Episode 54 (The Woman’s Voice)

Patsy Rodenburg

Welcome to the July 2022 episode of Paul Meier’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast, which features Patsy Rodenburg, who is often regarded as the world’s leading voice teacher and coach. Paul and Patsy discuss a range of topics related to Patsy’s forthcoming book, The Woman’s Voice.

Over the past 45 years, Professor Rodenburg, OBE, has become a world expert on teaching voice, speech, and presentation skills to individuals and companies across both corporate and creative industries. She has also had an incredible career working with actors in theatre, film, and television, changing the way actors speak on stage and screen.

Patsy originally trained as an actor but moved into voice coaching, fast becoming an associate of the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She eventually went on to work as head of voice at the Royal National Theatre for 16 years.

Patsy is currently professor of text and poetry at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, after serving as head of voice from 1981 to 2016. Over the past 40 years, Patsy has been pioneering the only existing MA in Training Actors (Voice) and has sat on the board of directors with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Her books include The Right to Speak, The Need for Words, The Actor Speaks, and Speaking Shakespeare.

She has worked extensively with actors (including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Jackman, and Natalie Portman), directors (Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre, Franco Zeffirelli, and Tim Burton) and playwrights (Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, and Samuel Beckett).

For more information, see PatsyRodenburg.co.uk.

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)