“a form of narrative radio documentary that appeared in the late 1950s, in which ‘the story [was] told entirely in the words of the actual participants themselves as recorded in real life; in sound effects which [were] also recorded on the spot, and in songs which [were] based upon these recordings, and which [utilised] traditional or ‘folk-song’ modes of expression.'”
Charles Parker quoted in BBC2, 2006 – pg. 69 of Amanda Stuart Fisher’s Performing the Testimonial
The quote above was my first introduction to the BBC Radio Ballad. I was reading Amanda Stuart Fisher’s Performing the Testimonial (2021), a book about dramaturgy in verbatim theater, in order to prepare myself for teaching an undergraduate seminar on documentary theater in Spring 2025. What struck me immediately about the Radio Ballad was its high fidelity and its stunning authenticity. The appeals of the Radio Ballad to the political, to the mythological, to the musical made it such a fascinating area to study further for my Digital Humanities capstone.
I have written this project as a resource for an educational audience, ranging anywhere in age level from high school to college age. This project may be of particular interest to students of Media Studies, Communication, Theater, and/or History. I am hoping to use this project as a tool for students to understand the BBC Radio Ballad in my seminar next quarter.
A quick note on this project:
I first listened to the BBC Radio Ballad via the Internet Archive, though this source was recently deleted in the past month. I am unsure why this content was taken down, though I find it important to note in considering my process of planning and developing this project.
About Me
Matthew Beymer is a current fourth-year student at UCLA, majoring in Theater and double minoring in Digital Humanities and Professional Writing. He is originally from San Jose, CA. Past projects for the DH minor include an overview of cultural diversity in U.S. art museums (Intro to Digital Humanities), a series of maps about wheelchair ramp accessibility in Los Angeles (Digital Mapping and Critical GIS), a podcast about politics and puppetry (Writing for Audio), and an experimental mask staging/design (Emerging Technology in Performance).
Image courtesy of Chris Jon Photography