Voice

National Theatre
  • 4.1 (30)
  • PERFORMING ARTS

There are references in some Shakespeare's plays to the vocal exercising of an actor before performance and the importance of enunciation and volume. In ancient Greek times, it was the greatest orators, those with the physical gift of a beautiful voice and a strong diaphragm, that were the actors and public speakers. Vocal exercises are part of an actor’s working life. There are many types of vocal exercises, and each addresses a different part of the vocal mechanism. You can look at each component as a cog in a machine that, when put together, will aid understandable and natural sounding speech that can easily be heard at the back of an auditorium. This collection takes you through a warm up and a series of exercises typical for actors in rehearsal at the National Theatre.

Episodes

  1. 02/27/2017 · VIDEO

    National Theatre: Vocal Warm-Up

    This short vocal warm-up led by Jeannette Nelson offers actors techniques to prepare their voice ahead of rehearsals and performances, featuring exercises on breathing, resonance, projection and articulation.

    11 min

  2. 04/28/2011 · VIDEO

    Text work on vowels in ‘O what a noble mind…’

    Head of Voice at the National Theatre, Jeannette Nelson works on Ophelia's speech ‘O, what a noble mind...' with actor Ellie Turner. They look at vowel sound in the speech as the conduit of emotion.

    6 min

  3. 04/28/2011 · VIDEO

    Text work on consonants in ‘To be, or not to be…’

    Head of Voice at the National Theatre, Jeannette Nelson works on Hamlet's speech ‘To be, or not to be...' with actor Ferdinand Kingsley. They look at consonants in the speech for structure and indicating Hamlet's thought process.

    10 min

  4. 04/28/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal exploration of the Olivier

    The Olivier theatre is an epic space and real vocal challenge to an actor. Jeannette takes three actors through a vocal exploration of the theatre.

    9 min

  5. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Text work on prose from Saint Joan

    In a scene from Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, where Saint Joan is accused by the bishops, Sioned Jones moves between three chairs representing herself, France and God. This helps her open up the space and give a sense of breadth and surety to the speech, which is then assisted by reading the speech in unison with Chris Saul.

    9 min

  6. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Text work on blank verse from Much Ado About Nothing

    Chris Saul works with Jeannette Nelson, the National's Head of Voice, on a speech delivered by the Friar in Much Ado About Nothing. It's a speech Chris didn't know, and had to work on hard to understand. By reading through the verse by doing an exercise involving patting his knee on possible beats, which might be accentuated, Chris is able to help convey this meaning to the audience.

    8 min

  7. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal warm-up: Articulation

    The big theatres at the National require a big focus on articulation. First Jeannette gets the actors to move their lips around, and then gives the tongue a good work-out. After relaxing the jaw and reminding the actors of the need for good support, she gets them to repeat the sounds 'da, da, da' and 'ta, ta, ta' very quickly. Jeannette's further selection of other sounds to repeat will, over time, build up an actor's ability to articulate clearly. In addition to being part of their continual training, it's also something they need to do every night before a performance.

    4 min

  8. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal warm-up: Opening up the voice

    After working on breathing and resonance, Jeannette works with the actors to open their voices up. First she gets them to do some stretching exercises to open their ribs up. Yawning opens up the throat. Sliding down from high in the voice on the sound 'Haaaaaaaaaa' needs to be done at least three times.

    3 min

  9. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal warm-up: Resonance

    To achieve the feeling that the actors are speaking using their whole body, humming exercises are used to develop the voice's resonance.

    3 min

  10. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal warm-up: Breathing

    Breathing exercises are an essential start to any vocal warm-up; they organise the breathing muscles, extend the capacity of the voice and give a sense of the breath very deep inside the body.

    7 min

  11. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal exploration of the Lyttelton

    Sioned Jones and Chris Saul are struck by the width of the Lyttelton Theatre in comparison with the Cottesloe. Jeannette agrees; it requires a sense of a bigger person for a bigger space. It's particularly important to be aware of audience members in the circle; Chris delivers Polonius speech to Laertes from Hamlet to Jeannette and Sioned, who stand in the circle.

    3 min

  12. 03/29/2011 · VIDEO

    Vocal exploration of the Cottesloe

    Even though the Cottesloe is a smaller 'studio' theatre, Jeannette Nelson explains that it has its own vocal challenges, which can make it as tricky to work to its full potential as the much larger Olivier. She sets actors Sioned and Chris the task of exploring the space by getting them to read to each other from different ends of the space.

    6 min
  • 12 Episodes

    4.1
    out of 5
    30 Ratings

    About

    There are references in some Shakespeare's plays to the vocal exercising of an actor before performance and the importance of enunciation and volume. In ancient Greek times, it was the greatest orators, those with the physical gift of a beautiful voice and a strong diaphragm, that were the actors and public speakers. Vocal exercises are part of an actor’s working life. There are many types of vocal exercises, and each addresses a different part of the vocal mechanism. You can look at each component as a cog in a machine that, when put together, will aid understandable and natural sounding speech that can easily be heard at the back of an auditorium. This collection takes you through a warm up and a series of exercises typical for actors in rehearsal at the National Theatre.

    Information

    • Creator
      National Theatre
    • Years Active
      2011 - 2017
    • Episodes
      12
    • Rating
      Clean
    • Show Website
      Voice

    More From National Theatre

    Content Restricted

    This episode can’t be played on the web in your country or region.

    To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

    Stay up to date with this show

    Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
    Select a country or region

    Africa, Middle East, and India

    Asia Pacific

    Europe

    Latin America and the Caribbean

    The United States and Canada