The Responsive Voice: A dialogic approach to actor voice training
Tuesday 1st October 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
This course will apply key insights from research on natural conversation to voice and dialect coaching for actors. Current actor voice training approaches the voice as the product of an individual speaker. The voice is seen as expressing inner truths and emotions, and there is a strong focus on learning lines and soliloquies. However, some voice coaches have called for ‘a genuine, dynamic, and spontaneous responsiveness as opposed to learning how to say lines without really listening or reacting to others’ (Gutekunst & Gillett 2014:4). This aligns with findings from research on natural talk. Here, it has been shown that the voice is a tool for dialogue rather than only for monologue.
The course will start by introducing the dialogic functions of the voice as it is used in real-life conversation. In natural talk, speakers vocally align with each other, for example, by mirroring each other’s pitch or speech tempo. Here, the voice - or ‘prosody’ - manages interaction with other people rather than revealing an emotional state. Aligning with others frequently leads to prosody that is different from prosody produced in isolation. These insights have not yet been applied to actor voice training, where they have the potential to transform dialogue coaching.
The course will give an overview of how recent voice training approaches teach voice/ prosody and will outline areas where the prosody of acting may differ from that of natural conversation. We will propose ways in which the prosody of natural talk can be meaningfully applied to the work of actors, acting students, and voice coaches, with many examples and exercises that students can take part in if they would like to.
🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available
Beatrice Szczepek Reed
Beatrice Szczepek Reed is Professor of Linguistics at King’s College London, where she is the Co-Director of the Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication. Beatrice studies spoken language, particularly the phonetics and phonology of natural conversation.
Anne Whitaker
Anne Whitaker is a California transplant now based in London. Her work as a voice coach spans professional coaching and conservatoire training programs including The Royal Central School for Speech and Drama, Mountview, and The Globe.
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.
Wednesday 4th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 11th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 18th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 25th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 1st April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 8th April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)
Learn to Coach RP and SSBE – a Certificate in Accent Coaching
Louisa Morgan
This six-week course is an opportunity to learn about both Received Pronunciation and Standard Southern British English. Rather than a course in learning how to speak RP/SSBE (there are many brilliant available courses for this already), this course is about learning how to coach it.
Thursday 5th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 12th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Acting Emotion: Perspectives from the Masters
Louisa Morgan
Stanislavski said, “our artistic emotions are, at first, as shy as wild animals and they hide in the depths of our souls.” Michael Chekhov said, our bodies should be like a “sensitive membrane, a kind of receiver and conveyor of the subtlest images, feelings, emotions and will impulses.” And Meisner said we should be “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” Join Louisa Morgan in this 2-part course as she explores a range of well-known acting practitioners to investigate what they believed (or believe) about emotion and how they approached it in their work. She'll compare their work to see where they align and where they diverge.
Tuesday 10th March 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
Living truthfully in the present moment: An introduction to the Meisner Technique!
Abigail Sugden
Sanford Meisner believed that acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances. Rooted in behavioural aspects of acting practice, the Meisner Technique is often associated with encouraging actors to live truthfully in the present moment. Aimed at those working within the field of acting, this 2-hour session with Abigail Sugden will focus on the work of Sanford Meisner, introducing the core principles of his technique and discussing the possible benefits to performers.