Actor's voice

LATVIAN ACTORS’ SPEECH IN THE POSTMODERN THEATRE SPACE
The eclectic specifics of contemporary theatre dictate the use of actors’ speech in its broadest amplitude, ranging from forced declamation to realistic household chat and from the classically resonant grasp of an idea via articulated sound through to a monotonous string of impersonal words. Although large auditoriums often demand the use of traditional speech for the stage, this study focuses on its non-conventional use. Small auditoriums and various unusual acting environments specifically adapted for plays provide fertile ground for an actor to freely experiment with his speech.
There are many reasons for such diversity of which the following are the most important:
1) In Latvian theatre, the dominance of the documentary genre (in its most diverse forms) demands a hushed voice and a casual everyday manner of speech,
2) The large proportion of small viewing auditoriums dictates cinematographic close-ups with the consequence that the viewer, accustomed to an actor’s completely credible organics, also comes to expect this same everyday manner of speech on bigger stages,
3) The use of modern technology, i.e. video and optically zoomed in close-ups, etc., demands relaxed and frivolous expression in stage speech,
4) The use of microphones produces a nuanced acoustic resonance, more often than not negating the need to address the last row of the balcony resonantly and powerfully.
5) A change in the interpretation of the intention of the text decrees that an actor must be creative in a dramatic sense, thus dictating that less attention is paid to the quality of the spoken word. The goal of the talk is to clearly answer the following questions: 1) which characteristics of voice, articulation and thinking does the postmodern environment demand from an actor in the Latvian theatre? 2)  which phenomena from daily life have irreversibly changed the forms and role of the manifestation of theatre in society and 3) how does this situation change the methodology of teaching stage oratory in regard to the preparation of young actors?
This study draws on semiotician Jon Whitmore’s characterisation of the multidimensional nature of a theatrical performance and his postulation of the place of actors’ speech within the gamut of linguistic, visual, aural and olfactoral means of theatrical expression. The theoretical rationale is also based on the analysis of the contemporary theatre conducted by theatrical art theoreticians and cognitive scientists John Lutterbie and Rick Kemp.

Keywords: theatre, performance, actor, speech.

This new essay of Alfonso Gianluca Gucciardo, MD is in Italian. It is intended for the voice lovers and, specifically, for clinicians/doctors interested to Performing Arts Medicine. The aim isn’t to go in the deepness of the ultra-specialistic remarks, but to stimulate new clinical thoughts and some ideas in order to prevent, to fast understand and to care & cure with pre­cision at least the most recurrent diseases of the voice artist. The preface is by a worldwide icon of the vocology, the Italian phoniatrician Andrea Ricci Maccarini, MD. The after­words are by Madame Yva Barthélémy, well known singer and voice pedagogue from Paris.
ISBN: 978-88-98245-83-3
edizioniqanat@gmail.com

In the 21st century, it is hard to imagine actors’ speech tools without technical aids. Society’s rapid adoption of life on the Internet furnished by modern technologies is creating a fast progressing explosion of knowledge. These new standards undoubtedly influence and determine the development of theatrical language, and thus actors’ speech.
In none of the periods of history to date has it been possible to separate understanding of an actor’s speech from the prevailing scientific opinions. “As scientific paradigms change, so too do paradigms of acting ”,  argues director and theatre historian Joseph R. Roach. Once they are perceived through the looking glass of contemporary media, the meaning of terms like the real, the natural, the imitative, and the truthful, which thus far served as landmarks within actors’ speech, changes. Autobiographical solo performances on social media, reality television, various shows and mass consumption entertainment products, which integrate live and digitalised components, change their existing forms in the present and influence the course of the future.

The present article presents an experimental attemp to work the voice of the actor based on Emile-Jaques Dalcroze’s methodology called rhythmic or eurhythmics. It is an effort to link music and theater and consequently dance too, because Dalcroze understood the music making through body movements. The goal is to find useful tools for the training of actors, especially for their voice development. The work presents the principles of Dalcroze theory which are related with classroom procedures, at two Brazilian universities, involving music elements: pitch, duration, dynamics and timbre. Finally, there is an ethnography of Julia Varley’s performance, an actress from Odin Teatret focused on vocal training.

The language of contemporary theatre requires a multifunctional actor with an almost unlimited range of abilities. “Currently, in the mid-2010s, theatre in Latvia is vibrant, contemporary and full of surprises.” (Radzobe: 414-5)  Each and every actor has to be ready to vocalize a full spectrum of sounds ranging from a theatrical whisper to an exalted scream, while at the same time giving his enunciation definitiveness, philosophical depth and abstraction. Postmodern or, one can now say, post-postmodern global trends – openness, play, coincidence, involvement, uncertainty, etc. have also affected speech on the theatre stage. These influence and make logical impressions in contemporary stage art, fragmenting and layering not only the performances of actors and directors, but also affecting spectators and their reaction. Fragmentation, dispersion and exhaustion characterise the lives of urban people and also, invariably, the theatre.

The paper addresses the creating process of the radio play As Rubianadas (The Rubianeds), result of a theoretical and practical study focused on the investigation of acoustic dramaturgies and poetics. Taking the word as a plastic element – which can be carved, molded, and worked as action by elocution –, three actors started “to dream on voice form” (Spritzer, 2005) from the reading of three tales written by Murilo Rubião. It was up to the director and playwright who coordinated the work to act as metteur-en-son (Bauab, 1985) – that is, on the organization, capture, and editing of material obtained in rehearsal – in order to explore the possibilities of a sound art in all its dimensions.

Listen As Rubianadas (The Rubianeds) on:
http://soundcloud.com/lucas-martins-neia/as-rubianadas

How to cite this work (APA Style):
Néia, L. M. (2019). O trabalho do ator e as engenharias do verbo e do som na construção de uma peça radiofônica a partir da obra de Murilo Rubião. Rádio-Leituras, 10(2), 125–149. http://periodicos.ufop.br/radio-leituras/article/view/3540