between strangers; creating interactive, theatrically-rich contexts for the stories she sensitively and expertly curates. Her two most recent works, The Nightline and Creation Creation, both towering artistic achievements generating immediate critical and audience acclaim - are a clear indicator of the growth and courage of her work. It is thrilling to contemplate how her practice will continue to evolve as her Australian and international audience expands.” 

— Rachel Healy, QPAC Chief Executive / Co-artistic Director Adelaide Festival 2015-2022

“Roslyn is a singular artist with a truly diverse career... Her leading work in documentary theatre is fascinating and the inspirational production, Hello, Goodbye and Happy Birthday, is a benchmark of this practice. It is hugely clever, entertaining, formally unique and genuinely revelatory.”

— Rosemary Myers, Artistic Director, Windmill Pictures

The Sydney Festival is proud to have premiered Ros Oades’ breakthrough stage work, I’m Your Man, in 2012 as well as the first full season of her enchanting theatrical audio installation The Nightline (co-created with Bob Scott) inside the Old Darlinghurst Gaol site in 2022. We were thrilled to learn about The Nightline’s recent Canadian premiere at Carrefour international de Theatre, which we have no doubt will lead to many more exciting opportunities on the world stage for this unique Australian talent”

— Olivia Ansell, Artistic Director, Sydney Festival