An example of the first warm-up: starting actively on sound 120 

We began with an energiser combining sound and gesture, passing an imagined energy ball from person to person while standing in a circle. The actors were asked to release sounds

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energetically, e.g. like a fire rocket using varying lengths, volume and to pass and throw the sound to each other varying the pace too. They could use gestures to support the sounds. This created a nice sense of energy and enthusiasm. They had to keep their focus and although not strictly a Berry exercise it had a similar effect to her exercise of passing on vowel sounds which we did later in the warm-up. The circle became bigger as their confidence and spontaneity developed in this activity.

This was followed by a more restful sun salutation yoga exercise which involves breathing while doing certain positions and stretches from standing to lying down and returning to a standing position. It was repeated several times. This was calming and helped focus their breathing particularly. By this time the actors were quite warm physically and could proceed to lying on their backs with a book under their heads. They were encouraged to imagine their backs widening and lengthening and to breathe fully and comfortably. This is a well-known Alexander Technique resting position which is excellent preparation for breathing and working on sound. Berry (1973:23–26) uses this in her earliest book Voice and the Actor. From this point on the outbreath, connection to sound through humming, establishing resonance in the whole upper body and releasing on certain vowel sounds became closely linked to Berry’s general voice exercises. The actors’ felt the support from their diaphragms and abdominal muscles.

After a few spinal twists, turning their lower bodies, hips and legs, from side to side, heads facing in opposite directions to their legs, they did full star-shaped stretches with arms and legs, rolled over and came into sitting position on the floor.

They crossed legs and rocked forward and back while humming on a stronger tone and holding the hums for longer counts, 15–20. Then followed a full, open release on vowels like ‘ay’, ‘I’ and ‘oo’. A variety of vowels were used. They could start from their centre tone and move up and down more or less on the same pitch and then according to what worked best for each person’s range. These are similar to what Berry suggests in vocal preparation in her books and is a basic exercise, very useful as a starting point for feeling and hearing the sound in the space (Berry 1987:145,146). After vowel awareness we focused on feeling the energy and vibrations in consonant sounds like f,v and th and s, z and dj. The actors played with different firmness or crispness and softness in the sounds at both slower and faster paces. These sounds were also passed along the circle from person to person.

The actors then moved up into standing again and the humming resumed at a stronger level. Each actor aimed their hum to a specific point in the room and released the sound fully towards it. They could then run to another point while humming and release the sound (vowel) and feel the difference. At this first rehearsal the emphasis was on pure sound; feeling its resonance and vibration and enjoying the release in the large space of the

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rehearsal room. It also helped to create a sense of physical ease among the group. Simple physical and vocal actions and releases also helped to reduce self-consciousness and prepare the way for the extended improvisations that were to follow and this is clearly Berry’s aim with many of her strategies.

I then suggested to them to play aloud vocally with the first few letters of their characters’ names and to feel the length of the vowels and the weight and energy of the consonants. The repetition of the sounds and the names of their characters built up a kind of energy and rhythm, short and long, quick and slow, which reached a highpoint in volume as well, as the characters slowly moved closer together and ended in a very tight-knit group in the centre. After a full body shake-out the cast was ready for the first improvisation. At this stage I did not use any tongue-twisters or articulation exercises and texts from Berry or another source as I wanted them to focus on the emotional quality of tone that they were to find from the suggestions I gave them. A more abstract approach at this point, allowing them to focus more on sound than detailed meaning.

We then began with the Tristia poem by Ovid and later explored Running to Paradise by Yeats. Their ears and voices were more open now to responding to suggestions given like, “what do you hear and feel in this poem about being in exile? How is this different to your homeland, who do you miss, what do the words tell you about the atmosphere of where you are now, physically in the world of the poem? What sounds do you hear around you or only silence? What do you hear in your head, how do you react vocally”, etc. The full improvisation that emerged from this first session and which was so telling to my visualising and hearing of the play, will be discussed later in this chapter.