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Voice in Modern Theatre
Jacqueline Martin
(Stockholm)
Documentation et Art de
l'Acteur
Records and Images of the Art of the Performer
18ème Congrès
International, Stockholm 3-7 septembre 1990 /
18th International Congress, Stockholm 3-7 September 1990
Editor: Barbro Stribolt (Drottningholms Teatermuseum).
Stockholm : 1992, p. 131-134
The discipline of
rhetoric undoubtedly played an important part in
establishing the principles upon which vocal delivery on
the stage was based, from its early days in the ancient
Greek theatre, where the directive had been mainly
learning how to move and persuade an audience in the best
possible manner. Taking their impetus from the learned
teachings of Aristotle, actors learned early the
importance of balancing voice, text and emotion.
When later this ratio was altered by placing more
emphasis on one or other of these factors, actors had
further rhetorical guide lines to follow in observing the
principles of actio where voice, facial
expression, gestures and posture were to be in harmony
with the text in order to lift out its contents and
character. This was particularly relevant in the speaking
of verse.
The long struggle between the classical ideal for vocal
delivery, which advocated strict adherence to the verse
metre and an orchestrated delivery, careful enunciation
and attitudes derived by imitation of models, and the
romantic approach, which recommended combining strong
inner emotions, expressive face and varied tones, a
careless diction, infrequent use of verse and overuse of
gesture, indicates the dilemma in which rhetoric found
itself to be insufficient in a changing world, and it
fell into disuse.
In the twentieth century vocal delivery has witnessed a
revival of interest in rhetoric's actio and persuasio
particularly as demonstrated by advertising and
propaganda. Their brainwashing effects via the mass media
have stimulated a healthy disbelief in the meaning of the
word.
Consequently, voices have been raised advocating a
revival of interest in poetics, whereby one should be
better able to understand the theory and practice of
reading and writing and thereby come closer to the
elusive "content". One of the greatest
influences upon the analysis and performance of
literature can be attributed to the concept of
structuralism, which regarded the literary work as
autonomous and had a significant bearing on the
importance of the verse design for the delivery of verse.
Further developments in semiotics rejected the innocent
reader and threw the impetus back on the act of reading
as being important for giving life to a text, while at
the same time questioning if the code or the message was
in fact most important for the theatre. This has led to a
practice of "deconstructing" the text in order
to arrive at new meanings.
Dramatic language has also undergone enormous changes in
the modern theatre with new ideologies and experiments
falling upon each other in rapid succession. Perhaps the
most significant change has been the advent of the
non-verbal as a replacement for the verbal text, where
the language of words has been frequently replaced by a
language of sounds. In the voice/text/emotion ratio, the
text is the one that has been changing character and the
impetus which has been thrown back onto voice and emotion
has had considerable significance for vocal delivery
practices in the twentieth century, particularly in the
handling of verse.
Many theatre practitioners, following a structural method
of analysis, regard the verse metre and design as
essential to the initial interpretation and delivery of
Shakespeare in performance, maintaining that without
adhering to these formal guidelines one misses much of
what the writer intended. On the other hand, other
schools of thought regard what the writer intended as
unimportant for the theatre, preferring to freely cut and
adapt in order to support a particular line of approach
or ideology.
Similarly the renewed interest in voice and emotion - not
to mention the physical aspects of actio and persuasio
- has made enormous demands on voice training practices,
which ,although developing progressively this century
along more scientifically-sound lines, have been
increasingly bombarded by methods of
"liberating" rather than training in technique,
so that the person behind the voice would be able to
invest his acting with more abandonment and hopefully
more expression. A change in the balance of voice, text
and emotion has been steadily emerging since the end of
last century to encompass a more emotion-filled delivery
style which has had a considerable effect on audiences in
the modern theatre.
Modern theatre theoreticians have taken over the role
which rhetoric once played in shaping the actor's vocal
delivery, by advocating different approaches to the
voice, text, emotion ratio, use of actio, and in
their attitudes to moving or persuading the audience.
