Our History

Radio Active Live started in 2012 in response to a suggestion by Mary Dennison, a local with a background in Radio, Film & Theatre, that ‘live’ performances of Radio Plays could be an enjoyable form of light entertainment. Helen Everingham and Mary researched what others were doing and decided there was a niche we could develop and so, the ‘call’ went out…

A small group of friends, who had been active with an amateur theatre group over many years, decided to read and develop a repertoire of plays which might entertain. Many of these short plays were episodes of regular ongoing series, not quite serials, but with familiar characters in different settings, performed on popular radio stations in the US or UK.

Others were one hour plays, often performed by well known movie actors and presented as regular features, for example, by Lux Radio Theatre. As many plays did run as serials and were often sponsored by soap manufacturing companies, they were often referred to as ‘Soap Operas’.

In Australia, during the 1930s, 40s and early 50s, many radio stations produced radio plays and serials, which became a part of Australia’s Culture. ‘Dad and Dave’, ‘Blue Hills’, ‘Superman’, ‘The Search For The Golden Boomerang’ and ‘Yes What?’ were part of our childhood entertainment.

So Radio Active Live was born as an activity to revive and generate interest, entertainment and nostalgia in this past type of performance. From those early days with John Hunt, Mary Dennison and Helen Everingham throwing around an idea – Radio Active has become so much more as a result of the people who have evolved and grown it from that tiny seed to what you see today.

If you haven’t been to one of our shows, we hope to see you soon.