Voice Cartographies in Contemporary Theatrical Performance

1
Voice Cartographies in Contemporary Theatrical Performance:

an Economy of Actors Vocality on Buenos Aires Stages in the 1990s.
Silvia Adriana Davini

Supervisor: Paul Heritage
School of English and Drama
Queen Mary and Westfield College
University of London
June, 2000
To Julin,
my dearest son and fellow of all journeys.
Abstract
The object of study in the present work is the actors vocality in contemporary
performance. The object is approached through three main conceptual categories,
which are strongly interrelated: voice production, reproduction and representation.
The technologies of communication have a key role in relation to voice
reproduction today, determining its production and representation. The purpose of
voice training for actors is to optimise voice and text delivery on stage. Considering
that it shapes the actors body to a particular kind or style of vocal performance, the
role of voice work as a mean of reproduction is emphasised in the context of this
study.
Methodologically, the actors vocality is considered in relation to theatrical
production and training. Specific methodological tools were designed for this
research. The case study was undertaken in Buenos Aires, between January 1998 and
June 1999. There the theatrical circuit and the main professional roles in theatre
practice are considered. In order to detect the main tendencies in voice training in
Buenos Aires in the 1990s, forty seven theatre professionals and teachers were
interviewed and specific research was undertaken in two leading theatre schools.
The dynamics of production in theatrical performance are outlined from a
social point of view, which leads to the consideration of a number of specific works,
highly productive in relation to the actors voice and speech in performance.
It was necessary to design new conceptual and methodological tools in order
to approach the actors vocality as an object of systematic research. From the
conceptual point of view, a new research field has been outlined. The method of
diagnosis of the field in a particular socio-historical condition, may be used an
effective tool to design future projects in theatre research, production and training.
Acknowledgements
4
I would like to thank a number of people that supported me in the process that
concludes now with the presentation of this work. In first place, my thanks to my
supervisor, Paul Heritage, who welcomed my proposal and gave me all the freedom to
work on it. My gratitude to him also, for the friendly support he gave me and my son,
when I first came to England.
To Viviana Figueroa, for her invaluable help to configure the Appendix 1 and
2 of the present work, and for constant support and enthusiasm. To my sister, Mara
Cristina Davini, whose kindly advise was precious in specific points of the field work.
To Juan Heurtley, for his helpful co-operation in the design of the tables in Appendix
2. To Oscar Edelstein who, with brightness, enlightened me in obscure areas of this
map.
I would also like to thank Roberto Perinelli, who brought me key information
at the perfect moment. My thanks to all the interviewees, for their collaboration, to the
students at the ENAD and ETBA, those who helped in the application of the
questionnaire, and also those who provided the information.
My special thanks to Julin, my son, for his faithful support and gentleness,
particularly during these last four years. To my father, who by telling me endless
stories, was the first to teach me the passion for music and singing. To my mother,
who encouraged me to undertake this work offering a very special help.
To my friend, Silvia Yannoulas, who first encouraged me to undertake the
present work? To Nise Ribeiro, for her joyful co-operation. To Sam Nacht, for his
special contribution. To Edson and Alex Morettin, and Eda Henriquez for their
generous hospitality.
My thanks also to my colleagues at the Universidade de Braslia, particularly
to Prof. Timothy Mullohad, whose support was crucial to this work, to Lcia Viana,
for her constant care and to Fernando Villar, my spirited friend.
Finally, I would like to thank the financial and institutional support provided
by the Universidade de Braslia and CAPES-Brasil. Without their substantial aid the
work that I present now would not ever have been possible.
Table of contents
Abstract.
p. 3
Acknowledgements.
p. 4
Introduction.
p. 8
Chapter One
The Configuration of a Western Vocal Style.
p. 15
Rhetoric: The First Sliding of Western Vocality into the

Rule of a Normative Body.
p.
16
From the Spoken Word to the Printed Letter.
p. 22
The Role of Modern European Theatrical

Traditions in Contemporary Actors Vocality.
p. 24
Vocal Training: The Configuration of the Area,

A British Model.
p. 28
Contemporary Approaches to Voice Work in English.
p.
34
Chapter Two
Outlining the Object.
p. 39
Voice and Speech in Vocal Training.
p. 41
A Phenomenological Approach to Voice and Speech.
p. 46
A Semiotic Approach to Voice and Speech.
p. 54
Voice in Psychoanalytic Theory.
p. 57
Voice as Rest: The Mystic Experience.
p. 58
Voice as Excess: The Singers Voice.
p. 59
Pragmatics: a Performative Approach to Voice and Speech.
p. 61
Production, Reproduction, and Representation.
p. 70
Voice Production: a Scientific or a Cultural Question?
p. 72
Questions About Reproduction.

Voice and Technology: The Human and the Non-Human.
p. 77
Training as Reproduction.
p. 88
Reproduction and Technology.
p. 90
Questions of Representation: Voice and Theory.
P. 95
Storytelling and Contemporary Vocality.
p. 97
Post-structuralist Approaches: Desire for Theory,

Towards a Future without Theory.
p.103
To Be, to Act, to Become.
p.108
Languages In-disciplines.
p.114
Chapter Three Voice Cartographies in Theatrical Performance.

Macro-mapping.
p.128
The Professional Roles in

Contemporary Theatrical Production.
p.134
The Scholars vs. The Professionals:

An Unproductive Rupture in Voice Work.
p.139
The Case of Buenos Aires:

Mapping the Professional Roles in Theatrical Practice.
p.145
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Local Machines of Production.
p.147
Role Charts.
p.154
The No-Mans Land of Voice Work in Buenos Aires.
p.158
Stages Sound Machines.
p.173
Institutional Mapping.
Voice Cartographies in Theatre Circuits in Production.
p.185
Voice Cartographies in Institutional Training.
p.199
The Schools.
p.200
Characterisation of Informants.
p.202
Mapping Vocal Training.
p.204
The Micro-mapping.
p.221
Playwrights Power Machine.
p.223
Caraja-J - The Dissolution, or the Deterritorializing

Outburst of the Recent Playwrights.
p.225
Dominant Machines in Buenos Aires Theatrical
Performance of the 90s.
p.228
7
Barts Performative Machine.
p.230
Spregelburds Language Machine.
p.238
Machines of Vocal Diversion and Creation.
p.248
Recycling Machines in Training and Performance.
p.248
Machines of Flight and Creation.
p.258
Conclusions.
p.272
Bibliography.
p.278
Appendix I - Micro-mapping: Interviewed Professionals and Role Charts.
p. I-0
General Sample of Theatre Professionals Interviewed.
p.
Sample of Key Informants.
p.
I-1
I-2
Biographical Data.
p. I-3
Role Charts.
p. I-25
Appendix II - Macro-mapping: The Schools Tables and Charts.
p. II-0
Questionnaire Model.
p. II-1
Chart of Variables.
p. II-3
Tables.
p. II-4
Charts.
p. II-58
Introduction.
A number of questions about words and voice on stage, which motivated the
present research in the very beginning, appeared to me powerfully through the period
of five years, between 1990 and 1995, in which I was lecturing, researching and
producing theatre at the Universidade de Braslia-UnB. Since its creation, in 1989,
students and staff at the UnBs Drama Department have always agreed about the need
for voice work as a basic and unavoidable instance in actor training. However, the
lack of professionals working in the field, as well as the poor bibliographical material
related to the topic, have defined a highly restricted space for voice subjects in the
courses curricula.
The first question obviously was: what determines such a lack in an area
considered so significant? Drama certainly is a new field in the Brazilian academy. In
fact, there is not a strong institutional tradition for actors training in Brazil, where
most Drama Departments at work in the 1990s do not exceed the decade. This might
be considered as a decisive factor in relation to the poor publishing and the deficit of
professionals in the area of voice training. However, I later had the opportunity to
verify that this situation was not peculiar to Brazil. In the context of the present work
I further explore this problematic in Argentina, where I developed a specific field
work, having the British tradition in voice work for theatre as reference to this studys
conceptual framework.
Formal training in the arts has been mostly restricted in Argentina since the
1920s to the further education system, an educational circuit independent from the
universities. These courses propose professional training in the arts with a technical
profile, and give little regard to the conceptual ground of such a practice. In the
1990s, some of these courses have been drawn together to inaugurate the Instituto
Universitrio del Arte-IUNA1. In order to make possible this transference, new
programs of study have been designed, intending to consider a sphere of research in
the arts. These courses were approved by the Education Ministry in March, 1999.
Curiously, this new undergraduate course in Drama had been preceded in Buenos
Aires by the UBAs Ph.D program in Performing Arts. Institutional training in the arts
University Institute of the Arts [My translation].
Introduction.
9
in Argentina have seven decades of history. However, the situation with regards to
voice work professionals and publishing remained similar to Brazils.
In England, Drama did not have a place on the university curriculum until the
1950s. By this time, acting schools already had a strong reputation, and voice work
was configured as specific area in training since the 1920s. While the actors technical
preparation remained restricted to schools, universities became concerned with the
production of systematic conceptual reflection in the field. However, despite this
professionalised context, which includes the most relevant specialised publishing, the
field of voice work for actors has been particularly overlooked by theatre studies.
Even in specialised events such as Giving Voice, the international conference
organised by the Centre for Performance Research in Wales, the main interest in
relation to the actors voice in contemporary performance is framed by its
archaeological appeal and occult powers. The direct relation established between
voice in performance and ancient practices, such as story telling, ritualistic or ethnic
chanting, seems to indicate that voice in performance as a subject has no projection to
the future.
Most of the leading voice coaches tend to define voice work as essentially
practical. As a result, their books about voice training, disregarding the conceptual
sphere, tend to be restricted to a set of exercises and advice. These exercises are
conceived as tools to improve voice delivery, regarding the reproduction of a number
of styles in acting. However, their careful practice does not assure effectiveness in
performance. Considering so, it might be said that the protean and ephemeral quality
of the spoken word exceeds the practical as a mean of correct voice production and
style reproduction, to seek pragmatic efficacy.
Returning to our starting point, I observed that to explore the voice avoiding
speech seemed to be the most celebrated approach in many Brazilian contemporary
theatrical productions. When scenic work involved a text, it was frequently difficult to
discover the references for the directorial options of staging. Scripts in performance
often looked randomly fragmented and reorganised, presumably in order to favour
their reception. In the early 1990s in Brazil, performances proposing a non-verbal
approach or a new experiment in relation to speech and voice delivery were received
with enthusiasm. Moreover, actors seemed often to be in trouble when approaching
conventional text-based repertoire.
Introduction.
10
All these signs pointed to a lack of reference in relation to the use of voice and
text in performance. On the one hand, there was a potent need to search for new ways
of enunciation. On the other, this need was blocked in order to venture new and
effective options of voice and speech in performance by the actors vocal limitations.
What were the reasons for this alienation of actors, directors and audiences in relation
to the scripts demands? If this situation has no direct relation with the lack of an
institutionalised acting tradition, able to resist contemporary tensions, or to establish
itself as a reference for a rupture, what motivated it? The drastic changes in the
technologies of communication and their incidence in contemporary perception and
representation certainly expanded the limits of this question , suggesting that the roles
of literature and media in contemporary theatre were crucial to it.
The very need for voice work seemed to be nourished by its poor presence in
acting training and production. It resulted in a kind of tension or anxiety about voice
work. Initially, I understood these students anxiety as a symptom of the need for
voice work. They manifested great interest and satisfaction working on their voices.
However, I observed little signs of relief through the training process I proposed for
the students at UnB in relation to this undefined tension. It suggested to me that this
vocal anxiety was sustained by other instances, besides the pointed restrictions of the
field.
Drama students could hardly perceive where their voices were, or how they
behaved. We could infer that in an eye orientated culture, what is not visible, does not
exist. Belonging to the aural sphere, voice and spoken words would have weakened
their presence in performance.
We are constantly surrounded by an aural landscape, which in urban
contemporary environments, has became over saturated. Consequently, our aural
threshold of perception moves in order to relieve the ear of its endless work. This
aural overloading installed in the cities, impregnates our perception of sound. As
Murray Schafer indicates, sounds of medium intensity, such as the human voice, tend
to be the most affected in this environment. This situation helps to reinforce the
already mentioned obviousness in relation to our perception of voice. (Schafer 1970
pp.5-7).
The characteristics of sound propagation make hearing, at some level, a reflex
sensorial activity, establishing a much wider range of perception in comparison to the
Introduction.
11
visual field. The hyper-proximity between the actor and her/his own voice, on the one
hand, and the peculiarities of aural perception, on the other, define a vocal
omnipresent/obvious presence, which paradoxically appeared responsible for the
fragility and exhaustion of the actors voice in performance.
The extraordinary presence of voice and speech in acting and life, naturalised
them to a point at which it is now hard to discern between the performance and the
performers vocal production. This peculiar combination of omnipresence obviousness - naturalisation increases the above quoted anxiety in relation to voice
and speech delivery, simultaneously stressing its invisibility as a subject itself.
Synthesising, it was possible to detect and enumerate some factors that may
nourish this vocal anxiety. The lack of professionals, bibliography and a conceptual
discussion in the field were evident in the first place. The influence of the literary and
the media paradigms over the human vocal styles, which was not that obvious at first
sight, began to seem significant.
To detect the impregnation between the spheres of social and theatrical
performance certainly required a sharper focus in this matter, and it also became
necessary to perceive the effects of the current overloaded aural landscape in
contemporary Western vocal uses. What became certain to me then was that this
vocal anxiety was a symptom of the blend invisibility/obviousness/naturalisation,
installed in contemporary Western culture, which also determines the contemporary
actors vocality.
To unfold a discussion about voice and speech production, reproduction and
representation on stage, appeared to me an unavoidable necessity. To frame a subject
with such a shifting quality certainly would require the configuration of conceptual
tools capable of approaching such a problematic. I proposed the micro-acting strategy
to explore new perspectives to approach voice and speech in performance. The
conceptual tools coming from classic linguistics or semiotics, grounded in a binary
though working mainly by opposition, were not apt to comprehend our object of
study. After three years of research at the UnB some key concepts became outlined,
encouraging me to undertake a wider exploration of this thematic.
Before going any further, we will refer to some notions which are crucial to
the present work. The concept of vocality formulated by Paul Zumthor is extremely
pertinent to study the vocal uses in contemporary theatrical performance. Zumthor
Introduction.
12
defines vocality in relation to medieval poetry, as the historicity of a voice, in other