Stanislavski suggested ways of combining voice, text and
emotion by using the "sub-text", although he
was later to realize that in the performance of
Shakespeare the "sub-text" alone would not
suffice without coupling it to the verse's rhythm and
tempo.
Brecht rejected Stanislavski's idea of playing on the
audience's emotions, rather he endeavoured to make the
audience more socially aware and to think. He advocated a
thorough training in voice and use of verse metre, and
believed in the use of a strong physical manifestation in
order to convey the text. Artaud rejected the text
completely and placed all emphasis on physical and vocal
elements where use of emotion was regarded as essential
to awaken some response in the audience and it is here we
see the non-verbal begin to assume importance.
Wolfsohn's followers, the Roy Hart Theatre, continued in
this vein, recommending that by using the voice and
emotion, the performer's own personal inhibitions would
be liberated. Here we see the origins of theatre as
therapy. These principles encouraged Grotowski to
experiment in his laboratory on the body, by which he
maintained vocal impulses could be stimulated and thereby
the voice would be made more organically open.
Brook has also moved away from the traditional use of the
language of words and experimented with ways of exploring
vocal impulses and communication through sound and
fragmentation - although not entirely.
In his productions, however, Brook is a tireless
taskmaster constantly challenging the actors to really
explore the text with an open approach so that by
combining emotion and intellect, the ordinary and
literariness, they will be able to give life to it.
The modern theatre in Europe has been determined by the
contribution of the director rather than the
theoretician, the playwright or the actor, and this has
dearly had an important bearing on vocal delivery and
style.
In his Shakespeare productions, Ingmar Bergman has shown
a distinct attitude to voice, text and emotion: where the
text is not treated as verse; the poetic imagery is often
eliminated and replaced by a visual imagery; the order of
scenes is often rearranged; the auditive aspects are
underplayed and the acting style is usually an emotional
one. His predilection for red and black in the
scenography in all his Shakespeare productions would
suggest a fascination for the "dark"
nightmarish aspects of these plays, which are momentari1y
explored and which disappear as "worlds of
illusion" only.
A different approach to vocal delivery is seen in Ariane
Mnouchkine's Shakespeare productions, where she has been
concerned with finding in Shakespeare a relevance for
today. This led her to experiment with form to the extent
that she did by mainly borrowing from the East, in terms
of movement, gesture, costuming and staging, thereby
creating a heightened epic style of acting. However, the
element which has most influenced the vocal delivery, was
the predominance of music underlying the text - which
although it did not replace it, at times functioned as a
kind of "sub-text" for the actors' emotions or
intentions, in its use or rhythms and tones.
Although he has experimented freely with re-arranging the
text, and with the manner of vocal delivery, Peter Stein
has demonstrated not only in his Shakespeare productions,
but in his modern repertoire also, an ability to analyse
the text with a ferocious exactness for extracting
meaning. This is an ideological approach, which has
encouraged him to examine each word for its actual
meaning, and to refute all bourgeois sentiment. This has
been demonstrated in his experiments with acting style,
where the actors clearly have learned to master combining
epic style with psychological realism. Vocal
experimentation has never been allowed to assume
importance, rather it has been encouraged in order to
offer wider connotations which have been text-based.
The postmodern approach to vocal delivery has certainly
encouraged a more experimental use of voice/emotion,
suitable gesture and ideas of persuading an audience than
the previous directors have demonstrated. The work of
Chaikin, Schechner, Foreman and Wilson have many factors
in common: the text and discursive speech have been
rejected in favour of other means of expression, the
group has replaced the individual character actor;
experiments in staging have often assaulted the usual
boundaries existing between actor/audience; the
physical/visual has taken precedence over the auditive
and ritual has been re-introduced.
