Voice and the Actor
Cicely Berry's essential guide to freeing and strengthening the actor's voice
Overview
Voice and the Actor by Cicely Berry, the legendary voice director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is a foundational text on vocal training for actors. It covers breath support, resonance, articulation, and the connection between voice and emotional expression.
Berry's approach emphasizes freeing the natural voice rather than imposing a correct way of speaking. The exercises are practical, progressive, and designed to be done independently or in class settings.
How It Works
Essential for any actor who wants to develop a more powerful, flexible, and expressive voice. Theater actors will find it particularly valuable, but screen actors also benefit from the breath and resonance work.
Available in paperback, typically priced between $14-17. A compact but comprehensive text that has been a standard voice training resource for decades.
Who Uses It
One of the most important voice training books available. Berry's wisdom about the connection between voice and emotion gives actors tools to communicate with greater range and authenticity. Berry's decades as voice director at the RSC meant she worked with some of the finest actors in the English-speaking world, and her book distills that vast experience into exercises and insights that any actor can use. Unlike many voice books that treat vocal training as a purely technical pursuit, Berry consistently connects breath, resonance, and articulation to emotional truth and imaginative engagement, which makes her approach deeply relevant to actors rather than just to vocal technicians. The book has been continuously in print since 1973, a testament to its enduring relevance and practical value across generations of actors.
Pricing & Plans
Voice and the Actor is available in paperback from Virgin Books and other publishers, typically priced between $14 and $17 for a new copy. Used copies are widely available for under $8, as the book has been in print for over fifty years and is commonly assigned in acting programs. Digital editions are available for Kindle at approximately $10 to $13. There is no official audiobook, which is an ironic gap for a book about voice, though Berry's approach really requires physical practice rather than passive listening. At under $17, this is one of the most affordable and high-value investments an actor can make in their vocal development. The book is compact — roughly 150 pages — which means it can be read quickly, though the exercises it contains provide material for years of ongoing practice.
Pros & Cons
What's Great
Berry's greatest contribution is her insistence that voice work is not about learning to speak 'correctly' but about freeing the voice from the tensions, habits, and inhibitions that prevent actors from communicating with their full expressive range. The exercises are practical, clearly described, and progressive, allowing actors to build their vocal capacity systematically from breath support through resonance, articulation, and text work. Berry writes with warmth, authority, and clarity, making even complex vocal concepts accessible to actors without any technical background in voice science. Her deep connection to Shakespeare and classical text work means the book is particularly valuable for actors who work with heightened language, providing specific exercises for engaging with verse, rhetoric, and poetic imagery through the voice. The book treats the voice as inseparable from the body and the emotions, which aligns perfectly with contemporary approaches to actor training that emphasize psychophysical unity. Berry's exercises can be practiced independently, making the book a complete self-study resource for actors who do not have access to a voice teacher.
What Could Be Better
The book's relatively compact size means that some topics are covered more briefly than they deserve, and actors seeking in-depth instruction in specific areas like dialect work or vocal health will need to supplement with specialized texts. Berry's approach is grounded in the British theater tradition and the demands of classical text performance, which means actors who work primarily on camera or in naturalistic styles may find some exercises less immediately relevant to their daily work. Some of the exercises require a level of physical and vocal freedom that beginners may find challenging to achieve without in-person guidance, as subtle corrections in alignment and tension release are difficult to convey through text alone. The book does not include audio or video components, which would greatly enhance the usefulness of the vocal exercises for self-study. Berry's writing assumes a certain level of familiarity with theater and acting terminology that complete beginners may not yet possess. Additionally, the book focuses primarily on the speaking voice and does not address singing or vocal production for musical theater, which limits its usefulness for actors who work in both domains.
Our Recommendation
Every actor should read Voice and the Actor, and ideally practice its exercises regularly as part of their ongoing training — vocal development is as important as scene study and should receive comparable attention. It is particularly essential for theater actors, especially those working with Shakespeare, verse drama, or any text that demands exceptional vocal range and stamina. Screen actors who feel their vocal work is limited or who receive notes about projection, clarity, or vocal variety will also find tremendous value here. If you are choosing between Berry and Linklater for your primary voice text, note that Berry's approach is generally more practical and exercise-focused, while Linklater's is more comprehensive and psychophysically integrated — ideally, read both. For actors who want to go deeper into voice work, Berry's subsequent books, including The Actor and the Text and Text in Action, expand on the foundations laid in this volume.
Pro Tips
Begin with the breath exercises and practice them daily for at least two weeks before moving on to resonance and articulation work — breath is the foundation of everything else and rushing past it will undermine your progress. Practice the exercises standing in a room where you can make noise without self-consciousness — vocal freedom requires physical and psychological safety. Record yourself doing the exercises periodically so you can hear your progress over time, as changes in vocal quality can be subtle and hard to perceive from the inside. If you are working on a specific text, use Berry's text exercises from the later chapters to connect your vocal work directly to the words you need to speak, rather than keeping voice training abstract and separate from your acting. Combine Berry's exercises with the physical warm-up you do before performances and rehearsals — voice and body work together are more effective than either alone. If possible, attend a workshop or class taught in the Berry tradition to receive the in-person feedback that the book cannot provide, then use the book to maintain and deepen your practice between sessions.