How important is your CRAFT?

The evolving landscape of actor training

Actor training in the UK suffered a profound loss this month when it was revealed that Patsy Rodenburg, one of the finest voice teachers in the world, decided to leave the drama school she’d been teaching at for 42 years due to a disagreement in methodology.

To recap, Rodenburg’s work in The Right to Speak and The Actor Speaks is taught in some variation across most UK drama schools. She’s worked with theatrical alumni such as Judi Dench and Ian McKellan and trained Daniel Craig and Paapa Essieudu amongst others.

In my own training at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, voice was taught by one of her previous pupils Claudette Williams, who now heads the BA Acting course there. Along with Cicelly Berry, her work has been fundamental in understanding the relationship between breath, body and word.

So why did she leave?

Because she feels the craft of acting is being sacrificed as actor training shifts from theatre to film, where (it’s often perceived) you have to do less - certainly in terms of technique. There also seems to be a suggestion that students weren’t being ‘pushed to excel’ in the way she would have liked, instead permitted to operate within themselves.

To me, part of this does sound like necessary growing pains when it comes to actor training. For years, the amount of time spent preparing actors for film work seemed to be grossly insufficient - I think I spent a total of a week working on camera across my three years! So this challenge to the centrality of theatre in training will necessarily result in push back.

There have also been numerous cases of abusive behaviour in drama schools over the last few decades, so the rise of a more inclusive and less hierarchical approach should be very welcome.

But there is a tension there. Training should be about pushing boundaries and comfort zones as well as practical skill building. Even though I myself haven’t been on stage for four years, I still employ the craft steeped in my theatre training as much if not more than anything I’ve learnt from a VO coach.

Voice Acting tip of the week:

Are you first, second or third circle?

One of Rodenburg’s greatest definitions is the three circles of energy.

Whether you’re an actor, a director or someone who ever has to do any public speaking, keeping in mind these three circle and the different things they can offer are a brilliant shorthand for making character choices.

Behind The Scenes project of the week:

This week, I’ve been working on putting together a new gaming demo with the help of the wonderful Adele Cutting from SoundCuts.

Though the vast majority of work is cast through custom auditions, demos are still vital for introducing yourself and your offer to agents and casting directors as quickly as possible.

While I have a video showreel of all my video game work to date, my demo has to be a short and punchy introduction to my range as an actor in 90-100 second max. I’ve already had to kill a few darlings to get the runtime down and am still in the process of tweaking it. But I would thoroughly recommend the whole production process with Adele and look forward to sharing the final results next week!

Media Recommendations:

Every week, I share three podcasts, articles or interviews that I’d strongly recommend. This week…

1. Have I got games for you?

   Game devs Alyx Jones and Oscar Clark discuss the various factors behind the current wave of redundancies in the games industry. A really insightful and compassionate conversation worth checking out.

2. The State of VoiceOver in 2024

   The National Association of Voice Actors sponsored this survey to shed light on the realities of life as a voice actor in 2024. Some interesting insights to check out, including (inevitably) AI but also where most VA’s get their work!

3. Speak the Speech

   Mark Duplass shares a great writing tip for first drafts by encouraging people to verbalise and record them rather than do battle with the empty page. As a voice actor constantly pleading with copywriters to say their scripts aloud, this hit a nerve!

Favourite Writing of the week: DragonBall Z

Anime lost a hugely influential figure in Akria Toriyama this month. Best known for the creation of Dragon Ball Z, he had a huge impact on audiences across the globe as well as his fellow artists. So it felt only right to share a collection of speeches from his most memorable antagonist, Vegeta.

@chrisnaturallyrp

Replying to @Keiji Patton RIP Akria Toriyama. #akiratoriyama #akiratoriyamarip #vegeta #dragonball #princevegeta #dragonballz #animespeech... See more

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A workshop exploring social media for voice actors

After running the occasional workshop on how I have used social media to build a following of 450,000 followers across platforms, I have been invited to hold a 3 hour workshop going through my approach by Wonderland Voiceover. You can check out the details on the workshop, being held online on 19th March 6pm-9pm GMT, here.

Thanks again for reading, and until next week Honey and I wish you a wonderful week!