words, its use (Zumthor 1993 p.21). Our use of the term vocality in the context of
this study refers to the multiple voice and speech uses implemented by a specific
group in a given socio-historical contingency, in this case Buenos Aires actors in the
1990s.
The framing proposed in this research to voice and speech as object of study
relates to the formulation of pragmatics in linguistics by Deleuze and Guattari,
grounded in their review of Austins theory of speech acts. According to them, voice
is defined as a corporeal production and speech as an incorporeal intervention. The
principle of cartography, applied here to human vocality, also relates to a particular
conception of the body, close to the Spinozist, as reviewed by Deleuze and Guattari.
From this point of view, a body consists in an infinite number of particles, the
singularity of which is defined by their relations of rest and movement, and by their
capacity of affecting and being affected by other bodies. Consequently, a body,
detached of identity models, is not defined by its form nor by its organic hierarchy.
The coordinates of any body are determined by what Deleuze terms the
longitude of its relations of rest and movement between non-formed elements and
the latitude of their power of being affected. The totality of longitudes and latitudes
constitutes the body as a plane of consistency, always variable, individual and
collective. A body made up only of particles and affects, may be described as the
great Body without Organs.
These coordinates are abstract lines of continuous variation and virtual
possibilities, actualized in various machinic arrangements. Each machinic
arrangement is a collection of heterogeneous terms held together in a topological
relation of proximity or vicinity, and it is the abstract line that traverses [the
terms] and makes them function together (Bogue 1993 p.153).
Such a cartographic approach to the body, understanding the voice as a
corporeal production with the greatest power of de-territorialization, is embedded in a
wider notion: the rhizome. Being not responsive to any structural or generative model,
the rhizome, appeared as a valid epistemological option to this study. The rhizome is
also defined by the Principle of Cartography or Decalcomania. It refuses the idea of a
deep structure, exceeding the binarism of Western logic and its hierarchic order.
Introduction.
13
To Deleuze and Guattari, the rhizome formulates a methodological question: it

refers to a map, while the binary logic operates through tracings. The map is open and
connectable in all of its dimensions: it has multiple entryways. In different ways,
tracing always come back to the same. However, they remark that the rhizome does
not accomplish a simple reversion of the basic dualism in Western modern thought: a
map contain the tracing. A map is entirely orientated toward experimentation, it has to
do with performance, whereas the tracing always involves an alleged competence
(Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.12-25).
Voice work has been historically grounded in its conceptions of voice
production and reproduction within a notion of the body as an organism, determined
by identity models, generally detached from a socio-historical context. Considering
this, the shift produced conceptually and methodologically by the consideration of
these notions and principles in the field is radical.
As I stated before, the concerns about voice and speech in performance which
originated the present work, became manifest to me during the 1990s in Brasilia.
However, they were shaped through the years of my own training process and
experience in performance in Buenos Aires. Considering the importance of its
theatrical production and tradition in actors training in Latin America, in addition to
my experience and my personal link with this city were I was born, I selected Buenos
Aires as the environment for this researchs field work. To fulfil the cartographies of
voice in Buenos Aires stages of the 1990s required a prior expansion of the
conceptual ground related to the actors vocality. Having all the above in mind, this
research has unfolded as follows.
In Chapter One I focus on a number of historical moments, which I believe to
be decisive in shaping a contemporary Western vocal style. I see some of these key
moments as resulting from strategies of power in society, closely linked to the
evolution of technologies of reproduction and communication. An account of the
evolution in the twentieth century of speech training for actors in England, a
pioneering country in the field, is also included in this first section.
In order to outline voice and speech in performance as an object of study, I
examine here how a number of authors, belonging to the fields of voice work,
semiotics, theatre practice and psychoanalysis, have conceptually defined voice. In
Introduction.
14
the context of this work, I do not discriminate between speech production and singing
in performance, considering both as voice production at high intensities.
In Chapter Two the definition of the object of study is refined through the
perspective of three main conceptual categories, intrinsically interrelated: voice and
speech production, reproduction and representation.
In Chapter Three starts the macro-mapping of the actors vocality in Buenos
Aires of the 1990s, which considers theatre production and training. The key
professional roles in theatrical practice in the 1990s are here characterised in Europe
and Buenos Aires, with a particular mention to the confronting discourses of
professional and scholars in relation to voice work in English. The specific field of
voice work in Buenos Aires, and the peculiar role of music designers in Buenos
Aires contemporary theatrical production are here outlined.
In Chapter Four are mapped the instituted theatrical circuits in Buenos Aires,
intending to identify places and no-places of vocal productiveness. A survey of the
main tendencies in voice work, from the perspective of the students, undertaken in
two of the most relevant Buenos Aires Drama schools completes the macro-mapping.
The micro-mapping of the actors vocality is accomplished in Chapter Five,
focusing particularly on a number of remarkable experiences in relation to voice and
speech in performance. The rupture operated by Buenos Aires playwrights in the
1990s in relation to the established hegemonic positions in the field is referred to
through the work of Spregelburd. Experiences resulting from recycling procedures in
training and production, such as Angelellis are also considered in this section.
Finally,
Edelsteins
singular
proposal
comes
to
voice/technology with unusual vigour and creativeness.
Introduction.
enlighten
the
interplay
15
Chapter One
The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.
In this section, I focus on a number of historical moments which, I believe, have
been decisive in shaping a contemporary Western vocal style. I suggest here that
Western vocality produces rhetoric and later literature as a result of a number of
strategies of power in society, closely linked to the consolidation of a rational pattern of
thought and to the evolution of technologies of reproduction. The central position of
technology today in society, creates crucial tensions in the sphere of the arts, which in
the case of the voice in performance requires a particular attention.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, vocal training has been configured
as a specific area of work for the actors preparation. England is a pioneering country in
the field of speech training for actors. An account of the evolution of voice work
contributes to an outline of a British model in the field. Presenting some key questions
to reflect upon the vocality of contemporary Western actors, this historical perspective
also intends to enlighten the ground for contemporary theoretical and theatrical
production in relation to voice and speech delivery on stage.
In order to outline the object of this research, which is the use of voice in
contemporary theatrical performance, I examine how a number of authors have
conceptually defined voice. I consider, among others, Pavis and Barthes from the field
of theatre studies, Barba and Brook to frame the present reflection about theatrical
practice, and Sundberg, Linklater and Berry from the specific area of voice training.
This survey lays out a first map of the main tendencies in theatre practice and
studies in relation to the contemporary actors vocality. Besides Sundberg, who is an
exponent of the scientific approach to voice work, the above quoted professionals
ascribe in diverse degrees to the phenomenological or the semiotic approaches. These
formulations have been a target of criticism because of their lack of socio-historical
contextualisation, a question approached in this section. They also lack a conceptual
approach to the subject, the body and language. I believe that a framing of voice and
speech through Lacanian psychoanalysis and Deleuze and Guataris pragmatics
perspective might contribute to encourage a further conceptualization of the
contemporary actors vocality.
Following a critical review of the dominant tendencies in theatre practice and
Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.
16
studies in relation to the actors vocality, I focus on the contributions of psychoanalysis.
The works of Miller and Zizek about voice as object in Lacanian theory, bring more
definition to the question. A pragmatic approach to voice and language, which provides
the elements to adjust a conceptual frame to the question of the actors vocality in
contemporary stage practice, have been introduced here through Deleuze and Guattaris
work. In order to amplify the conceptual ground In the field I define voice as a
corporeal production and speech as an extra-corporeal intervention. I intend to
encourage a much needed consideration of the field, which does not discriminate theory
from practice, and reflection from production.
Rhetoric: the first sliding of Western vocality into the rule of a normative body.
Since the times of Ancient Greece, systems of rhetoric have been present in
every field of Western public life, including theatrical practice. Rhetoric is defined by
Martin as a practical art based on concrete advice and rules together with a general
theory about what really happens in the process of speech and how people react
generally to different means of expression, intellectually, aesthetically and emotionally
(Martin 1991 p.1).
According to Martin, classical rhetoric structures itself in five major parts:
Inventio, involves the subjects analysis and organisation of arguments; Dispositio, the
organisation of speech following certain given principles; Elocutio (the most disputed
rhetorical device) comprises the process of finding an adequate verbal form, allowing
speakers to show personal styles; Memoria, the memorisation of the text and
Actio/Pronunciato, the presentation to an audience with the purpose of getting a
maximum effect, thanks to an adequate vocal emission.
Martin considers classic rhetoric production from Aristotle to Quintilian, a
period in which the principles that orientated speech on stage under both the Greek and
Roman Empires were consolidated. She believes that at those times reading and
writing were difficult and unnatural, [so] Greek society relied on oral expression [and]
rhetoric played a central role in ancient education. Quoting Kennedy, she adds that
then speech was a sign of wisdom (Martin 1991 p.1).
Martin defines rhetoric as a normative body, configured to rule speech delivery
according to a desired effect. Martin evaluates the implementation of the Greek rhetoric
17
system as a result of the Greeks uneasiness in relation to the written word and their
closeness with the oral universe. However, the question that Martin does not formulate
is what moved the Greeks to create a system to rule their vocality when there was no
printed letter to fix speech?
Furthermore, if education might be seen as an instance of socialisation under the
control of a dominant political power, and if rhetoric was crucial in education, what else
was rhetoric, but a tool to social rationalisation? What else is this morality, but the
implementation of a social behaviour according to a dominant ideology? And finally,
which kind of speech was considered a sign of wisdom? Was it the speech ruled by
rhetorical norms, or that related to a sophistic cunning intelligence, holder of a
collective imaginary and a pragmatic truth that must be regulated, in order to preserve
social establishment?
From our point of view, the configuration of a rhetoric system represents a
rupture in relation to a given vocality, an attempt to control and rationalise the mutable
fluidity of voice production and speech delivery. In this sense, rhetoric operates not
together with, but over vocality, as happened later with the gradual irruption of
literature. From this perspective, rhetoric aligns with literature, as systems that come to
regulate vocality according to a determined pattern of social power. Following this line
of thought it is possible to infer that if any link between rhetoric and morality might be
established in a given social group, it corresponds to and serves the ideology supported
by a dominant power.
Voice, spoken word and speech belong to a territory different to that of
totalizing discourses, such as the rhetorical or the literary. Vocalitys space is highly
mobile, mutable and ephemeral, and operates with a pragmatic pattern of effectiveness,
according to the situation in which it is performed.
A rhetoric system configures a normative body consisting of a number of
devices to implement discursive strategies. Aristotles was the first treatise on rhetoric
formulated in Western culture, to condemn and control Sophists purely oral practice,
dangerously effective from the point of view of the dominant power in ancient Greece.
However, rhetoric is often mistaken for the oral universe itself. The presence of rhetoric
in Western culture does not define it as oral. On the contrary, it reveals that to rule
voice and speech has always been a central concern in Western culture.
18
Greek rhetoric, represents the first systematic attempt to configure an
instrumental use of voice and speech. It resulted from the observation of and reflection
about the Sophists oral practice. This situation would not be repeated later because
since then, rhetoric became a field of reflection itself, detached from the ingenious
sophistic vocality, which was its original motivation. According to its main objectives,
the hegemonic presence of rhetoric in Western culture has contributed to reduce the
visibility of these other uses of voice and speech, relegating them to a peripheral place
in culture.
Dwight Conquergood reveals the difference between rhetoric, as a normative
body, and vocality, as oral praxis resistant to be framed, being both products of two
radically different positions: the essentialist, anchored in Being, and the constructional,
in process of Becoming (Conquergood 1992). De Certeau sees Aristotle as the author
of a great strategic system, whose target were the Sophists, those who, in Aristotles
view, perverted the order of truth. Interested in the procedures of these enemies,
Aristotle condemned their practice of making the worse argument seem the better, as
fraudulent and absolutely out of place. To De Certeau this formula delineates the
relationship of forces between a field of rational dominant order, founded on
established rights and property, and sophistic subversive manoeuvres, full of
intellectual creativity as persistent as it is subtle, tireless, ready for every opportunity
(in Conquergood 1992 p.83). Socially speaking, De Certeau sees Sophists procedures as
the tactics of the weak:
Sophistic tactics resist systematising and totalizing discourses
because they are dispersed and nomadic; they are difficult to administer
because they cannot be pinned down. Artful dodgers and tacticians of
resistance are branded disreputable by proprietary powers because they are
always on the move and refuse to settle down (Conquergood 1992 p.83).
According to the above, it is possible to recognise in the economy of speech,

