'Sound is the totem': Inside the podcast musical 36 Questions

You may be familiar with the 36 questions that can supposedly make any two strangers fall in love. They were the subject of a Modern Love column from The New York Times in 2015, and most recently, they became the topic of a podcast musical with the same name.

Produced by podcast studio Two-Up, 36 Questions tells the story of Judith and Jase, a married couple on the brink of a divorce, who try to use the questions to salvage their marriage. The three-part podcast musical is written, directed and composed by Ellen Winter and Chris Littler.

"Traditionally in musical theatre there are a lot of elements going on (...) there is a lot of storytelling that is happening based on how the actors are using the space in which the story is being presented," Winter said.

"And as writers and performers, we had to clock that there is no space, except for the space in your earbuds."

In this week's episode of the Journalism.co.uk podcast, Winter and Littler talk about their creative process, how they combined song writing with the character development, how they overcame the limitations of the podcast format, and what they learned in the process.

This podcast includes a clip from 36 Questions, used with permission.

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