Holiday Listen: Pariah: A Three-Part Series on The Truth

Davy Gardner's audio fiction transports you to a fictional world where art, crime and criticism rub shoulders a tense and provocative way

I’ve spent much of this year listening to non-fiction (more than 50 full seasons, plus lots of other material). This all adds up to days worth of true crime, challenging life stories, new science, novel ideas and a lot of decoding various lies.

I’ve listened as reporters uncovered complicated truths, surprised me and brought me into places that I never thought I would go, and vicariously, I’ve had a whole lot of personal information shared with me.

But now, just in time for the holidays, I’m ready for something completely different.

I actually need to take a break from reality for a minute, so for this year’s holiday listen I want to switch gears and take in a fictional crime thriller about reality – and reality’s relationship with art and documentary. 

Pariah - by Davy Gardner

Cover image from Pariah, from The Truth website

Davy Gardner, also the curator of Tribeca Audio, has an incredible ear for fiction. In his series Pariah you can enjoy a gripping mystery that takes the best of the true crime genre, and twists it into a commentary about art criticism, belonging and becoming.

It’s also a story about how far an artist will take her vision. Inga, the artist at the centre of the story, will do almost anything to get her message out into the world. In a year that’s seen a raft of radical changes in this industry space, this story offers a timely counterpoint to reflect on.

I rarely listen to audio fiction—quite frankly I don’t enjoy most of what I encounter. But this one is different. I was taken by this story. I closed my eyes and was brought into a world that I could see, without any of the visuals fed to me.

I was down for the subtext of what Pariah asks us to think about:

• How far is too far in the world of art?

• What is radical, and is there a place for that in the art world?

• How can art push us to new places?

Pariah ended up being the closing curtain edition of The Truth, an anthology fiction podcast that’s also one of the founding members of Radiotopia. It began in 2009 when Jonathan Mitchell and Hillary Frank received a grant to produce a pilot. Since 2012, the series began to publish limited series regularly. But this year, Mitchell decided it was time to take a pause.

Fans of The Truth fans are hoping this is a brief pause, rather than a hard stop. We shall see if this show will be reborn somehow, somewhere. in the future. But for now, this is it.

Pariah is told over three episodes…a great binge listen for one of those moments over the holiday when you’re ready to disconnect from a screen and be transported to a fictional world. The acting and dialogue is compelling and naturalistic. The premise will force you to consider how we think and talk about art. And the conclusion is certain to take you by surprise.

Here’s the first episode…

If you prefer to listen on The Truth website, you can find that HERE »

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I sat down with Davy recently to talk about what it’s like to create audio fiction, as compared to audio documentary.

The following interview is from that conversation. It has been edited for length and clarity.

[Samantha Hodder]: How do you write for audio drama?

[Davy Gardner]: Well, I do two things:

One, in my scripts, I always make a point to write illustrative stage directions.

Some producers will get my scripts and ask: Why are all of these stage directions describing what things look like…none of this ends up in the audio?

But I put it there so that the actors because the actors need cues, so they can imagine things like what they're wearing (eg blue jeans and a hoodie). That informs the way the actors visualize it, and when the actors can see the story while performing, the audience can see it when they listen.

If the actor isn’t “in it” I don’t think the listener will be. Instead if the actor is actively imagining and visualizing what's happening, just like in theater, working with actors to “see” where they are, the experience can land where it needs to.

Another thing is that I believe that you can get actors to give the greatest performances by giving them exclusively positive feedback about what’s working, as opposed to what’s not. For me, that’s how to allow actors to stay dropped in their characters and the story.

[SH]: You describe something that it's almost like a screenplay, with the with the stage directions. Are you approaching it in a way that the visuals are part of the scene, even though none of the visuals appear on the ‘radio?’

[DG]: Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure.

That’s what makes the performances become something real.

A lot of audio drama just sounds like voices in a vacuum on a spaceship. I don't know where I am in time and space….I don't know what's going on. It's hard to follow and if I don't pay attention for three seconds, I've missed a huge plot point. That demands attention.

I've worked in documentary and memoir and many other kinds of audio. There's a lot that is very specifically different about [audio fiction].

It’s also different business-wise.

[SH]: Give me your short pitch about why audio fiction is an important and integral part of the industry.

[DG]: I think because it's the thing that executives believe in the least.

Many executives and producers don't see financial value in making audio drama, but it still exists and always has. People are so passionate about it, and they make it anyway. So as an artist, I think that that fact, in and of itself, is enough of a reason for a curator to pay attention to it.

I’d also say that In the history of radio and audio, audio drama has massively affected every other genre in huge ways that often aren’t really acknowledged. I would highly recommend the Neil Verma’s books for more on that.

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Whether your holidays have already come and gone, or this isn’t your year off, or you don’t choose to celebrate at all, please do find a moment to enjoy this audio fiction series….happy (ish) holiday/s to you and yours.

I’m off next week, but I’ll be back in January with a whole lot more exciting stories about the best corner of the audio industry: narrative podcasts.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter…your time and attention is truly invaluable to me. If you’re not already subscribed, please consider making this newsletter Inbox Official.

Very best to you and yours…

Samantha

The first ever Holiday Listen is here, if you are still looking for a great listen: