Voice and Paperwork

Unlike in visual medias, we, as an audience, are unable to rely on mannerisms, facial expressions and actions when it comes to the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Therefore the speaker’s voice is an important convention of radio since through pitch and tone amongst other things the voice can create the correct emotion which might otherwise have been lost to the reader since audio plays do not often have all the freedom of text in describing events and surroundings.

One example of when the voice is a most important convention is the BBC’s twenty eight minute adaptation of Ruth Rendell’s 'Paperwork.' A talking book rather than a play, 'Paperwork' follows the story of a man, whose name is not given, forced to confront the miseries of his childhood after he inherits his grandmother’s house and all of its contents. 'Paperwork' relies on the speaker’s voice and description to convey its plotline. There is no music or sound effects involved at all and it gives you the impression of being the speaker’s confidante as he tells his story. The lack of sound effects, I feel, gives the voice far more power than it might otherwise have, adding to the illusion of silence and loneliness that is present throughout the entire play. Throughout the adaptation, the speaker’s ‘storyteller’ voice remains even and calm, rarely changing in pitch meaning that when the changes are apparent, they are emphasised by the sheer lack of quantity. For example, when the speaker confronts his grandmother about his absentee mother she says that one day he will find out a number of things which she then begins to list, one of these being ‘the murder’ which is dropped into the speech as calmly as though it were as normal as ‘it might rain today’ despite the fact that this is the first time the listener hears of the murder.