Paul Abelman, She's Dead - Vocal use and variety

1. What are the aspects of voice production that an actor needs to keep in mind when he acts? How does voice help in characterisation? (Read up on the works of Cicely Berry and Patsy Rodenburg for reference.)

For Cecily Berry, she believes that an actor should refrain from speaking with tension. She also mentions the importance of having resonance. Besides this, the other aspects of voice production that an actor needs to keep in mind would be his diction, clarity, pitch and tone.
For a good voice production, one should not speak with tension as it affects the quality of an actor’s voice, and blocks it. So the voice that comes out would sound forced or unnatural. Tension will lead to an unfocused voice lacking in natural inflections, with no variations in pressure, range or tone. This happens because actors are insecure of their voices and so get very tensed when they speak. Hence it is important to learn how to relax the vocal muscles and to believe in one’s own voice.
Resonance is also important. It allows the actors to produce different voice pitch and different sounds. To do this, it is important to maintain a good posture when projecting.
An actor must always have good diction as it affects the words that are being spoken by the actor. If diction or enunciation is bad, then the lines would definitely get affected. In acting, besides facial expression and the other physical movements, the voice is the other thing that reaches the audience. If speech were not clear, then part of the play would be missing because the audience won’t understand and so won’t get the meaning of the play. The way an actor enunciates the lines is also important because it could, to the audience, appear to be on purpose and how one pronounces things would show one’s character. So for example, if the actor has rotary pronunciations, then he could appear to be a character that is American.
Next, having good clarity is important as it determines how comprehensible the actor is. For an actor to play his character convincingly, he has to ensure that what he says can be heard and has to speak as if the lines were his own. This would allow his acting to be more realistic.
Pitch is important as well as different voice pitches can affect the audience’s understanding of the character. From a certain voice pitch, one can tell whether the character is angry, happy, sad etc. It would also help with the emotions an actor is feeling and thus the expression on his face.
The same goes for tone. Tone could affect the lines the actor says. Lines spoken in different tones, and pitches, would have different meanings.
Hence it is important for an actor to remember all these for good voice production.

Pitches, tone, diction and clarity are all affected by how good an actor’s voice quality is. And to have good voice production, one must have a good resonance and be free of tension. The pitch, tone, diction and clarity are important because it shows a character’s character as explained above. Patsy Rodenburg (The Actor Speaks: Voice and the performer) shows how exercises in exaggeration can help an actor discover his range and help in characterization. It allows him to play with the variety of intensities and this can be put to any play. This way, the actor has more freedom to shape it in such a way that would help enhance characterization.


2. Is voice the most important ‘tool’ for an actor? Why or why not?

In acting, an actor uses his voice and physical movements (facial expression, body movements etc.) to bring the story across to the audience. Both are important because it would compliment each other and together different effects can be made.
Hence to me, the voice is an important tool. But whether or not it is the most important, it would depend on what type of drama it is and what effect the actor wants to make. If it were a mime for example, the voice would then not be important at all.
However, for most plays the voice would be an important tool. It allows the audience to hear what the actors on stage are saying, hence knowing the conversation which is essential in understanding what is going on. Because language is generally an important factor in theatre and usually, the message of the play is brought across through the use of words. Voice would also allow audience to hear, hence feel the emotions. For certain things like sarcasm, suspicion, and mockery etc. to be shown, it would require the voice. For facial expression and physical movement could be inadequate.

Voice is important also, as it allows communication – not only between actors and the audience, but also among the actors themselves.

ELEANOR!