More Ealing Workshop Notes

26/1/2019

Amanda Whittington - Finding Your Voice Session

Notes:

"Colour" your voice
Pay attention to the style and the voice will come out
Express emotion without tension
Think of a constant air flow, not separate sounds
Shouting is "calling with attitude" (i.e not straining)
Put a "h" in front of a consonant to shout, e.g. "(h)eff off!"
The body talks, not the throat or the voice
Your "personal" space is commonly perceived to be approximately an arm's length around you: Imagine it as the whole theatre, to get "Volume without the push". Then see the audience as part of your personal space.

Practice/warm-up:

Adopt a "cocky/bored" attitude - hum - tap your body, up the left side and down the right
Release the back of your tongue; move your tongue around your teeth
Slack jaw - tongue behind front teeth - push forward
"I speak here", i.e. from the diaphragm
brrr (vroom!) or th/zh
shi / se / fe / the
Tongue forward to lips and recite a text

* Cicely Berry book - "Finding your voice"

Notes:

A balance between "directing" and "consulting"
Shaping... Pulling together
A good play has "musical structure"
The work of the director is not visible to the audience
A director has to be different "characters": stern, patient, cajoling, etc.
Directing is about adapting to what's presented, not attempting to recreate what's in your head
Use your ears... What did the writer "hear"?
Bring out the human-ness of the story being told
Be interested in what's in front of you... Open-minded
Help the actors to act well
Understand/observe bodily tensions
Directing is about "conducting the rhythm of the event"; shaping the "rhythm" of the play
Be able to explain
Use your eyes and ears: KNOW / LOOK / LISTEN / ANALYSE... only then SPEAK
Ask questions during read-throughs
Encourage actors to look at each other's eyes
Correcting wrong word stress: what are you actually saying?

Mike Bartlett
Directing is:

Moira Cima