two main domains: the macro-political, to which are ascribed totalizing discourses,
such as rhetoric, literature or some of those emerging through the media; and the micropolitical of some oral discourses, capable of resisting the hegemonic action of the
above.
Martins Voice in Modern Theatre is a book dedicated to the place of voice on
the Western stage. Curiously, the approach to Ancient Greek vocality is centralised in
Greek rhetoric with almost no mention of the Greek vocality on stage. To Martin,
19
Greek tragedy seems to configure a homogeneous field, in which there are no
differences between authors such as Aeschylus and Euripides. Nietzsche, who called
himself the first tragic philosopher, approached the question of the rupture operated by
a new Hellenistic reason which supported Euripides crucial work, in relation to the
ancient Greek tragedy. Nietzsche believes that Euripides work became a useful
instrument to the new Attic dominant power, betraying the liberating powers of the preAttic tragedy. Certainly, the model of tragedy that Aristotle considers to reflect about
rhetorics is Euripides. Even not regarding the specificities of the actors voice,
Nietzsche brings several philosophic and political questions in relation to the text, the
author, the audience, that have been crucial in the shaping of the vocality of Western
actors. There is also no mention of Nietzsches work in Martins book, an omission that
certainly restricts the ideological horizon of her work (Nietzsche 1993 pp.72-91).
In Roman times, Cicero formulated a complex rhetoric system, refining the
original Greek proposal. The success of the Greek Philosophers over the Sophists
proved the efficiency of rhetoric as an instrument of social control. The Romans target
were the barbarians. Since then, rhetoric has basically been a useful tool for the
political or religious dominant power, while the ephemeral, protean and nomadic
quality of oral praxis, object of the present work, have been lacking visibility in the
Western cultural environment.
When stating that during the Roman Empire, the art of eloquence declined
along with morality (Martin 1991 p.3) Martin reaffirms the link rhetoric/morality,
without a clear definition of what she understands by morality. Her statement suggests
that rhetoric infallibly operates a kind of benign effect that naturally tends to preserve
and strengthen a perfect moral ideal, an opinion shared by Kristin Linklater:
Cicero declared, in A. D. 90, No man can be a good orator
unless he is a good man, and the perfect orator is the perfect man. Such
a high standard of morality is hard to maintain, which is perhaps why
Rhetoric declined as an art shortly after its birth and again after its 16th
century revival (Linklater 1976 pp.172-3).
Martin adds that, in Roman times, there was a public investment in

institutionalising a place for rhetoric in formal education, founded in the belief that it
was a tool to civilise the barbarians. The Greek determination to consolidate a morality
through the implementation of rhetoric in education, assumes in the Roman
20
environment a civilising role, which configures an antecedent to the Christian
instrumentation of rhetoric.
Martin suggests that rhetorics decline corresponded to the dissolution of the
Roman Empire, which was a time of moral decadence. This moral, assumed as
essentially universal and unquestionable, is no other than the morality of the perfect
man. However, it corresponds to an ethnocentric model, that of the man who holds
political, economic and military power. In other words, this morality might be qualified
again as a social behaviour according to a dominant ideology.
Martin and Linklater share here a line of argument, in a nostalgic relation to the
lost old classic times. They opt to legitimate voice and speech as sharing with
macro/normative discourses, whether rhetorical or scientific, a social and cultural
ascendance that voice seems to lack today. In doing so, they value not voice itself but
all that comes to rule Western vocality. Intending to restore a once privileged position
to voice and speech in Western society and stage, they end by confounding rhetoric
with speech/vocality, while establishing a link between rhetoric, morality and
education in which the judgement about a moral ideal appears to be problematic. We
believe it is necessary to discriminate between normative and performative discourses
in approaching the specificities of actors vocality in Western contemporary stage, and
to open a space much needed for a wider discussion of the subject.
Martin recalls that from the mid-sixth century, Christians reinvented rhetoric
through the Monastic Schools, a movement that led eventually to the French and
English cathedral schools in the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Martin 1991 p.5).
In the Middle Ages Dialectic and Grammar dominated formal education,
restricted then to an elite of clerics. A new cultural space started to be configured: the
erudite/academic European sphere. It came to install itself in the centre of the scene,
displacing all other cultural production to a peripheral zone, since then labelled the
popular.
As new social situations demand new tools for social control, new parts were
added to the five original ones of classical rhetoric, according to the social and political
context in which a church strategy should be implemented. Such a procedure of
adaptation of the tools to the new situations, enlightens the macro political character of
rhetoric, confronted with the micro political value of vocality.
21
Retaking the Roman idea of rhetoric as a civilising tool, Augustine determined
that the chief function of Christian eloquence was to convert belief into works and to
impel the faithful in the Christian life. According to this main objective, Persuatio and
Ornatio were incorporated. Docere, Delectare and Movere were introduced later by
Augustine, who is acknowledged as the greatest exponent of Christianity in the field of
rhetoric (Martin 1991 p.5).
By the early Middle Ages, the church positioned itself against wandering
performers and pagan festivals, in evidence then in Southern Europe (Martin 1991 p.5).
In order to neutralise their threatening influence, Christian rites were systematically
reproduced for increasingly larger audiences. This attitude characterised Christian
liturgy as a forerunner to Modern Western theatre, while it decisively reaffirmed the
instrumental approach to voice and speech in Western culture. To guarantee the
hegemony of its model, the church as institution realised the need to keep aware and
ready to act strategically to counterbalance the uncontrolled proliferation of popular
culture.
Martin admits that the thirteenth century was something of a low point for
classical rhetoric in many parts of Europe, despite the recovery of Aristotle on Rhetoric
in Latin at the time (Martin 1991 p.5). Rhetoric only returned to a central place after
1416, when George Trebizonal brought Hermogenes works to Italy from the Byzantine
Empire. This low point might be considered a result of the control of rhetoric during
the Middle Ages by just a few academics, as a result of the churchs strategy of
centralisation of power. It is precisely at the thirteenth century that that Paul Zumthor
identifies the deepest transformation in relation to the use of voice. About 1250,
Western Culture slowly leads itself into what he calls the Written Age, while rhetoric
became definitely established as a normative body. Rhetoricians welcomed this new
form starting to be configured, in the move from oral poetry, based in the vocal
authority of the poet, to European literatures: from the voice to the letter. Under the
power of a minority of clerics and social elites, a cultural universe was outlined that
would come to affirm as central values the crucial significance of the eye and the
linearity of time (Zumthor 1993 p.282).
22
From the spoken word to the printed letter.
Zumthor remarks that the term written doesnt have a uniform sense; it refers
to diverse techniques, attitudes and behaviours according to the times and places in
which it might be contextualised. There is a huge distance in terms of culture between
what we call written today, that supposes a passage to the printed, and the medieval
hand-writing, a distance similar to that existing between the manuscripts and a primary
orality1 (Zumthor 1993 p.99).
Zumthor recalls McLuhans remark that hand-writing cultures remain globally
tactile and oral. In such an environment, the written had a highly restricted presence,
contrasting to the place it has in our typographic world. According to the social
situation in which it is produced, the text depends sometimes on an orality that works in
a zone of the written, and other times depends on a writing that works in orality
(Zumthor 1993 pp.98-9).
The press, known in China many centuries before it was known in Western
culture, was implemented in both societies in a very different way. Zumthor points out
that the intellectual influence that we ascribe to the printed text in our culture probably
depends less on the press itself, than on the alphabetic character of our graphic writing,
which determined our printing technologies and visual perception. Once configured,
graphic printing gave to literature a decisive impulse, completely transforming the
relations between the author, the text and the public (Zumthor 1993 pp.96 282).
At its very beginnings, about the year 1000, the expansion of the written text
was extremely slow. In relation to this matter, Zumthor ascribes to Clancys hypothesis:
neither the proliferation of administrative documents, nor the commercial development
or the improvement of communications were then strong enough to change existing
habits; it was rather the close relation that the written text kept to the voice which
favoured its diffusion. To Ong, Zumthor recalls, the manuscript was a continuity of the
oral, which entered a process of progressive disruption only with the advent of the
1
Zumthor distinguishes three types of orality. Primary orality is that produced by a group that
has no contact with the written. Mixed orality is the one influenced by the written but externally, partially
and with delay (as in the case of children, illiterates or semi-illiterates). Secondary orality is one
produced and conditioned by the written, that tends to weaken the values related to the voice as it is used
and in the imaginary. It corresponds to an erudite culture. Today, we might think of a fourth type, the
medias orality which is that reproduced by the mass media.
23
press. The written saturation, characteristic of modernity, took place some centuries
later (Zumthor 1993 p.97-9).
Zumthor indicates that through the technologies of the written what Costa Lima
named a control of the imaginary had been introduced, the efficacy of which would be
manifest after 1500. This process resulted in a number of tensions, common to Western
nations between the traditional poetic energies and the forces that a proper rationality
impose on the verb, in detriment to the living word; a rational capacity against
presence. Progressively a frontier of transgression grows, in which the spoken word is
substituted by the written, oral poetry by literature, and the man by the author (Zumthor
1993 pp.280-1).
For de Certeau, rationality and the order of truth derive their legitimacy
(propriety) from being staked in property, a stable, established place that has been
surveyed and that is itself a source of surveillance:
The proper is a triumph of place over time. It is a mastery of
time through the foundation of an autonomous place. It is also a mastery of
places through sight. The division of space makes possible a panoptic
practice proceeding from a place whence the eye can transform foreign
forces into objects that can be observed and measured , and thus control
and include them within its scope of vision. To be able to see (far into
the distance) is also to be able to predict, to run ahead of time by reading a
space. It would be legitimate to define the power of knowledge by its
ability to transform the uncertainties of history into readable spaces (De
Certeau in Conquergood 1988 p.83).
Literature came to exert a hegemony over cultural representations, first in

Europe and later in America. It absorbed rhetoric, substituting its normative function,
and was diffused into the individual work of art2. Literature, Zumthor concludes, almost
inevitably serves the State (Zumthor 1993 pp.283-4).
The oral universe, ruled since Greek times by rhetoric, was then submitted to
the gravitation of what would become a new hegemonic presence in Western culture:
literature. This process is flowing in the moment that Martin identifies as the lowest
point in rhetoric dominance, as indicated above.
Zumthor notices that, since 1392, several treatises of rhetoric appeared, praising a new form:
the incipient European literatures. He refers here to the Art de Dictier, by Eustache Deschamps; the
Arts de Seconde Rhtorique that appeared in France during more than a hundred years or the Const
van Rhetoriken, by the Flemish Mathys Castelein. In these books there are multiple references to
individualised authors (Zumthor 1993 p.282).
24
The theatricality of public life, broadly spread in the Middle Ages through
streets, roads, markets, squares, and moved during the Renaissance to palaces, and
eventually into theatres. Zumthor characterises this movement from the streets to the
palace as a process of privatisation of the arts which, as we mentioned above, isolated
the oral universe to a peripheral zone named popular culture. As a result of the
diffusion of reading skills, first scholars, and then most cultural actors, came to discern
between different kinds of sensorial registers, to separate them from life experience,
while arts and sciences split as specialised fields of knowledge.
Drama is still today frequently approached as a literary form. Consequently,
methods for literary analysis have often been directly transposed to analyse the
theatrical text which, being written to be performed, might be regarded as primarily
oral. This transposition of the theatrical script to the literary universe inscribes an
originally aural text in a readable space, ruled by the rationality of representation and
interpretation.
It is precisely in the Renaissance when the modern European theatrical and
literary traditions were configured. This link between theatre and literature continued
strong until the twentieth century, marking a theoretical and methodological approach
to the Western stage, as well as a prevailing perception of the voice and speech in
contemporary theatrical performance. However, besides the relation voice - rhetoric literature there are other factors which condition the role of European theatrical
traditions on the contemporary Western stage. In the next section, we will focus on how
in different socio-historical environments, as those displayed by the British and the
Spanish cultural traditions, the theatrical text has assumed diverse spaces and functions,
which defined specific problems for Spanish speaking contemporary actors.
The role of modern European theatrical traditions in the contemporary actors

vocality.
The widespread revival of rhetoric in the Renaissance came from Byzancio,
when George Trebizond, arrived in Italy in 1416, bringing with him Hermogenes work
and his own Rhetoric in Five Books (the first rhetoric treaty of wide circulation at those
times) together with the scripts in which our texts of the Greek plays are based. After
this, a number of rhetorical treatises were published for the first time in vernacular
languages (Martin 1991 p.5).
25
According to Martin, the freshness of Renaissance European theatre represented
a parenthesis in the struggle between written and oral universes, as the instrumental
aspect of Persuatio, the most pragmatic rhetorical aspect, gradually reaffirmed its
central position in relation to speech production. Martin believes that Elizabethan
audiences were able to experience the words in the theatre in the manner that literature
was experienced from the printed page (Martin 1991 p.7).
If we consider that most Elizabethans were not likely to have had any contact
with the printed text, we might assume that Martin is talking here about literature from
a twentieth centurys perspective, with disregard to the remarkably different
experiences that the oral and the printed text provide now and then. This lack of
definition between the printed and the oral universes and between diverse sociohistorical moments is recurrent in her text.
However, it is still possible to suppose that in the Renaissance oral language had
a strong presence. At those times, contemporary European languages were extensively
formed, challenging actors, authors and users in general. The intense language
dynamic, resulting from the configuration of modern European languages, was
probably a factor that contributed to confer visibility to voice and speech in both the
social and theatrical scenes.
From Elizabethan times remain Shakespeares paradigmatic written works,
which probably constitute today the strongest classic Western reference in relation to
the use of voice and speech on stage. This referential character does not exclusively
rely on the qualities of the Shakespearean texts, which are open to plural readings. The
paradigmatic quality of Shakespeares work in the universe of Western culture is also
grounded on the use that has always been made of it, particularly in British culture.
This on and off stage practice has constituted Shakespearean work into a cultural
reference, capable of dynamically upholding endless re-formulations over the ages. It
illustrates how a theatrical text might configure a site for cultural enunciation across
time.
Spanish theatrical production was vast during the Golden Age. The authors
mastery is patent in the flexibility and richness of the textual form. However, Golden
Age tradition did not have the kind of fortune through the ages that Elizabethan theatre
gained, particularly through Shakespeares work. As a classic reference, to approach the
26
Spanish Golden Age repertoire seems to remain problematic today for Spanish speaking
actors, particularly contemporary Latin American young actors.
In relation to this matter, the testimony of professional theatre practitioners can
contribute to defining the problematic of contemporary actors vocality. While a
number of directors publicly reveal this situation in relation to the staging of Spanish
classic theatrical repertoire in the original language, translations of Spanish
Renaissance plays and adaptations of Shakespeares texts are staged in Buenos Aires
with remarkable frequency. (La Maga No. 91 1993). Llus Pasqual and Jorge Lavelli,
two influential Western theatre directors, closely linked to Buenos Aires theatrical
production, bring interesting ideas to a further reflection about the performance of the
text on stage in Spanish today.
To Llus Pasqual, the difficulties that young Spanish speaking actors face when
staging Spanish classic texts come from the characteristics of the texts themselves,
which share only some of the qualities of the Shakespearean works. He believes that the
Golden Age production did not became a paradigmatic reference, in the way that
Shakespearean theatre did, because of the thematic content. In his view, the topic of
honour homogenised the whole output, restricting dramatically the possibilities of
contemporary reformulations. In this context, the works that managed to transcend
these thematic limitations, such as Calderns, were exceptions:
All the thematic interest of the Spanish Golden Age theatre is
placed between a womans legs () This is its greatest problem. There is
a lead weight that falls with a terrible density which is God; if it is present
in Shakespeare, it is only in a very abstract way. Above is God, and below,
all the problem of Spanish theatre is between a womans legs () The
Marriage of Figaro deals with the same theme, but () a couple of
centuries later, they laugh about it (Pasqual Interview 11 Appendix 1).
Jorge Lavelli brings other elements to this question. In his perception, the forty
years of Francos dictatorship in Spain are responsible for the present disregard in
relation to the Golden Age theatrical tradition. During those years, many theatre
practitioners left Spain, some to re-establish themselves in Argentina. The presence of
Spanish companies, actors and teachers was decisive in the institutionalisation and
evolution of theatre practice in Buenos Aires. In this context, it shaped a style of
performing Spanish classic texts, patent in a number of actors still active, such as
Alfredo Alcn or Mara Rosa Gallo. However, lacking a systematic work in voice and
text delivery for actors, this style did not developed through the years, appearing today
27
to be old fashioned (Interview 10 Appendix1). In Lavellis view, the consequences of
the break in theatrical practice as a result of Francos regime are still in evidence in
relation to the performance of the classic texts. However, Lavelli sees at the moment a
progressive recovering of this repertoire in Spain. Under these conditions, he
understands that it might require a complex process for Latin American actors,
particularly for Argentinean actors, to find an approach to perform these texts
(Interview 10 Appendix 1).
As a cultural source that has been drastically truncated, the Golden Ages
theatrical repertoire represents today, for Hispanic actors and directors, a kind of
expedition to the exotic, in Lavellis words. They feel inclined today to adapt and
perform translations of Goethe or Shakespeare rather than to search in Alarcns or
Calderns works, where the formal structure is difficult to avoid when working with
the texts in their original language (Interview 10 Appendix 1).
Although the English and the Spanish theatrical traditions may have originated
in similar cultural situations, they took diverse directions through the centuries,
resulting in different interactions between theatrical production and the social
environments in which they have been reproduced. It is patent in the different kind of
projection that the English and the Spanish traditions have acquired in Western culture,
which also determine today the actors relation with these scripts. We will come back to
this question when approaching the case of Buenos Aires stages in the 1990s.
The lack of a systematic approach to voice training for actors in Spanish and the
significance it has in British tradition might be seen as one of the factors in the present
unfamiliarity of young Latin American actors in relation to voice and speech delivery
on stage. To examine the process of institutionalisation of voice work in Britain, it
might be useful to elucidate some basic questions about the use of voice and text
delivery in the contemporary Western stage.
Voice Training: The Configuration of the Area, a British Model.

Since the very beginning of the twentieth century, voice and speech on stage
were particularly affected by diversified scientific research. In the field of the medical
sciences, the discovery of the laryngoscope by Garcia was the starting point to a long
sequence of research that originated a corpus of new knowledge about voices
physiology. Psychology configured a new field in science, when Freuds research
28
enlightened the unconscious, a psychic sphere ignored until then. Saussures theoretical
formulation about how meanings are established and maintained, as well as his ideas
about the functions of grammatical structures, influenced twentieth century theory and
practice in many disciplines. The wide production that followed those remarkable
works, have also had important repercussions in relation to acting traditions.
Stanislavskis systematic approach incorporates into acting the psychic, as a
consequence of the above outlined historical context. In his texts Stanislavski refers
briefly to the actors voice and speech preparation, particularly to show the importance
of maintaining the voice in good conditions to achieve efficacy in performance. The
actors voice is clearly regarded in Stanislavski as an instrument. His acting method
determines that an efficient voice delivery should be a result of the construction of the
character. The emphasis relies on table work, not on the work with voice and speech
that necessitates the actors vocal and speech preparation.
Considering the vocal delivery style that it promotes, realism has been generally
seen by many voice professionals and theatre directors as bearing the main
responsibility for the devaluation of contemporary actors vocality. However, most of
these criticisms, which will be analysed further in this study, are formulated with a
classic elocutionary style as a reference. Actually, realism in theatre brought with it for
the first time the need for a vocal technique. Until then, the actors vocal quality and
effectiveness was crucial to their success, and their vocal style was mainly based in
recitation.
Realism imposed the need for a colloquial style in delivery, which demands a
vocal projection related to large theatre halls, requiring a particular balance in voice
production and speech delivery. However, in the perception of voice coaches, realism is
responsible for the lack of vocal skills of contemporary actors and the scant attention
paid to voice and speech delivery in theatre studies and practice. In relation to this
matter, Martin states: With the advent of Naturalism in the theatre, a general
deterioration in elocution was the result, and the () attitude to speaking blank verse
by strictly following the metre gave way to regarding it as a prose (Martin 1991 p.9).
This vocal pattern has been extensively established through cinema and
television, media in which the technologies of reproduction of sound removed the need
for the projection of the actors voice in the space. To identify a naturalistic style as a
main cause of the impoverishment of vocal delivery on stage, involves the omission of
29
the action of the new technologies of production and reproduction of sound and image
in shaping a contemporary vocal style. Realism had a relatively short period of
hegemony on Western theatrical stages. Its great influence in contemporary acting came
more from cinema and television than from theatrical production.
Technology has been intensively interacting with human vocality in the
twentieth century, establishing a dynamic that continuously shaped oral styles on and
off stage. Communication media, means of reproduction, synthesis or processing of
sound, have been crucial to the use of voice in Western society and therefore, on stage.
However, this situation remained overlooked in the field of theatrical studies, and the
role of technologies became naturalised in theatrical performance, preserving the
illusionist point of view of the audience.
Martin redefines rhetoric in relation to the twentieth century as a social
phenomenon, which has been in evidence since the time of antiquity and which has
undergone changes as the intellectual and social environment has changed, re-framing
the subject through a social and historical perspective. In her view, through the
imposing presence of propaganda and advertising, rhetorical Persuatio has recuperated
its crucial role (Martin 1991 p.11). From another perspective, Zumthor sees in the huge
production of contemporary popular songs the site for a new orality. Installed in the
environment of a mass society, a new territory of vocality is taking place today, through
the mass media: a mediated orality (Zumthor 1985).
While Martin points to a site of orality in contemporary society related to
market logic and the political power, Zumthor points to the productive place of popular
poetry in the context of mass media. How these new situations, together with the
substantial presence of cinema, television and the spheres of mass reception, shape
contemporary actors vocality, is a question that has not yet been approached
intensively in the field of theatrical studies.
The questions raised by the incidence of technology in the field of arts have
been overlooked by contemporary vocal training which, paradoxically, has been
configured, and labelled with a scientific will. Most relevant voice coaches have
legitimated their work, through the discourses of medicine, linguistics, psychology or
acoustic physics, which are among the most decisive fields related to voice delivery.
The process of institutionalisation of actor training in England started in 1904
with the formal opening of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Before 1904, speech
30
and voice were taught in Music Schools or training companies, which were established
at an earlier stage.
In 1906 the Central School of Speech and Drama was created, led by Elsie
Fogerty, whose work was grounded in the latest advances in voice physiology at that
moment.3. Despite her profile, close to that of a speech therapist, Fogerty soon
perceived the problematic of the script in performance, operating a crucial shift in her
work. As Martin states, Fogerty had been a close follower of the tradition of William
Poel and the Shakespeare Revivalist Movement where continuity of action and lively
pace of delivery were emphasised, so that the production should not be any longer that
two hours, and a minimum of scenery could engage the audiences attention on an
audial rather than visual level(Martin 1991 p.155). Fogertys was succeeded by
Gwynneth Thurburn, whose work in developing a natural voice based on scientific
knowledge helped Sir Lawrence Olivier to break with the former singing mode of
Shakespearean vocal delivery (Martin 1991 p.155). Central, where prominent teachers
such as Berry have later studied and taught, is still the only one of these schools that
offers a training programme for voice teachers (Martin 1991 p.155).
The Guildhall School of Music formally became the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama in 1935. The London Academy of Music had been offering acting classes
since 1904, but only in 1938 became the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,
with the opening of a one year full time acting course. There, Iris Warren, whose most
well-known disciple is Kristin Linklater, developed her personal approach to voice,
incorporating psychology into voice work. Martin associates all the above schools with
what she defines as the orthodox approach in actor training, directed to the individual
actor, the creation of the role and text orientated (Martin 1991 p.154).
In 1939, the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramatico was founded in Buenos Aires
(see Chapter Four pp. 202-3). Different from England, in its origins, the area of voice
work was under the responsibility of prominent poets, singers, actors and directors.
However, this research has indicated that since then the field has been progressively
occupied by speech therapists. This movement can be seen as a factor in the current
situation of the actors vocality in Buenos Aires, highly territorialised by what will later
Martin states that Fogerty joined Sir Frank Benson in rooms at the Royal Albert Hall, which
led to the founding of the countrys first Speech Clinic, at St. Thomas Hospital (Martin 1991 p.154).
31
be defined as the European multicoding and the capitalist decoding (see Chapter Four p.
219-20).
Returning to England, Martin acknowledges a key role in relation to the actors
vocality from the French influence in actor training in England. In her view, this
tendency in acting was initiated through the work of Michel Saint-Denis, nephew and
collaborator of Jaques Copeau, who in 1921 founded the legendary drama school
LEcole du Vieux Colombier. This school made significant contributions to
contemporary theatrical performance, among which stands its influence in the
emergence of the new tendencies in mime.
In 1935 Michel Saint-Denis opened the London Theatre Studio, closed by the
war in 1939. His ideal of an all-round actor was implemented through a wide and
intensive curriculum, in which voice and speech had a special treatment. After 1945
and until 1952, Saint-Denis work continued in the Old Vic Theatre (Martin 1991
pp.156-7, 165). Saint-Denis realised that Stanislavskis and Copeaus works had
something in common: the rejection of theatrical artificiality. Furthermore, he
understood that this kind of approach would present deficiencies in relation to the
performance of the classics, grounded in a poetic universe. Thus voice training became
one of the fundamental lines of experimentation of his school, the aim of which was to
train an all round actor, capable of facing the most diverse theatrical repertoire. This
approach was the result of a blend of the French tradition, started by Copeau and the
current English stage practice with the discoveries of Stanislavski (Martin 1991 p.157).
After the closure of the Old Vic School in 1952, a number of experimental
schools emerged, as alternatives to the established schools. In 1975, the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation directed a process of evaluation of Drama Schools. Just eleven
of the seventeen schools assessed achieved positive reports at the end of this action.
Martin reviews the results of this evaluation and the report published in 1986, by the
Second International Seminar of Theatre Education, organised by the International
Theatre Institute, which took place in Stockholm. These documents bring valuable data
about the evolution of vocal training for actors from the 1960s to the 1980s in Europe.
The commission responsible for the inquiry ran by the Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation, published a Report in which most of the Principals of the examined schools
remarked on the great importance of voice work in Drama schools, an activity that
demanded a high degree of qualification for teachers. They admitted that it was more
32
difficult to get good voice teachers than good movement teachers. This situation was
understood as a result of a tendency that evolved from the1960s, in which the
traditional approach of elocution was rejected. The pattern of the beautiful voice, gave
place to that of the scientific voice, based on linguistics and physiology, with an
emphasis on the physical aspects of sound production. The schools Principals stated
that through this approach voice teaching became more realistic. However, its implicit
exigencies resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of available experienced voice
specialists. The members of the Foundation that visited schools were impressed by the
amount of movement they witnesses in voice classes and the frequent presence of sound
production in movement classes (Martin 1991 pp.170-1).
This Report states a situation in which an established vocal paradigm is revealed
as outdated. It leaves an open space, which is not occupied by new vocal styles of
delivery and training that might reveal themselves efficient for contemporary theatrical
performance. The need for voice work capable to lead to an actors effective vocality is
not discussed. The configuration of a new ground seems to be clear in the vanishing of
the traditional division of areas such as voice and movement, that points to an
integrative corporal tendency. However, the results of such a process remained
uncertain, at least until 1975, when this research was conducted.
In 1986, the Second International Seminar of Theatre Education took place in
Stockholm, organised by the International Theatre Institute. It focused on the training of
theatre teachers. At that time, voice training was defined as the skill of using the voice,
the articulation and the language in an expressive communicative way, when acting.
The acquiring of different singing skills was regarded as being out of the realm of voice
training for actors, while an integrated approach between voice, delivery of a text and
acting was stressed (Martin 1991 pp.180-1).
To define voice training as an expressive skill is, at least, inaccurate. Since
this definition resulted from an international event on theatre education, it shows that
the uncertainties in the field detected in the 1970s persisted in the 1980s. If there was a
debate about voice work and its configuration as a subject in this period, it is not
evident in these documents. As Martin states, this Seminar revealed that European
theatre schools in the 1980s seemed to be isolated from contemporary theoretical
discussion and theatrical production:
33
there was never any suggestion about how all this should be
taught. It became apparent that most actor training programmes still pursue
a fragmented approach to acting, where the number of subjects offered is
almost as numerous as the different parts of the body, although there have
been attempts to co-ordinate the most obvious ones, such as movement
and voice (Martin 1991 p.181).
The very need to co-ordinate movement and voice involves the presupposition
that they are separated instances. The distinction between the singing and the speaking
voice came to illustrate the idea that speech both on and off stage might respond to the
same approach, one that is different to the training of singers. All these basic
assumptions, taken for granted, demonstrate the lack of discussion in the field of voice
work today, even in its most fundamental aspects. Acting schools have always had a
profile related to the professional practice, disregarding the field of reflection.
Consequently, theatre studies have found a place not in acting schools, but in a more
academic environment.
However, it should be noticed that if acting schools officially exist since the
1920s, drama did not have a place on the university curriculum in England until the
1950s. By that time, acting schools already had a consolidated reputation. In this
situation, the university came to open a new space for reflection in the field. Today, as a
result of the problems that students face in getting grants for non-degree subjects, a
number of degree courses have been created in acting departments associated with new
universities, which have incorporated into the curricula a space for acting training,
practice and production. This is the case of the two Drama Departments created during
the 1990s in Manchester at Arden College and the Metropolitan University. However,
traditional universities remain operating within an academic environment, essentially
orientated to research activities. To install a field of conceptual reflection in acting
training and practice may depend of the possibilities of links between these two
differentiated environments.
Contemporary approaches to voice work in English.

Richard Knowles conceptualises voice training as one of the material
conditions for the production of meaning in contemporary performance of Shakespeare
that is routinely overlooked in performance criticism(in Bulman 1996 p.93). In the
context of the present work, we understand voice work as a process, rather than a
material condition, which intends to shape the actors corporeal materiality, exploring
34
its physical limits. Through this process, actors should become able to produce and
control enunciation through voice and speech delivery. We assume that voice work
names the process of preparation of the body to cope with the widest possible range of
meaning production, through voice and speech delivery in performance. The body,
related to a specific cultural environment, offers the material and the limits for voice
work, establishing itself as a particular site for reflection and intervention.
Berrys Voice and the Actor, published in 1973, was the first in a series of books
that deeply influenced contemporary Shakespearean acting through their approach to
voice delivery. Speech training was at that moment concentrated on proper accents
and styles. Her texts offered alternatives to this approach, questioning its inherent
elitism. In doing so, Berrys texts reflect the tendencies that, since the 1990s, strove for
to a democratisation of theatre. They resulted in a crucial shift in contemporary acting,
influencing acting teachers, voice coaches and actors, as Knowles recalls:
Any actor with a serious interest in performing Shakespeare in
the last two decades has at one time or another come under the direct or
indirect influence of one or more of these books () Voice and the
Actor, together with the approaches to voice and text that it introduces,
has been as pivotal in the history of Shakespearean performance in the
twentieth century as the production that provided its impetus to Brooks
Dream (in Bulman 1996 p.92)
After Voice and the Actor, Linklaters Freeing the Natural Voice was published
in 1976, Berrys The Actor and the Text in 1987, and Linklaters Freeing Shakespeares
Voice in 1992. In 1991, Martin published Voice in Modern Theatre, which constitutes
the first attempt to approach a panorama of Western voice and speech on the
contemporary stage, including a historical framework.
Patsy Rodenburg published The Right to Speak in 1992 and The Need for Words
in 1993. In these works the actors voice and speech is a background for a discourse
that intends to reach a wider public. In 1997, Rodenburg published The Actor Speaks,
which was her first book entirely dedicated to the actor. Rodenburgs approach has
many points of contact with Berrys. However, what characterises Rodenburg work is a
widening of the approach to voice work, towards the politics of voice in society and in
the context of actors training.
Knowles recalls that it is possible to identify a genealogy in voice work, in
which it all began with Peter Brook. Berry got the support of Brooks authority for her
work, recognising also that working with him, she gained the necessary confidence to
35
write about it. Significantly, it is Brook himself who introduces Berrys first book.
Later, Berry presents Martins book, establishing a clear link between both works,
reinforced by the way in which Martin refers to Berry in her text. Acknowledging
Brooks words and work as the starting point, Knowles refers to the output of Berry,
Linklater, Rodenburg and Martin as the post-Brook voice approach (in Bulman 1996
pp.93-95).
Knowles points out that these voice works emerged from the cultural context of
the so-called radical Royal Shakespeare Company, influenced by Leavis through Hall
and Nunn, both Cambridge educated and fervent Leavisites (in Bulman 1996 p.93).
Knowles notices how the RSCs Shakespearean essentialism relates itself to Leavis
liberal humanism. In order to read Shakespeare free of historical conditionings, the
RSC conceived and staged his plays according to the individual/universal and the
social/historical conceptual oppositions.
Brooks production in the 1960s of A Midsummer Nights Dream can be
considered as the climax of the so called Shakespearean revolution, in which he
developed the idea of the empty space, a neutral arena from where the Shakespearean
text is supposed to speak by itself. The Empty Space, published in 1973, and
translated later into Spanish and Portuguese, influenced not just the post-Brook voice
approach, but contemporary theatre as a whole, having a particular ascendance in Latin
American contemporary theatre. Berry, whose work strongly relates to Brooks, is also
a crucial figure in the context of the Royal Shakespeare Company, from where she
influenced a whole generation of British actors.
Linklater clearly relates herself to Iris Warren, whose work took a new direction
from that initiated by Fogerty. As we will see, Linklater dedicates both of her texts to
Warren, acknowledging herself as her direct disciple. Linklaters first book is
introduced by Michael MacOwan, who could symbolically be considered the most
legitimate person to write in Warrens place. Her second book significantly does
without anybody elses introduction but her own.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, acting incorporated a psychological
approach, beyond its therapeutic limits, through Stanislavskis method. In the 1920s,
Elsie Fogerty systematised in England a method for speech training, based on an
accurate and updated knowledge of the physiology of voice. During the 1930s, Iris
36
Warren introduced a new phase to Fogertys work, adding to it psychological principles
in a more therapeutic way, in contrast to Stanislavski proposals.
This tendency in theatre reflected the ascendancy of positivism at the beginning
of the twentieth century, not just in Britain, but in Western society as a whole. It
promoted scientific neutrality through the application of the scientific method, using the
model of the natural sciences, as the unique way to produce genuine knowledge. This
position had stimulated and had been stimulated by the scientific and technological
advances since the industrial revolution which, together with the ideologies they
promoted, affected theatrical practice and training as a whole, however unnoticed this
phenomenon has remained to theatre practitioners. Theatrical discourse demanded
legitimacy through the optic of the scientific paradigm.
In 1938 the London Academy of Music and Drama was inaugurated, and
Warren was appointed as a voice teacher. There, Linklater became her student and later,
her assistant. In 1963, Linklater moved to the United States of America, where she has
since been working, in direct contact with the new American schools of psychotherapy.
Linklater talks about a science of voice production, when she refers to Iris Warrens
work. Regarding Linklater as her direct disciple, we can infer that this consideration
might be extended to her own work:
It was Iris Warren who moved the science of voice production for
British actors into a new phase by adding psychological understanding to
physiological knowledge. In the late thirties Iris Warren began tackling the
most common problem among actors, that of straining the voice when
expressing strong emotions, not by dealing directly with the suffering
voice but by unlocking the emotions. The voice exercises remained, but
were gradually altered by the shift from external, physical controls to
internal, psychological ones (Linklater 1976 p.3).
Nevertheless, it should be noticed that Linklaters first book was published three
years later than Berrys Voice and the Actor. This situation also gave a context for
Linklaters writing. Rodenburg has her own space in British contemporary acting and
training, assured by her institutional position. Being the Head of Voice at the Londons
Guildhall School of Speech Drama, she has great influence on a wide range of young
acting students, coming from many parts of the world. Heading also the Voice
Department of the Royal National Theatre, she influences professional actors as well.
She should be considered in the present study as a punctual reference in relation to the
two main tendencies in voice work for British theatre, headed by Berry and Linklater.
37
Martins research in the field of voice training comes to complete this map of
contemporary approaches to voice work in English. She has recuperated the evolution
of the art of rhetoric, from Ancient Greece to the nineteenth century when, from her
point of view, affected by the aesthetic of realism, it became completely forgotten in
theatrical practice. Lately, Martin has proposed a research project at the Royal Institute
of Arts and Technologies of Sydney, where she lectures. The main hypothesis of her
proposal is that classical rhetorical devices can work today as instances to evaluate the
effectiveness of text delivery in performance, and as rehearsal devices as well (Martin
1996 pp.11-6).
The pertinence of the direct transfer of rhetorical classical terms to a
contemporary rehearsal situation, might be contested as well as the analytic approach to
voice and speech delivery, distant from its perception as a whole concrete material.
Martins proposal is also permeated by the widely spread idea of an a-historical
acting. Her identification of rhetoric with vocality might also be problematic to
enlighten such a mutant object as the actors voice in performance.
Martins historical survey to voice and speech on stage represents a first attempt
to frame voice work in Western culture. However, lacking a reflection specific to this
subject, she remains in the consideration of the actors voice and speech from a
normative point of view, with disregard to its pragmatic profile. Moreover, proposing a
direct translation of concepts belonging to one social reality to another, Martin
implicitly suggests that the categories of classic rhetorics may be considered as
universally valid, a position that is contested in the present study.
In this first section of the present study, the main historical contingencies which
contributed to define a Western vocality have been surveyed. The configuration of
rhetoric as a normative system for the use of voice and speech, and literature as a
system of representation and reproduction, have been particularly regarded. The
incidence of both systems in Western culture have contributed to obscure the pragmatic
field of voice and speech production, encouraging also the idea that it can be analysed
with the conceptual and methodological tools coming from rhetorics and literature.
Vocal work has grown as a specific area in actors training grounded in the field
of Health sciences, with total disregard to both the social factors that determine the use
of voice and speech, and the incidence of the evolution of technologies over the actors
vocal output. Voice professionals have identified the procedures of Realism in acting
38
(which also lacks a defined position in relation to voice work) as mainly responsible for
the present disregard in relation to voice and speech in training and production. Such a
perspective, instead of unfolding the complexity the problematic here regarded,
deviates it from a productive line of thought.
Knowles attempted a possible reading pointing to the undefined ideological
groundwork of the published production related to voice work. It should be noticed that
his reading is constructed in the empty space left in these books in relation to the
determinations of actors social and historical contexts. Consequently, his reading
should not be taken as definitive, as they follow just one possible line of thought among
those that might be conducted about the same matter. However, Knowles main
contribution is to remark the need for a defined ideological ground for theatrical
practice, pointing to the negative effects arising when leaving this sphere undefined.
In the next section, a number of definitions of voice and speech will be
surveyed, in order to operate a particular change of focus. It is our intention to define
the actors voice and speech in training and performance considering the relation of the
actors voice and speech training and production in a socio-historical frame, with
particular regard to the incidence of technologies in the configuration of new vocalities
and new conceptual approaches to this question.
39
Outlining the Object.

What is a voice? Where is my voice when I speak? These questions, apparently so
simple when formulated, become surprisingly complex at the very moment in which
we attempt to answer them. The positions of a number of outstanding professionals in
the areas of voice work, theatre production, academic studies, and psychoanalysis are
here considered in order to frame voice and speech conceptually as object of study.
The most influential published works in voice training have been produced by
British authors. This output is particularly relevant to this study because these
publications reach an remarkably bigger public than voice work practice. We do not
believe that is possible to define our object of study apart from the notions formulated
by professional coaches. Moreover, the definition of our object of study implies a redefinition of voice and speech as considered in contemporary voice work. With this
end in view, Kristin Linklater and Cicely Berry are considered first, to bring a
panorama of how voice and speech are today approached in the field of voice work,
together with Johan Sundbergs scientific approach to the singing voice.
Sundbergs work about voice production at high intensities is not particularly
dedicated to the actors voice, however, his proposal is relevant to actors training. If
in their texts the coaches do not show total control of the concepts they make use of,
Sundberg rigorously applies scientific language and methods to explain and describe
the mechanics of voice and speech production. His proposal is efficient until the point
at which he recognises the incidence of factors such as emotions over the vocal
mechanism. This is enough to underline the limits of the classic instrumental
approach in voice work, while enlightening an area decisive to understand human
vocality, which will be further explored by Lacanian psychoanalysis. The publishing
of Linklater, Berry and Sundberg is referential in contemporary actors and singers
training, and will be further considered in Chapters 2 and 3 of this thesis.
In the case of voice coaches and theatre directors, the focus of the present study is
in their publishing, through which we might consider their conceptual formulations.
From the directorial point of view, Brook and Barba have been selected to illustrate a
conceptual approach to the actors vocality in contemporary theatrical performance.
This choice is motivated by the great influence that Barba and Brook have exerted in
Chapter 1 - Outlining the object
40
contemporary theatre in the last three decades both through their productions as
directors, and through their publishing, translated into several languages. The
institutional environment in which both, Brook and Barba, have developed their
research work, has conferred a substantive profile to their output.
The international influence of Barba and Brook is more relevant in theatrical
practice than that exerted by voice coaches. Barbas attempts to systematise
methodologically his approach to training, is regarded as particularly revealing to the
central issue of this section. The positions of these two directors in relation to the
actors voice training and performance, which have been decisive to the use of voice
in contemporary experimental theatre, will be discussed in this section of the present
study in order to enlighten a pragmatic perspective in the matter.
Patrice Pavis is a crucial figure in the field of theatre studies. Among his
published work stands his Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis,
a popular reference book for drama scholars and practitioners. The examination of his
definition of the actors voice will contribute to enlighten our pragmatic in relation to
a semiotic approach, which can be considered dominant in theatre studies.
To this conceptual outlook related to theatre studies and production, we add a
psychoanalytic point of view. The contribution of Zizek and Miller based on a
Lacanian approach to voice as object, enlighten the status of voice as excess and rest
produced by the desiring body. Deleuze and Guattaris pragmatics reconsider
Austins theory of the speech act, stressing the role of speech as an instance of
subjectivation. All these considerations contribute to broaden, update and better
outline the current conceptualization of the voice in theatrical performance. The
political potency of the perspective of voice and speech brought by these authors is of
crucial interest to the present study.
Our definition of the actors vocality as object of study departs from theatrical
practice, with the consideration of the publishing of the above quoted voice coaches
and theatre directors. Far from the semiotic approach, dominant in theatre studies,
voice and speech eventually find in this study a rich conceptual ground in the work of
Zizek and Miller. However, it is in Deleuze and Guattaris pragmatics that we find
highly productive tools to examine the economy of the actors voice, which do not
41
disturb its fluidness. A pragmatic approach gives rise to new questions, also
enlightening the frailty of the notions produced until now by coaches, theatre scholars
and professionals in relation to the actors voice, as well as the political potential of
the unexplored territory of vocality in performance.
Voice and Speech in Vocal Training.

Johan Sundberg observes that it seems that we know exactly what we mean
by the word voice as long as we dont try to define it (Sundberg 1987 p.2). He points
to the ineffectiveness of the singers traditional terminology in which often similar
terms hold opposite meanings. This lack of conceptual definition promotes serious
misunderstandings in relation to crucial questions related to voice production, such as
support or projection. Therefore, Sundberg deliberately avoids the traditional
terminology in his work, defining voice as follows:
the sounds generated by the voice organ, including the
vibrating vocal folds, or to be more precise, by means of an airstream
from the lungs, modified first by the vibrating vocal folds, and then by
the rest of the larynx, and the pharynx, the mouth, and sometimes also
the nasal cavities. Thus voice becomes a synonym of voiced sound. The
voice timbre (the sound characteristic of the voice) is determined in part
by the way in which the voice organ is being used and in part by the
morphology of the voice organ (Sundberg 1987 p.3).
The different physiological structures activated when producing voice are

called by Sundberg the voice organ. It includes the breathing system, the vocal folds
and the vocal and nasal tracts. An actor uses the voice organ to produce voiced sound
and speech; a singer uses it as a musical instrument (Sundberg 1987 p.1).
A voice organ generates a great variety of voiced sounds, some of which are
speech sounds. When such sounds are arranged in adequate sequences, speech is
produced, which is defined by Sundberg as an acoustic code for interhuman
communication. In singing, he adds, there are both: speech sounds more or less
modified in tones or notes (Sundberg 1987 p.1).
The production of a given speech sound is determined by a number of factors,
which are significant to a personal voice timbre and pitch. One of them is the
pronunciation or speech habits that determine the specificities of this sound, varying
according to both geographical and sociological origins. Another factor that
42
characterises a specific speech sound is the personal feature of the voice organ, that
might present morphological and/or mechanical differences.
Kristin Linklater defines voice first as a human instrument, then as the human
actors instrument (Linklater 1976 p.1). This idea of the voice as an instrument
related to an actor/persona, is present in Linklaters work from the beginning of her
first book, when she quotes her personal teacher, Iris Warren, saying to a student: I
want to hear you, not your voice (Linklater 1976 p.3).
Linklater assigns an extra-material rank to the voice. To the persona
corresponds the voice as a physical organ, to the actor belongs the voice as
instrument. If in a day to day life the voice exposes the persona, the voice as
instrument might work as a screen to hide the persona behind it. The relation
actor/persona characterises a basic binarism in Linklaters approach, from whence
comes the problem of truth, central to her work, as well as to Berrys.
Linklater also approximates Berry when recalling environmental influence,
unconscious psycho-physical conditioning and aesthetic standardisation (Linklater
1976 p.4) as determinants to the vocal product. However, these factors are defined in
Linklater, not just as determinant for the voice, but as its locks.
Linklater proceeds in relation to speech: In the art of speaking, I take form to
be speech, and content to be intellect and emotion (Linklater 1976 p.171). Words,
she adds, are attached to ideas and detached from instinct. A pure, instinctive content,
must be shaped into speech, which in order to release the content satisfactorily,
should avoid the obstruction operated by the above quoted locks of the voice. The
conceptual binarism form/content might be infinitely multiplied in other
complementary
oppositions
in
Linklaters
work,
such
as
head/body,
nature/society, etc.
Cicely Berry starts by defining voice as the means by which, in every day
life, you communicate with other people, and [] how you present yourself(Berry
1993 p.7). Further, she develops this idea as follows:
the voice is the most intricate mixture of what you hear, how
you hear it, and how you unconsciously choose to use it in the light of
your personality and experience [ it] is conditioned by four factors:
Environment, Ear, Physical agility [and] Personality (Berry 1993 p.7).
43
The first factor, environment, circumscribes the social influence exerted on
an individual. The imitative process through which a child manages to fulfil her/his
needs, shaping the infant voice in resemblance of the adults, might be considered a
good example of environmental influence. Ear means for Berry perception of
sound (Berry 1993 p.7), a prerequisite and strong reference for voice production.
Physical agility refers to muscular awareness and response. As well as the ear, it is
strongly related to the individual will and pleasure and both have much to do with
self-confidence (Berry 1993 p.7). About personality, Berry says: It is in the light of
your own self that you interpret the last three conditions, by which you unconsciously
form your own voice (Berry 1993 p.8). Personality comes then to establish a
hierarchy in between these factors; Berry brings an idea of the voice as a social,
physical and psychological phenomena.
Sundberg starts his attempt to define the voice as an object of study,
recognising the slipperiness of the voice as a concept. He believes that a
terminological imprecision contributes to emphasise this intrinsic characteristic of the
concept. In order to confer accuracy to his definition, Sundberg applies not just the
terminology, but the discursiveness of acoustic physics, physiology, and anatomy,
patent in his descriptive and analytic language style, abundant in enumeration, which
stresses a functional model. However, this terminological purge does not seem
enough to eliminate the conceptual elusiveness. His work is a good example of how
far a discursive option operates in shaping a conceptual sphere.
Sundberg concludes that voice is a synonym of voiced sound, restricting his
formulation to the conceptual ground of the acoustic physics. The generous and
accurate use of specialised language makes possible a sharp dismemberment of
voice as an acoustic signal and speech as a communicational code. It removes from
Sundbergs formulation the notion of voice and speech as a complex physical,
psychological and social phenomena, stressing the idea of voice as an instrument to
communicate through speechs codes.
Sundberg maintains this attitude through his whole work, that will be further
regarded in this study, when approaching the questions of voice production. An actor
uses the voice to produce voiced sound and speech; a singer uses it as a musical
instrument[my italics], he declares. The notion of voice as an instrument is patent
here, even in the choice of the verb.
44
However, this notion is eventually disrupted when the question of how in his
view emotions modify the behaviour of this human oscillator that is voice. This is
approached, in Chapter 7 of The Science of the Singing Voice (Sundberg 1987), where
he shows that the instrumentation of voice can not be sustained when examining the
phenomena extensively with a will of accuracy.
Linklater exclusively defines voice as an instrument. She does not make
differences between actors and singers, which she includes in the same sphere. She
discerns between actor and persona. While Sundberg stresses the view of the voice as
instrument for acting or singing, Linklater expands this function to every day life.
To Linklater, the actors voice can act as a screen, behind which s/he might
hide, or as a pass through which the persona might come into view in performance.
This extra-material perception emphasises Linklaters instrumental approach to voice.
The psychological, the social, the physiologic and the anatomic act just as
conditioners to the vocal instrument. The rigorous binary conceptual approach is
characteristic of Linklaters work. Her strict conceptual formulation tends to simplify
the questions about the . She shares with Berry and Brook the idea of an inner truth
that must be revealed in acting.
However, it is Berry who brings the idea of voice as a socio-psychological
phenomena. Considering the psychological and the social as determinants of the
physiological and anatomic spheres, she operates a conceptual inversion in relation to
Sundbergs formulation. Her approach completely modifies the dominant view of
voice as instrument, which still remains occasionally present in the acknowledgement
of voice as an actors tool that should respond efficiently to her/his intentions.
The four factors enumerated in Berrys formulation can be considered as
determinants for voice production. Voice is defined here as a mixture of what and
how someone hears and how s/he produces sound. In this process, what is corporeal
in the vocal texture is as important as what conditions it externally. From this point of
view, a voice itself should result from the particular combination of these intrinsic and
extrinsic factors.
The crucial role of the unconscious, usually regarded by actors as related to an
incorporeal sphere, permeates all four factors in Berry. This determines a
conceptualization of voice as a psychological and social phenomenon. However,
when stating that the more responsive and efficient the voice is, the more accurate it
45
will be to your intentions (Berry 1993 p.7), Berry reproduces the binarism intentionsinternal-disembodied/voice-superficial-corporeal.
Even undeveloped, there are vestiges in Berrys formulations of a notion of
the subject, of the Other, of a libidinal economy in voice and speech production.
These notions, highly relevant to the purpose of the present study, will be further
regarded, through a psychoanalytic and a pragmatic perspective.
The discourse of science has been frequently shared by theatre practitioners and
teachers to give consistency to their proposals. Sundberg comes from the field of
music, which extensively incorporated the scientific discourse and technological
developments. This is patent in the consistency of his scientific justifications for his
discourse. Voice in theatre, probably because of its proximity to music and the lack of
specific knowledge produced, has been an area closely related to this kind of attitude.
The questions aroused by science and technology in relation to the reproduction of
voice will be further approached in Chapter 2 of the present study.
These three authors are representative of the main tendencies in contemporary
voice work. Sundbergs scientific approach proposes that training is an instance to
improve voice and speech delivery and to reproduce styles. For Linklater and Berry,
voice training establishes an hermeneutic process through which an immanent truth
might be revealed.
A Phenomenological Approach to Voice and Speech.

