Radio has permeated daily life in Australia for more than a century.
Radio plays, written in the 1930s and 40s, are still being broadcast today in the Blue Mountains by the Radio Players Group. The group present the plays as they would have been 80 years ago, speaking into microphones and using recorded sound effects.
The Radio Players Group was formed 25 years ago by Juliette Palmer Frederick, an accomplished actress and teacher. Palmer Frederick has been involved in radio, theatre and film since she was six-years-old. She accompanied her mother when she rehearsed at the Lux Radio Theatre – that was 85 years ago but her love of radio has not diminished. More recently, Palmer Frederick appeared in the Blue Mountains produced film Dinosaur Island. Today she is still an active producer and actress with the group she formed known as the Katoomba Radio Players.
Aged 91, Juliette Palmer Frederick still performs with the group. Most recently, she performed with the Radio Players in Arsenic and Old Lace at the 100th anniversary of the Paragon Cafe in Katoomba.
Barry Masters and Barry Moray, two of the Radio Players have written some great plays, some of which will be performed during 2017. With a floating cast of professionals and amateurs working together, the Radio Players Group produces two or three plays each month. These are performed and broadcast in front of a live audience.
The group’s monthly performance is held at Mountain Heritage in Katoomba on the last Sunday of every month at 2.30pm. The Radio Players’ first performance in 2017 will be on Sunday, February 26 at Mountain Heritage, Katoomba.
