Voice for actors requires an awareness of body and voice and is one of the primary means of expression for the actor to explore the creative process. The aim of the voice course is to train and develop the voice into a fully supported, resonant and flexible instrument with strong speech skills, allowing the student to achieve their full potential, whilst keeping the individual’s own natural voice.

Year 1
It is very important to learn to let the body go, to release and relax in order to find an open and easy sound, because so many of us spend our lives in varying degrees of tension. The start of training is given to release work. Relaxation allows the breath to go deep into the body so students can learn how to breathe easily and support the voice. They then explore the resonance of the voice to achieve a fuller and more flexible sound that enables them to be heard, truthful, and imaginative with texts.

This year starts work on speech skills, essential for getting a feel for language. The abstract voice is explored which allows the students to create soundscapes and sound effects with their voice, encouraging the voice to develop a much wider palate. Text work begins with play and physicalisation of language. Ear training does just that!

Year 2
The work expands into broader areas, both honing the skills learned in year one to a much more advanced and detailed level, and also developing the creative application of the voice.

Fully rounded voice develops alongside highly articulate speech skills, so that more advanced text work is possible. Emphasis is placed on the creative choices with sound and text. Ear training develops with a wide range of accents and dialect work. Text work in both years will include the learning and speaking of poetry, rhetoric, and dramatic texts from the Ancient Greeks through Shakespeare to Holby City and beyond.

Year 3
Core voice work continues in the third year, both to maintain and develop what has been achieved so far, and to learn new skills according to the demands of each production. Throughout the training, students are taught in both group sessions and in one-to-one tutorials.