Irish Voice Training
Workshop
by Gaitkrash Company
VertebrART invites Regina Crowley & Bernadette Cronin, two Irish instructors of the world-renowned Linklater Method of Voice Training, to Shanghai to lead a workshop on Voice Training and Monologue Performance.
Voice training has always been an important part of actor development. In the traditional acting system in China, voice training is mostly done through dialogue and voice lessons. As the times and forms of performance have evolved, the focus of voice training for actors has gradually shifted from an emphasis on the skills of "how to sound" to a more central question of "why to sound".
Regina and Bernie are not only certified teachers of the world-renowned Linklater Method, they are also actors and directors. "The Linklater Method emphasizes the "natural voice", not to describe inner impulses and emotions, but to reveal them directly and spontaneously. What we hear is not a person's voice, but a person's heart.
To release a person's voice is to release a person. The goal of this vocal training is that the voice is directly connected to the emotional impulses, unencumbered by anything. This is the supreme requirement for an actor's vocal expression.
This workshop reminds us once again that your voice is not just about "speaking clearly", but is fundamentally about everything you do. Throughout, you need to have the ability to be aware, to feel everything about yourself - your body, your breath, your diaphragm, your emotions, your impulses ...... These are not judged from the mind's rational analysis but are about your true and honest awareness of yourself.
The workshop was full of scientific and systematic methods, and gentle but powerful encouragement. The two teachers made us realize once again that performance begins and ends with the understanding of the "self".
Regina Crowley
Regina Crowley is an experienced teacher, director and actor at Linklater Sound Training Centre. She is a founding member of Gaitkrash Theatre Company and has been performing and directing for the past twenty years, conducting several voice and drama workshops in Ireland and around the world, and has been awarded an Arts Council of Ireland Artist Fellowship and the Eilis Mullan Theatre Award.
She has trained with directors such as Yoshi Oida, Lorna Marshall, Phillip Zarrilli (Phillip has directed many of her productions), Enrique Pardo and has taught at the Moscow School of Cinematography.
After training at Kristin Linklater, a world-renowned voice training centre, she is currently a senior lecturer in drama at the Cork Conservatoire.
Bernadette Cronin
Bernadette Cronin is a theatre artist who works in different artistic fields such as theatre arts, sound arts, fine arts and performing arts.She trained at Kristin Linklater, a world-renowned voice training centre, and is now a Linklater guest voice training teacher. She studied acting at the London College of Music and Drama and later became a professional yoga teacher.
She has worked with a number of directors including director Phillip Zarrilli (Mental Body Workshop) and David Zinder (Michael Chekhov Training Method Workshop) on voice training for actors. She has a PhD in Drama from the University of Exeter, UK, and is currently a Lecturer in Drama at Cork University, Ireland.She is co-founder of GAITKRASH Theatre Company
presentation performance
A Midsummer Night's Dream
