Londoners Magazine

When some of theatre’s biggest names rounded on the next generation for not speaking clearly enough it started a storm in a theatrical teacup. But is it really that much of a problem? Caomhan Keane has a look…

At the launch of the New Rose Theatre last month, two of the stages’ leading figures accused the latest generation of actors of not speaking clearly enough.

Like Statler and Waldorf, the Muppet Show hecklers, theatre director Sir Peter Hall and actor Edward Fox slipped on their rose-tinted glasses, and bemoaned the demise of repertory theatre - while others rounded on drama schools for not teaching the basics.

“Most actors under 40 are struggling to be heard,” said Sir Hall. “It is the most regular complaint. Actors think that if they raise their voice, they are being ‘unrealistic’.”

“They think they’re being clever [and natural],” Fox told The Times. “Someone should disabuse them of that fact. Audiences want to hear what they’re saying.”

But is Sir Hall really that bothered about diction? Or is this a publicity stunt in his campaign to have the Rose turned into a centre of excellence for the spoken word?

Barbara Houseman, voice and acting coach at the Central School of Speech and Drama agrees, to a degree, that some young actors are struggling to be heard. “It’s not across the board. There have been older actors who have been unclear also. But there is a trend.”

Fresh from college, young actors make their living in TV and film, where they use natural speech and diction. This, says Houseman, does not translate. “On stage, the voice has to be used in a different way to reach the audience and that can feel very unreal for young actors. They are interested in being truthful. They are terrified of being over-the-top. They aren’t aware how little the audience can hear.”

“When I first worked in TV, actors still had to speak up because mics couldn’t pick everything up,” says Norman Tozer, organiser for the William Poel Fund, which works with people in the profession to encourage good theatre speech.

“Technicians now come to the actors. They have learnt to act small and, gradually, they have scaled down the voice,” he explains.

Would a spell in repertory theatre iron out the bad habits gathered on set? Houseman isn’t sure. “It helped because they were practising, they got advice off older actors. But it didn’t lead to very good habits, things got very theatrical. There were styles of acting that wouldn’t be acceptable now.”
Malcom Sinclair, an actor nominated for Oliver, blames drama schools for not teaching the basics; a view Tozer does not hold. “I’m loathe to criticise the drama schools because they’re dealing with young people who, like most people of that age, reject things they don’t think are important.”

Julia Nancarrow graduated from the Drama Studio in Ealing, in 2000. She says she was in the minority when it came to keeping her voice in shape. “A few months after we graduated we all got together to do a showcase for various industry folk and my voice coach was absolutely furious because at least half of the graduate’s voices had depreciated.”

All drama schools have a voice department that trains actors to be clear. Actors need to take responsibility for their instrument too, because if they neglect their vocal exercises they no longer have the muscles required for projection. Actors have never been good at keeping their tools trim and exercised. “Singers are good,” says Tozer. “Ballet dancers best. Actors, no. There isn’t a tradition of having continuing classes, continuing education of keeping their skills honed.”

There are places for actors to go to keep their voice in shape. Nancarrow recommends the Actor’s Studio. “They actively encourage people to keep being involved, keep practicing. You can drop in and do courses and classes. They have workshops with absolutely riveting directors.”

Tozer blames the directors. “The fuckers never sit in different parts of the house. They have so many assistants. One ought to be listening in the right part of the theatre. I have a director friend who would go into a new theatre and would pick a scene that was the most intimate. He put one actor in the gallery, one on the stage and ask them to play the scene as a way of them adjusting to that theatre.”

As the buck gets passed back and forth, what’s the most likely solution? At worst, production companies could start micing actors.

“There’s a saying about microphones,” says Houseman. “Garbage in, garbage out. Microphones can only do volume, they can’t do clarity. You don’t get an enuncified , human voice.” This would also increase ticket prices.

“Technicians always get better pay then actors because they can strike deals. Management don’t understand the technicalities,” says Tozer.

Improving the space in which actor’s train is one way around micing. The largest student theatre is Central School of Speech and Drama (capacity 300). Most students have no experience on a stage that sits close to 1,000. “For more than the last 20 years anybody who has trained at a drama school has probably never, especially during their training, had to work in a big space,” says Tozer.

Training actors for theatre and working towards what you do in film and television is another way around it. “People were trained for the theatre and then they went out and got a job in the theatre so they got practice” says Houseman.

But seeing as it is impossible to make a living from theatre, which actor would take this chance?

While there is no doubt that actors are not as well trained vocally as they were in the past it hasn’t deterred audiences from flocking to the West End. Ticket sales rose 10 per cent on last year. “I don’t know how much of a serious barrier to selling seats it is,” says Tozer. “If it became so, something would be done.”

Until that time, those short of hearing would be wise purchasing seats closer to the stage.