ARTA Theatre/Voice Studio (Royaume-Uni)

The Vocal technique puts into play four sound qualities: Two male sound qualities:
- the deep male sound, connected to the stomach and demonstrated by the energy of Macbeth’s monologue in Act 1, scene 1 is associated with this sound (Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand).
- the high male sound, connected to the chest and demonstrated by the energy of Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1, scene 5 (The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements).
Two female sound qualities:
- the deep female sound in the chest, and demonstrated by the energy of Romeo’s lines, in the monologue of Act 2, scene 2 (But soft what light through yonder window breaks).
- the high female sound in the head linked with the stomach, and demonstrated by the energy of Juliet’s lines in the soliloquy of Act 3, scene 2 (Gallop apace you fiery footed steeds). The work helps the actor become conscience of his/her male and female energy and to understand the link between the two. For Nadine George, Shakespeare’s plays are the basis for an actor’s work on vocal technique, and by working with them she teaches how to use breath as well as how to articulate monologues and dialogues. workshop will take place from

Nadine George trained initially at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London where Cicely Berry was her voice teacher. She was already a trained actress working for the Lincoln Repertory Theatre when she met Roy Hart in the early 1960s. Roy Hart was a psychologist and a professional actor who was doing research into voice technique. Nadine George decided to work with him and consequently joined the Roy Hart Theatre in France.
In 1990 she returned to England in order to work in English again, on Shakespeare and other classical texts. She met Cicely Berry again, who was then head of the Voice department of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Berry encouraged her to develop her own approach to voice training. Subsequently, George was invited to Birmingham University’s Drama Department, where her work with staff and students over a period of eight years enabled her to do the research and create the technique she is working on today.
She has also worked with students at a variety of European national theatre schools in Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In London she runs a Voice Studio where she has been working for 10 years with professional actors from England and Europe, as well as with teachers of voice technique and stage directors. Her work centres in particular on the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen as well as Greek tragedy.
During her 25 years of teaching experience, Nadine George has developed her own work, searching for the link between the depth of Shakespearean language and that of the voice. Her work is unique, as she uses the sung sound qualities of the voice that she connects directly to the body’s energy and sensations, whilst linking this to textual work. Acting is not an intellectual job, but physical work that requires real technical skill and a high level of concentration. Thanks to this vocal technique, the actor frees up his creative energy without succumbing to any form of self-censorship.
Having lived in France for fifteen years, Nadine George wishes to put her technique into practice with actors working on French translations of Shakespeare’s texts. This will enable them to acquire a vocal technique that they can then apply to any text.