Voice into Acting: Integrating Voice and the Stanislavski Approach by Christina Gutekunst and John Gillett (review)

Synergy is derived from the Greek word meaning “working together” and it aptly describes the collaboration between Christina Gutekunst, head of voice at East 15 Drama School, University of Essex, and John Gillette, an actor-director and author of Acting Stanislavski: A Practical Guide to Stanislavski’s Approach and Legacy. Together, they have written a book for actors, teachers, and directors that illuminates the “connections between voice work and acting, and specifically acting with language” (xv). The authors maintain that there is a “continual struggle to find a balance between these three aspects of acting a script—voice production, the formal nature of language, and the imaginary world—and one may often be emphasized to the detriment of the others” (ibid.). Their efforts are focused on the integration of the technical and imaginative elements of vocal production, speech, textual analysis and exploration, action, movement, characterization, and what they consider to be the most organic elements of the Stanislavski system. They explicate an organic process through which an actor can employ both their analytic and creative impulses to fully embody a character rooted in the given circumstances and the imaginary world of the play.

In the first section of the book, the authors summarize their pedagogical approach and outline their core training objectives: “essentially, acting process and voice work need to be unified; alignment needs to be linked to centre, identity, and assertion; breathing needs to become responsive to impulses, vocal onset needs to identify the actor with the character; and vocal response needs to reflect the experiences of the actor/character in the present moment” (19). The text then explores six essential aspects of voice training and how these skills may be integrated into the acting process. The authors examine alignment, breath, the centered onset of sound, pitch range, resonance, and articulation in a systematic fashion; they offer a basic description of each vocal element and how it works, and its importance to the actor both physically and psycho-physically. In addition, they present a series of exercises intended to clarify the process and its links to spontaneous acting choice. For instance, after a detailed explanation of the physical/technical ways in which the actor can ground and release the breath into a free sound, the authors integrate this work into an imaginative scenario in which the actor is invited to use this rooted sound to play a strong objective through their acting partner. The authors describe the causal relationship among physical impulse, breath, voice, and action in this way: “If we feel the union between muscular movement and impulse, we can then start to feel how mind, body, breath, and voice connect with acting. . . . In the moment of in-breath we receive and prepare. In the moment of out-breath we respond and transmit our objective to change something within the circumstances (99). All the material devoted to vocal production and articulation in this section of the book is thorough and comprehensive, useful for beginners because of its clarity, and useful for professionals because of its range, detail, and specific applications to the work of Stanislavski and Michael Chekov.

Part 3 of Voice into Acting introduces and elucidates what the authors call “acting givens.” These include the skillful management of breath to absorb and respond to our given circumstances and acting partners with awareness, as well as the ability to process the characters’ intentions and apply sensory imagery to development of the role. Additionally, they offer techniques for the embodiment of a character, and then detail the ways in which the actor must adapt their vocal and physical choices to the unique spatial and acoustical properties of each theatrical space they encounter. While incorporating approaches from Stanislavski, Chekov, and Sanford Meisner to the creation of a vivid and truthful characterization, the authors consistently remind us that every aspect of this work requires a voice that is strong, clear, and responsive to our acting impulses.

The final section of...