To talk about a phenomenological approach to performance we should firstly
consider the work of Jerzi Grotowski. From their particular perspectives, Barba and
Brook reformulate Grotowskis conceptual frame, which has been source to most of
the experimental approaches to theatrical performance. Grotowski recognised four
stages in his practice: theatre of spectacle, paratheatre or participative theatre, theatre
of sources/roots and art as vehicle. Grotowski defines theatre of spectacle as
representational. In the 1970s he abandoned this perspective, which constitutes his
first phase of production. The paratheatre focused on eliminating the split between
audience and actors. The theatre of sources searched for the origins of traditional
46
techniques. Both of them, paratheatre and theatre of sources are, in Grotowskis view,
transitional moments to the last link of the chain of the performing arts: art as vehicle.
(Grotowski 1993 pp.04-17).
This last moment does not represent for Grotowski a break in relation to the
theatre of sources, but a different orientation in his work. While in theatre as spectacle
the staging was focused on the spectator, on the art as vehicle, the staging focuses on
the actor her/himself, on her/his actions. Grotowski worked in this direction until his
death. His last work was developed far from the stage, but it became a point of
reference in contemporary theatrical performance and actors training.
Since his last production for the stage in the 1970s, Grotowski dedicated
himself exclusively and rigorously to actors training, avoiding the establishment of a
method by exposing his proposals in performance. We will recognise him through the
influence he exerted over Barba and Brook, who have been researching, publishing
and producing theatre until today (Grotowski 1993 pp.04-17).
Peter Brook4 opens his Foreword to Voice and the Actor, the first of Berrys
books, with the following statement: Exercises are very much in fashion in the
theatre: in fact, for some groups they have become a way of life. Brook sustains that
people through the world dance or sing for the joy of dancing or singing. Doing
neither physical nor vocal training, their bodies do whatever is expected of them.
Considering so, he inquires Are exercises then really necessary? Would it not be
enough to trust nature and act by instinct? (in Berry 1973 p.3).
Brook and Berry agree on this basic principle about training: an actor
needs precise exercise and clear understanding to liberate his hidden possibilities and
to learn the hard task of being true to the instinct of the moment. In Brooks view,
wrong uses of the voice are those that result from acquired habits, which obstruct
expression and feelings. The work to eliminate these barriers does not consist in how
to do but in how to permit. A technique will never be an efficient tool in itself to
Brook directed several productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company , between 1961 and
1970 and also has directed opera, cinema and musicals. Since then Brook has directed the Centre
International de Crations Thtrales in Paris. His publishing has exerted great influence
internationally (Delgado/Heritage 1996 pp.37-40).
47
eliminate these blockages. Voice work is, from this perspective, the opposite to
specialisation (in Berry 1973 p.3).
In The Empty Space, Brook refers to the actor as the least trained figure in the
field of arts (Brook 1972 p.38). He compares actors with musicians or painters, whose
work is, for long periods, accompanied by their masters. In other words, to develop
an acting career does not mean, most of the time, to develop artistically as an actor.
Brook sees an exception in the actor that is integrated into a company, which
frequently relies on explicit objectives and methodologies of work.
A variety of approaches related to different cultural traditions converge in
Brooks work in relation to the actors vocal performance and training; from Oidas
voice work, grounded in traditional oriental theatre (Oida and Marshall 1997), to
Berrys, related to Shakespeare. In order to eliminate the overloading of conventions
he detects in Western contemporary theatre, Brook searches for an invisible actor to
perform in an empty theatrical space. Voice and speech, beyond the barriers of
languages, become paths, mediums to reach the universal ground where the actors
inner life can be revealed. To reach this territory, Brook dives into a wide range of
cultural traditions.
Brook discriminates between two main spheres: nature and culture. In the
domains of the former, people sing and dance just for joy, instinctively, with no need
of training. Social habits, which obstruct expression and feelings, belong to the sphere
of culture. In his Foreword to Voice and the Actor Brook talks particularly about
Western culture and its classic techniques, focused in the development of skills, rather
than searching to open the path to the actors instinct. An actor should work to
remove the barriers consolidated by social habits and classic techniques, in order to
liberate her/his hidden possibilities.
Brook searches for a universal value, residing in the actors inner life, which
manifests itself when the actor is free of external habits. This idea is analogous to that
of theatre as an empty space, free of futile conventions. In this context, the
fundamental principle for voice work is not to prepare the actor in how to do (a task),
but how to permit her/his inner life to emerge. Brook notices that such an approach
to voice and speech delivery becomes the opposite to technique, which intends to
improve emission and to shape and reproduce styles.
48
In order to reach a common universal ground in acting, Brook proposes to
explore cultural traditions. An art in contact with its sources should maintain its
external form immutably. Repetition is a path to cultural sources and so, to a
universal truth. Brook describes a similar situation in relation to the word:
A word is not born as a word, it rather is a final product which
starts as impulse, stimulated by the attitude and behaviour ruled by the
need for expression. This process is accomplished in the interior of the
author and it is repeated inside the actor () the word is a part, small
and visible of a immense invisible formation (Brook 1972 p.14).
Brook places the theatrical form and the spoken word in between cultural
sources and actual society. Brook aligns with Grotowski in the idea that an actor
should train through repetition in the direction of the sources. Grotowski remained
dedicated to work in this direction. However, in Brooks view, theatre is effective
only while it is in contact with the society that produces it. In order to produce an
effective theatre which may be processed by a given society, the director operates as a
link between this rooted actor and the audiences. Theatre is always an autodestructive art and it is written in the water (Brook 1972 p.18).
To Brook the world of appearance is a crust hiding a boiling matter. When this
matter is expressed through the crust, we face what some theatres call magic, others
science and Brook calls direct communication. (Brook 1972 p.70-1). The directors
challenge in contemporary theatrical production is to maintain the connection
between roots and contemporary society and between this inner energy and its
expression. This Platonic, highly binary idea of theatre has been the target of the latest
tendencies in criticism, since post-structuralism.
Paralelling physical work, the voice was gradually used as an spatial entity. This
approach relates to what Eugenio Barba defines as vocal action considering the voice
as an invisible extension of the body, which, like its physical counterpart, has spatial
dimension (Barba in Watson 1993 p.67). This physical idea of voice is further
stressed by Barba, when he defines the body as the visible part of the voice(Barba
1991 p. 50) [my translation from Portuguese], dissolving the idea of voice and body
as differentiated spheres, recurrent in theatre practice.
However, the training process proposed by Barba with his company, the Odn
Teatret, established a pattern of separated voice and physical training, prevalent until
49
the present day. Barba believes it is necessary to explore physical and vocal rhythms
independently to ensure that neither dominates the other. Despite this partition, the
group investigation of the voice has evolved in much the same way as its physical
work (Watson 1993 p. 41).
Odns work is founded on training, which searches for new physical and vocal
demands in performance. They conceptualise training as a means of exploring the
acting process and the evolution of Barbas ideas about training. This approach to
training is reflected in their sessions, which have varied according to this evolution
(Watson 1993 p.41).
Watson identifies two moments in the evolution of Odn: the early training, a
period of skill orientated training, and the late period, when training becomes a
research tool. Despite the distance established between Barbas definition of training
and its classic denotation, as work towards the embodiment of a technique, the Odns
early training focused on the acquisition of skills. The Odn approach to training has
always been auto-didactic. Since its beginnings, each performer has shifted
alternatively from leading to following the specific work proposed. It determined a
particularly active group attitude through the process: The teaching established a
reflexivity among the actors which has played an important part in the development of
the Odns training over the years (Watson 1993 p. 46). However, after the first
month of the Odns voice training programme, Barba assumed the teaching role
personally.
In the case of voice training, there was an interest in incorporating technical
resources, with disregard to the classic techniques, focused in sound projection, rib
reserve, diaphragm control, breathing, enunciation, and speech delivery (Watson:
1993 p.63). Barba was then investigating the proposals of Meyerhold, Stanislavski,
Copeau and some Oriental theatrical traditions, particularly Kathakali and Beijing
opera. However, the most important of these influences was Grotowskis with his
resonator exercises and the paralinguistic potential of the voice (Watson 1993 p.
63).
This period of skill orientated training shifted later into using training as a
research tool. The performers were then concerned with testing and exploring their
own individual potential and limitations, a pattern that constitutes a ground for
50
Odns training until today. In this second moment, while continuing the vocal
practice with the resonators, the group developed what Barba called vocal scores5
(Watson 1993 p. 64).
After two years of work in this direction, and regarding the multicultural profile
of the group, language became a main concern. The focus was on the sonorous and
tonal quality of speech that Barba identified as its paralinguistic elements. The
rejection of linguistic logic and meaning induced some members of the company to
work with invented languages (Watson 1993 pp. 66-7). In a clear attempt to achieve a
physical vocal response, Barba proposed vocal actions6, an option mirrored in
Odns physical training (Barba 1994 pp.231-2).
This processual approach to training provides Odn with dramaturgical material,
operating also as a mean of cohesion within the group, to which physical and mental
discipline is a basic value. However, the daily work, which prepares actors for
performance, is not directed only to expression. It also intends to contact with the preexpressive and the pre-cultural, which are considered by Barba a source of presence
(Watson 1993 p. 69).
Barba embodies the concept of voice, regarding it not as an instrument, but as an
invisible limb. He also introduces the idea of voice as surplus, locating it not as
inhabiting voice, but in the process through which voice exceeds its organic limits to
reach another body. In Barbas definition, it might be said that voice is the body plus
its excess. Significantly, approaching voice and body training separately, he stresses
the historical split between them. Considering voice as a body production, body and
voice can be regarded as sharing the same corporal field and not as two different
areas. Consequently, body and voice training processes are both corporal and should
evolve at the same pace and in a similar direction. However, in the case of Barbas
5
Vocal scores are vocal sequences of paralinguistic elements (vocables rather than words),
inspired in a wide range of cultural sources. They evolved in the work of some Odns actors to the
implementation of a paralanguage or invented language.
6
Vocal actions might be seen as an attempt to stress this oral area that does not tune
immediately to a linguistic system. Through environmental stimuli the actor is expected to react with
an expressive result. This is an active way to explore the space and the environment which, in Barbas
view, works mainly moulding habits.
51
approach to voice training, the focus was not in dissociating voice and body, but in
approaching discursive/narrative from a paralinguistic area.
The fact that Barba became a voice coach in a company known as
autodidactic, as is the Odn, might also be revealing. While every actor had something
to teach to the group in terms of body or acting skills, it seems that their possibilities
were more limited in relation to the vocal sphere. Barbas rejection of linguistic logic,
probably motivated by the many nationalities of the Odns actors, led the group to a
paralinguistic logic. In this transition from the discursive to the prosodic, even with
the privileging of the effect of signification derived from intonation instead of the
more controlled meaning produced by the discursive, the actor remains in the domain
of linguistic logic. Barbas work on vocal actions stresses the spatial dimension of the
voice, characterising it simultaneously as an invisible psychological force (rather than
a physical-invisible limb), and at this point he comes closer to Berry.
As a research tool, Odns training might be characterized as an exploratory
process of the performers possibilities and limits, systematically registered towards a
methodology for the actors preparation. To explore the pre-expressive resists the
actors shaping into traditional Western styles of vocal production and speech
delivery. It also provides material for Odns dramaturgical work. The pre-expressive
prepares actors for the creative work, putting the accent on the process, instead of the
result, revealing a more performative attitude.
The pre-expressive does not exist as autonomous matter; it is one of the
organisational levels in the actors preparation. When an actor is working with her/his
actions with no regard to the significance that will be produced later in relation to the
audience, s/he is working in the pre-expressive (Barba 1994 pp.150-4). This material
might integrate a spectacle or not. At this stage, training and rehearsal might also be
identical. To work in the pre-expressive is to work on the actors presence, according
to the principle that before acting, an actor should be.
Barba suggests a paradigm, dividing potential bodily activity into three types: 1)
daily techniques, which are concerned primarily with communication of content; 2)
virtuosic techniques, such as those displayed by acrobats, which seek amazement and
transformation of the body; and 3) extra-daily techniques, which seek not to
52
transform but to in-form the body, to place it in a position where it is alive and
present without representing anything (Barba and Savarese 1991 p.10).
Barba does not refer specifically to voice and speech production. However,
regarding the parallelism between body and voice training, this paradigm might be
extended to consider the actors vocality. At the first level, appears the
communicational objective, associated with the binary idea of form and content. At
the third level, the approach to presence involves the search for a balance between
oppositional energies, another binary notion. However, there is not a clear
correspondence between what is defined as a second level in corporal training with a
similar vocal training. There is no consideration of Western nor Eastern vocal
techniques and the expertise in voice and speech delivery is related to some individual
approaches such as Iben Nagels of Roberta Carrieri.
To Barba, the pre-expressive level underlies all performance, providing a
transcultural physiology independent of traditional culture and involving such
matters as balance, opposition and energy. The objective of theatre anthropology is
the transcultural study of this physiology, seeking the general physical principles of
pre-expressivity (Carlson 1996 p.19).
Brooks and Barbas works ascribe to an immanentist aesthetic of presence,
which seeks to transcend history and escape temporality and cultural determination.
The notion of presence implies the idea of an aesthetic of absence, which accepts
contingency and the impingement of the quotidian upon art (Henry Sayre in Carlson
1996 p.134). This kind of binary conception tends to pay more attention to the
polarities in which voice is supposed to establish a dialectic tension, such as headvoice-absence/presence-body-emotion, instead of focusing on the problematic of
voice in a given situation of performance.
The assumptions claimed by a phenomenological, non-semiotic approach to
theatre, such as a sense of plenitude and freedom from external values, its emphasis in
presence and physical sensation, and its rejection of theatricality (narrative,
discursive, mimetic quality of traditional theatre), became more problematic with the
arrival of post-structuralist theory (Carlson 1996 p.134).
Carlson quotes Pontbriands article The Eye Finds no Fixed Point to Rest, in
which she indicates that this pure presence relates to the pattern of modern
53
presence. It does not differ from a classical presence, as it seeks to actualise in the
present time, hidden and universal truths that in fact lie outside of time and space.
Despite the more phenomenological cast of the modern attitude, it shares with the
classical this assumption of a primary, authenticating truth elsewhere and thus, it is
necessarily involved with representing rather than presenting, challenging
contemporary theatres performative claims about the actors performing body and its
emphasis on the process, rather than on the results.
Brook and Barba share an immanentist approach to the actor and her/his voices
presence. It is patent in the ideas about nature and the invisible actor in Brook, and
the proposal of vocal actions and the notion of the pre-expressive/pre-cultural in
Barba, to give a few examples. Barba has given a place to training as the systematic
acquisition of skills, an approach close to a classic idea of technique. However,
Brooks approach to training as an hermeneutic procedure to unveil this
immanent/natural presence, coincides basically with a second moment in the history
of Odns training, focused in the actors presence. In diverse degrees, Berry and
Linklater share Brooks and Barbas discourse, as we will see on Chapter 3.
Brooks ideal of a theatre that transcends cultures towards a universal human
condition, beyond any division of race or class is qualified by Pavis as transcultural.
Barba means to achieve universality through the pre-expressive, which appeals to a
common human corporeal ground before it is shaped into specific cultural traditions.
Pavis refers to this approach as pre-cultural (Pavis 1992 p.20).
Barba focuses upon the socio-cultural and physiological behaviour of the
performer across diverse cultures (Barba and Savarese 1991 p.8). He places the
foundations of performance not in the situation of its enactment (its cultural frame
or marking), but in a basic level of organisation in the performers body, at the preexpressive level, an operation that causes the audience to recognise behaviour as
performance. According to Barba, the spectators respond to performance not because
of their cultural references, but because of a set of pre-cultural universal
physiological responses to such stimuli as balance and directed tensions (Carlson
1996 p.19).
54
Contemporary theatrical approaches have been the target of criticism because
of their individualism and their denial of social and historical conditions in relation to
theatre practice and thought. Their assumptions of a universal truth or presence
associate them with phenomenological thought. However, the prospect of a libidinal
economy of voice and speech delivery might be rudimentarily implicit in them.
A Semiotic Approach to Voice and Speech.