Chaikin's early searching for another kind of theatre far
removed from the naturalistic, led him to evolve another
style of acting, which was based on sound and movement
and which was group-dependent. By their combined efforts,
the group and not the individual created striking kinetic
images which were intended to evoke striking echoes in
the audience, and by this means persuade them, rather
than attempting to reach them intellectually or
ideologically. Here another kind of actio is
demonstrated. Although writers were incorporated in the
work of the Open Theatre, the text was the result of
group improvisations rather than the point of departure,
and the message usually topical.
Similarly, Schechner's experiments with group theatre and
with "characterless" performances led him to
develop a particular style of acting with The Performance
Group, where through psychoanalysis and group therapy,
the actor was encouraged to attain full emotional
potential, whereby he could exercise a shaministic power
over the audience. Further experimentation with the
theatrical space led to Schechner's environmental theatre
practices whereby the audience became part of the
staging. The text, which was totally disregarded or
rewritten and adapted by the group according to their own
personal fantasies, was very often delivered in sound
effects rather than words.
Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson's productions differ in
so far as they are concerned with the visual aspects of
the production rather than the contribution of the group,
and because of their own importance in the final
realizations. Both of them have demonstrated an interest
in a polyphonic theatre, where all the fragmented
elements are made available for the audience to enjoy in
a free way, without any strong emotional commitment,
however allowing them to appreciate the theatrical
playfulness.
Foreman's texts are mainly self-referential, and he is
always present in their final realization, operating tape
recordings and buzzers to interrupt the action and to
"create" each production live. The fact of the
actor's delivery being recorded, without emotion, in
rehearsal and replayed in performance to the
accompaniment of their choreographed movements, has
placed a different perspective on actio and persuasio.
Foreman's use of "framing" devices to freeze
pictures, and sound effects to underline special moments
are all intended to keep the audience on its toes and
more observant.
Finally, Robert Wilson's Theatre of Visions has taken the
role of language and vocal delivery in the modern theatre
to its extreme. It indicates his total distrust of
language as a means of communication, and has given
utmost support for the fragmentary nature of what one has
come to associate with postmodern theatre. Voice is used
in all the myriad non-discursive ways possible in order
to make sound pictures, and to communicate by non-verbal
means.
To support this, Wilson relies as heavily on visual
imagery to externalize these interior experiences,
preferring a dreamlike quality in the acting and a lack
of emotion. The text has no importance for Wilson, who
distributes lines at random, if he does not dispense with
them altogether.
The kind of acting style which he prefers is far removed
from character acting, where the performers are
encouraged to present themselves on stage without
self-consciousness, performing actions as they would in
everyday life, although in slow motion. In terms of persuasio,
Wilson tries to distance the audience as much as possible
from the theatrical event taking place or with
identification, rather he wants them to go on a journey
of discovery where they will come out asking questions
rather than having explanations given.
Although actor training has endeavoured to keep abreast
of these changing attitudes to vocal delivery and the
text, it has been shown that the problems facing the
training institutions seem to be of a much more complex
nature. Either they have been content to settle for a
fragmented schema where a little of everything is taught,
or they have adopted a special ideology or aesthetic line
which has determined the training and consequently the
kind of theatre which best suits the kind of training
offered.
Even though training in vocal delivery for the classics,
and this includes Shakespeare and the speaking of verse,
appears to be sound in most acting school programmes,
very few opportunities seem to have existed for
experimentation of the nature which could encompass the
kind of training necessary for contributing to the
demands of the postmodern theatre. In spite of the
changes in the Shakespeare ideal in the modern theatre,
training in vocal delivery seems to have fluctuated
between either a text-based approach or a liberated vocal
approach, which has become very physical.
At its best, a vocal delivery programme for a
contemporary acting school would hopefully demonstrate an
attitude of openness to the voice/text/emotion ratio and
to the question of actio and persuasio
where no one way would ever emphatically and dogmatically
be regarded as the only way, but where experimentation
would be encouraged. In the question of performing
Shakespeare, this would hopefully add new dimensions to
old problems and question the verity of truths already
known.
Note
Martin, Voice in
Modern Theatre, London : Rout1edge, 1990.
18th Congress
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