The radio play has long survived the competition from television in Britain, and also has a long tradition in the German-speaking world in the form of the Hörspiel – but its strength has lain precisely in demanding a visual contribution from the listener's imagination. What happens when a radio play is ‘staged’ before a live audience? In 2005, under commission from the Royal Festival Hall, the composer Carter Burwell proposed writing a sound score for new plays; and under the banner of Theatre of the New Ear, he recruited his long-time collaborators on film, Charlie Kaufman and Joel and Ethan Coen, to write specifically for sound-only. In this article Jenn Stephenson describes the experience of ‘watching’ a radio play, and offers a theorization of its qualities and the effects on its audience. Jenn Stephenson received her PhD from the University of Toronto in 2003 and is now Associate Professor of Drama at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. Her recent publications include articles in Theatre Journal, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Studies in Theatre and Performance, and Theatre Research in Canada. She is co-editor of the ‘Views and Reviews’ section of Canadian Theatre Review.