Trick film: Neil Brand’s radio dramas and the silent film experience

At first glance, silent film and audio drama may appear antithetical modes of expression. Nevertheless, an interesting tradition of silent film-to-radio adapta-tions has emerged on BBC Radio Drama. Beyond this link between silent film and radio drama, other radio dramas have highlighted that Neil Brand, a successful silent film accompanist, radio dramatist and composer, links the silent film expe-rience and audio drama in two of his plays, Joanna and Waves Breaking on a Shore. Using theories of sound and narrative in film and radio, as well as discuss-ing the way radio in particular can stimulate the generation of imagery, this arti-cle examines layered points of view/audition as ways of linking the silent film experience and the use of sound within radio drama