“Mark’s been working with the New Vic for many years now, always efficient and effective; and always engaged both with the requirements of the text and with the curious acoustic of our challenging auditorium."

THERESA HESKINS
Artisitc Director

New Vic Theatre

Voice & Text

Every voice is unique and everyone should feel able to communicate, that’s where a voice coach can help.

           

• Do you have to talk in public?
• Do you want to reduce your accent?
• Do you want ‘improve’ your voice?
• Do you have to prepare for an audition?
• Do you want to get beneath the skin of a role?

 

There are 1000s of books about voice work, and there is no single method of teaching it, but there are many key areas that all teachers should be able to help you develop:

 

• Anatomy and voice care
• Posture and breathing
• Using the breath to create voice
• Forming the sounds of speech
• Making the voice carry

 

I have deliberately avoided using jargon, because we all have a voice and we all use it – virtually from the moment we are born. Also, voice is not just about acting, but a lot of terminology presumes it is.

 

Good voice work helps you make the way you speak clearer and interesting. Sometimes it is about changing the way you produce your voice, so while there are some quick solutions, very often voice work requires longer periods, and it relies on you doing ‘homework’ in between sessions.

 

However, sometimes it is what you have to say that unlocks a problem. Sometimes the words that cause the block, or the style of the writing. Voice and dialect work both rely on an absolute understanding of how the text works.

 

The key to interpreting a text is knowing how you can make the most of it. These are all techniques that you can learn. I have a wealth of experience and exercises to help you unlock the words you have to say. As the author of many scripts, I can also help you to write those words if that is what you need.

 

Production voice coach credits include

The Lakes (BBC), Romeo and Juliet (dir. Renny Krupinski), Titus Andronicus (dir. Renny Krupinski), Hamlet (dir. Alan Patterson), As You Like It (dir. Maggie Ford), All’s Well That Ends Well (dir. Dinos Aristidos), The Winter’s Tale (dir. Paul Robinson), Stig of the Dump (dir. Natasha Betteridge), Cleo, Camping, Emmanuel and Dick (dir. Jim Hooper), Beauty and the Beast (dir. Chris Monks), Cyrano de Bergerac (dir. Greg Hersov), The Wizard of Oz (dir. Theresa Heskins), A Voyage Around My Father (dir. Theresa Heskins), Arabian Nights (dir. Paul Hunter), Peter Pan (dir. Theresa Heskins), Coronation Street (ITV).