ABSTRACT

This thesis outlines the process of combining various non-conventional Occidental

and Oriental voice and movement practices in order to create an alternate method of

training and performance. Throughout this investigation, a series of original training

methodologies have been developed which comprised of five distinct yet

interconnected stages, and several performances that incorporated these training

aesthetics. The training of voice and body as one entity is not a new concept, and

many theatre practitioners have experimented with these elements.

The convergence of voice and body has been investigated for most part of the 20th

Century and has continued to develop throughout the past decade. Physiologically, the

voice is housed within the body. It is therefore logical to initially focus on the

physical aspect of vocal training, and to combine the separate voice and movement

training in both logical and illogical senses in order to unify these two separate yet

interconnected elements. This investigation does not claim to discover a new

performance aesthetic, actor training method or a new physical and vocal training

aesthetic. It aims to examine various combinations of existing Oriental and Occidental

methods in order to discover an alternate to the multifaceted area of the human voice

in performance pertaining to the notion of ‘crisis’. The work explored throughout this

investigation, using the Voice Theatre Lab as a means of exploration in training and

performance, is the result of the application of various synergies, dichotomies and

contradictions. These contradictions and abstract applications abandon literal and

textual realities, and focuses on opposites and non-conventional means of vocal

production and physical states. The result is a series of training and performance

aesthetics that go beyond the quotidian forms of physical and vocal expression.

The title itself, Sonorous Theatre - Dark Voices in Revolt: Uniting the core, proximity

and the human voice in crisis, represents these illogical and contradictory aspects.

Sonority (deep and resonant), relates to the overall affect the performers extra-daily

instrument has on the immediate (performance space and other performers) and

surrounding (audiences and the peripheries of the performance space) spaces. In some

Oriental viewpoints, ‘dark’ simply means ‘inner’ or ‘deeper’. A ‘dark’ voice would

therefore refer to a voice that has connections deep in the body. By eradicating logic

and textual reality, the performer would have greater access to the deeper parts of the

unconscious. This will result in a genuine sound free from idiosyncratic patterns that

may hinder the reality of the vocal and physical expression, which would therefore

hinder the reality of the performance. Overall, the concept of a ‘dark’ voice is a revolt

against conventional Occidental vocal practices in the theatre.

Vocal expression and voice work provides the key for the performer to rediscover

their mysterious entity – an inner voice of the unconscious through improvisations

and non-verbal expressions. Voice Theatre Lab are not bound by the semantic

meaning of words. The freedom from not having connections to meaning enables

performers to explore a range of concrete and abstract elements. This investigation,

and Voice Theatre Lab’s ongoing work, aims to maintain the view that voice is indeed

an immensely important tool which has been neglected. Also, physical and

conceptual crisis, as opposed to freedom, relaxation and textual, ‘literal reality’, can

benefit the voice and allow it to flourish and reveal its many colours and nuances.