Voice and the Actor

Voice and the Actor
by Cicely Berry

List Price: ~~$12.95~~
Our Price: $2.91
You Save: $10.04 (78%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.77 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Compare Prices for Voice and the Actor

Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Cicely Berry
Foreword: Peter Brook
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1991-07-30
ISBN: 0020415559
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Wiley

Book Reviews of Voice and the Actor

Book Review: Voice of the Actor
Summary: 5 Stars

The book came in new condition at less than half the retail price. Good people!

Write your own review

Summary of Voice and the Actor

"Speaking is part of a whole: an expression of inner life." Cicely Berry has based her work on the conviction that while all is present in nature our natural instincts have been crippled from birth by many processes--by the conditioning, in fact, of a warped society. So an actor needs precise exercise and clear understanding to liberate his hidden possibilities and to learn the hard task of being true to the 'instinct of the moment'. As her book points out with remarkable persuasiveness 'technique' as such is a myth, for there is no such thing as a correct voice. There is no right way--there are only a million wrong ways, which are wrong because they deny what would otherwise be affirmed. Wrong uses of the voice are those that constipate feeling, constrict activity, blunt expression, level out idiosyncrasy, generalize experience, coarsen intimacy. These blockages are multiple and are the results of acquired habits that have become part of the automatic vocal equipment; unnoticed and unknown, they stand between the actor's voice as it is and as it could be and they will not vanish by themselves. So the work is not how to do but how to permit: how, in fact, to set the voice free. And since life in the voice springs from emotion, drab and uninspiring technical exercises can never be sufficient. Cicely Berry never departs from the fundamental recognition that speaking is part of a whole: an expression of inner life.. After a voice session with her I have known actors speak not of the voice but of a growth in human relationships. This is a high tribute to work that is the opposite of specialization. Cicely Berry sees the voice teacher as involved in all of a theatre's work. She would never try to separate the sound of words from their living context. For her the two are inseparable. --from Peter Brook's foreword to Voice and the Actor

Acting & Auditioning Books

Book Subjects

Most talked about in Essentials for Actors

Experimental Theatre: From Stanislavsky to Peter Brook
by Jam Roose-Evans
Routledge; Published: 1996-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.42
Price in other shops: ~~$37.95~~

Shakespeare and Feminist Performance: Ideology on Stage (Accents on Shakespeare)
by Sarah Werner
Routledge; Published: 2001-08-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $119.93
Price in other shops: ~~$120.00~~

Text In Action
by Cicely Berry
Virgin Books; Published: 2001-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.86
Price in other shops: ~~$28.00~~

Your Voice and How to Use It: The Classic Guide to Speaking with Confidence
by Cicely Berry
Virgin Books; Published: 1995-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.21
Price in other shops: ~~$16.95~~

The Right to Speak
by Patsy Rodenburg
Methuen Drama; Published: 1992-03-09; Hardcover; Book

The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer
by Patsy Rodenburg
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2002-08-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: ~~$24.95~~

The Actor and the Text (Applause Acting Series)
by Cicely Berry
Applause Books; Published: 2000-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops: ~~$16.95~~

Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook Image

Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook
by Viola Spolin
Northwestern University Press; Published: 1986-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.81
Price in other shops: ~~$22.00~~

Theater Games for the Lone Actor
by Viola Spolin
Northwestern University Press; Published: 2001-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.65
Price in other shops: ~~$12.95~~

Improvisation for the Theater 3E: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques (Drama and Performance Studies)
by Viola Spolin
Northwestern University Press; Published: 1999-07-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.91
Price in other shops: ~~$22.95~~

Similar Books and other products

The Complete Voice and Speech Workout: 74 Exercises for Classroom and Studio Use
Applause Books; Published: 2002-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.66
Price in other shops: ~~$32.95~~

The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition
by Anne Bogart, Tina Landau
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 2005-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.03
Price in other shops: ~~$16.95~~

Freeing Shakespeare's Voice: The Actor's Guide to Talking the Text
by Kristin Linklater
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 1993-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.28
Price in other shops: ~~$17.95~~

Make Your Voice Heard: An Actor's Guide to Increased Dramatic Range Through Vocal Training
by Chuck Jones
Back Stage Books; Published: 2005-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.53
Price in other shops: ~~$16.95~~

The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice
by Patsy Rodenburg
Theatre Arts Book; Published: 1993-06-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.76
Price in other shops: ~~$26.95~~

Freeing the Natural Voice
by Kristin Linklater
Drama Publishers; Published: 1976-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: ~~$19.95~~

Speak with Distinction: The Classic Skinner Method to Speech on the Stage (Applause Acting Series)
by Edith Skinner
Applause Books; Published: 2000-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.44
Price in other shops: ~~$36.95~~