My passions as a Voice Coach, Actor and Director are text, and how to achieve detailed and truthful communication through connection with that text. Over many years of working with actors and musical theatre and opera singers, I have become aware that performances frequently suffer from physical ‘tightness’ and inflexibility – often, with singers, the result of an undue concern about ‘hitting the right note’. Of course, musical accuracy is an essential part of the job but it cannot be the only point of focus if the story is to be told in full – on the concert platform as well as in a full blown production.
My work helps performers to discover and internalise the emotional details of text, to connect those discoveries with the structure of the music and to communicate the performance freely through the released physical action of the voice. When word and music are fully realised through the performer then there is inspiration.
Jacquie started in 1968 as a voice and speech lecturer, moving onto freelance voice and dialect coaching along with professional acting and directing. In 1996 she became the voice co-ordinator for the Birmingham School of Acting, and then Head of Voice for Oxford School of Drama in 1997. She then followed contracts with the Voice and Text departments of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre (War Horse – 8 years in London and on tour). She continues to lead workshops and projects in various drama schools and theatres across the UK.