In his Dictionary of the Theatre:Terms, Concepts, and Analysis, Pavis recalls the
capital role of the actors voice. However, he recognises that the knowledge produced
about actors vocality is highly restricted still today. Pavis also admit that a wide
variety of problems arises when approaching voice and speech delivery conceptually;
however, he does not specify them (Pavis 1984 pp.543-4).
Pavis proposes two main criteria to frame the actors voice: the phonic and the
prosodic. The prosodic is understood as the sphere in which the vocal material is
shaped. Rhythms, accents, speed, articulation, define a manner for what is said. The
phonic relates to the voiced sound itself, which is characterised by the parameters of
sound (pitch, intensity and timbre). Both areas relate to the linguistics of intonation or
prosody, which produces effects of significance.
Barthes, quoted here by Pavis, focuses his assertion in a different place, at the
moment when the voice has been produced, but preceding its expressioncommunication:
The voice texture (BARTHES 1973a), a term that illustrates
the materiality of the vocal product, is a message which precedes its
expression - communication [] It has nothing to do with intentionallity
or expressiveness yet, it is an erotic mixture of timbre and language
and [] can be the subject of [] the art of self-control of ones own
body (Pavis 1980 p.543). [my translation from the Spanish]
In Barthes view, the voice as a corporeal materiality, generates significance from

the moment it is produced. It configures not a two way phenomena, but a process of
meaning production in two simultaneous strata. In placing the voice besides its
expressive and communicative functions and qualifying voices mixture of timbre
55
and language as erotic, Barthes notion approximates to the psychoanalytic idea of
voice as libidinal rest and excess, which will be further regarded.
Quoting Bernard, Pavis defines the voice as a territory in between two opposed
spheres: the non-codificable organic-corporal universe and the textual-discursive
system of codified signs. Bernard determines this in between as confluence,
mediation, interval, permanent oscillation. From this point of view, voice is a site
in which occurs a double movement in tension: one, between body and language,
and another, intending to exceed the organic limits in search for the other. Pavis
situates the voice itself in a place of dialectic tension between body and text, acting
and structure of textual signs, and he conclude that:
the actor is, thanks to her/his voice, pure physical presence and
simultaneously, bearer of a linguistic sign system. Within the actor take
place at the same time, an incarnation of the verb and a bodys tuning [to
a linguistic codified system] (Pavis 1980 pp.543-4) [my translation from
the Spanish]
Pavis combines the idea of voice as a material-corporeal production, with the idea
of voice as a medium, stressing the simultaneous (non-dialectic) operation of both
spheres: body and language. He suggests that voice is a multiple phenomena, in which
the body exceeds its organic limits to the non corporeal sphere of language while
simultaneously, language is embodied. From this point of view, voice existence seems
to depend on the need for communication through language/significance, in
opposition to the principle there is not language without voice in Miller, to which
we will return.
Pavis assertions confirm the conditions described in the introduction of the
present study in relation to the actors voice. To face an issue which is as important as
it is unknown, such as the voice in performance, might motivate in the actors the
previously defined vocal anxiety, but Pavis does not specify the causes for this
situation.
The prosodic and the phonic are material aspects of voice, which act in a
paralinguistic sphere. However, the problematic of language is introduced by Pavis
immediately. Language is here approached as a communicational code of significance
and information, a position which is not totally unveiled nor questioned in the light of
56
other views of the problem. Voices excess is located in Pavis, as in Barba, in the
vocal surpassing of the organic to reach another body, which is understood here as a
physiological-organic entity. The lack of a conceptual discussion about the positions
here considered with regard to the body and language, are constants in the approaches
to voice that are produced by theatre theorists and practitioners. The intention of the
above quoted voice professionals in order to install a reflection and a discourse about
theatre in the sphere of the practice is explicit and beyond question. However, the
scant link of these discourses with referents from other areas of knowledge, results in
their indefinite theoretical frame, which impedes a further development of these
proposals.
Language and the body are crucial conceptual spheres in the definition of actors
vocality as object of study. These are also a central question to both psychoanalytic
theory and philosophy, which approach them in relation to the individual Subject.
This study does not propose an exhaustive a development of these questions.
However, we consider unavoidable a clear placement of our object in relation to them.
A brief exposition of the contribution of some authors in these matters might help to
frame voice and speech on stage as objects of the present research.
Voice in Psychoanalytic Theory.

Jacques-Alain Miller focus on the arguments used by Lacan to confer on the
voice a status of object (Miller 1997 p.09). He detects in Lacan an outline of a
phenomenology of the word. The single evidence that it is not possible to talk without
voice, inscribes in the register of the vocal all that constitutes a residue, a rest of the
subtraction of signification to the significant. In other words, the voice as rest is
what remains of the signifier which does not participate in the effect of signification.
To Zizek, the problem created by this vocal residue has always been: how to
impede the voice from a slide into its self-consumerism that feminizes the masculine
world of the seriously important?7 There have been constant attempts to restrict it, to
7
Here Zizek refers to LOpra ou le Cri de lAnge, 1986; and La Voix du Diable. La
Jouissance Lyruqye Sacre, 1991; both published by A.M. Mtaili, Pars.
57
regulate it, to subordinate it to the articulated word. However, it has not been possible
to do without it, because an amount of voice is vital to the exercise of power (Zizek
1997 p.49).8
Zizek does not point to a simple opposition between the articulated discourse,
repressive, and the transgressive voice, that consumes itself. He agrees with Miller
about the idea of an economy of the voice as rest that survives the eclipse of
signification. To Zizek, Hitler well illustrates this case. What captivated people was
Hitler as an agent of pure enunciation, bare of signification: his unconditional will
patent in that hypnotising voice. Whatever Hitler said, he said because he certainly
wanted to. In Zizeks opinion, here resides the libidinal support of fascism, and also
of a rock star (Zizek 1997 p.50).
Psychoanalytic theory, declares Zizek, enlightens this enigmatic status of the
voice: it is paternal. But this enigma does not relate to the father who supports the
symbolic authority, as agent of a discourse that intends to discipline the ardent excess
of the voice. It relates to another father which lays behind him, the primitive father, an
agent of the pre-symbolic power, not repressed by the power of castration. The role of
this phantasmatic agent is to fulfil the vacuity of its unthinkable origins.
The notion of woman, adds a departure point of an unrestrained plenitude, the
primary repression of which constitutes the symbolic order. The woman in Lacan is
one of the names of the father. To Zizek, two exemplary occurrences of this eclipse of
signification are the apogee of the (feminine) aria in the opera, and the mystic
experience (Zizek 1997 p.52).
Voice as Rest: The Mystic Experience:

According to the Old Testament, a colossal noise was heard when Moses
received the Tables of the Law. This noise has been associated with the traumatic
moment of the institution of a law, the origin of which is unthinkable. The
performativity of law relies on the fact that we accept it as given, in perpetuity, since
Zizek exemplifies this situation with the function of patriotic military chants in the
constitution of a totalitarian estate, or the hypnotic marching chants of the American marines, with
their cretinysing rhythm plus sadistic and senseless content.
58
that moment. In the domain of law, its unthinkable origins can only be represented in
the form of a vacuity: a constitutive absence. The phantasmatic narration of its origins
come precisely to fulfil this vacuity (Zizek 1997 p.53).
The (written) law requests then a sonorous supplement. In its absence, the vacuity
installed in the heart of the juridical construct would become perceptible, turning the
law ineffective. In this sense, the voice comes to (re) link again the (written) law as a
ghost, with the synchronic/symbolic structure: performing its unthinkable origins,
the voice fulfils (and simultaneously, takes the place of) its constitutive absence
(Zizek 1997 p.55).
The extraordinary noise that precedes the creation of the symbolic universe,
echoes the big-bangs noise. It interrupts the oscillation between the word that
disciplines and the self enjoyment in which the voice consumes itself, returning to the
foundational gesture of the word. The voice, equivalent to the yell of the death
primitive/pre-symbolic father, is not different to the voice that consumes itself in
womans opera singing. Both are actually the same voice, the same object, under
different modalities: the rest and the excess, aligning with the enjoyment, against the
logos (Zizek 1997 p.56).
In arithmetic, a rest is the residual element of a number that can not be exactly
divided into a smaller one. In psychoanalytic theory, it is what can not be divided
(structured, articulated, told) through a symbolic web of the enjoyment substance.
The sound of the shofar9 recalls that rest, the remainder-reminder of the death father
of pleasure: the rest and memory of the foundational gesture of the law (Zizek 1997
p.56). The shofar does not refer to the exterior relation of the law with its
transgression. It echoes the internal relation of the law with the trauma caused by its
own foundational gesture. The shofars resonance functions as a phantasmatic screen,
indexing the mystery of the impossible origin of the law (Zizek 1997 p.55). The
shofar works as a supplement to the (written) law, which is valid only through its
sonorous (voice) performative dimension. Actually, it is the voice which turns the law
operative. Without the vocal support, the law would become an ineffective written
horn played during the celebration of Jewish yonkipur.
59
text, which will not obligate anybody to do anything. Through the voice of the
shofar, the law is subjectivised, becoming an effective agent that coerce.
Voice as Excess: The Singers Voice.
To Zizek, music establishes itself in an intersection between nature and culture,

taking us over as being in the Real, in a much more direct manner than words. This is
why music has been used as the most potent tool in education and discipline. Since
voice and music get lost in the circle of pleasure, they are capable of undermining the
foundations not just of the Estate, but of social order itself. The attempt to dominate
and regulate this excess goes from ancient imperial China to contemporary capitalists
and socialists countries (Zizek 1997 p.47).
The sexual status of this voice of self-enjoyment is remarkable: it configures a
place where opposites converge. On one hand, we have the excess, the surplus of
pleasure, which supports this voice as being distinctive of femininity. It is the
seductive voice par excellence, as in that of the soprano coloratura, and indicates the
moment in which woman becomes divine (the diva) (Zizek 1997 p.49).
On the other hand, we have the sexless angel voice, personified in the figure of
the castrato. He reaches the sublime category of the sexless object voice through a
radical renunciation, a literal cut in his body, a mutilation. The case of the castrato,
recalls Zizek, is exemplary to the Lacanian formula of the fetish object as denial of
castration. The feminine counterpart of this mutilation is the universally extended
legend about the physical distress and renunciations faced by the diva, in order to
attain her divine voice (Zizek 1997 p.49). The relation of the logos with the selfconsuming feminine voice is the relationship of the established symbolic order with
its transgression: the opera singers voice is in excess in relation to the law (Zizek
1997 p.56).
Miller notices that the Lacanian concept of voice has nothing to do with speech
delivery, or the prosodic in Pavis (similar to the linguistics of intonation in Zizek),
which focuses on producing effects of significance. The voice in Lacan is not even
related to any organ of the senses, or any kind of sensorial registers. The voice is a
60
dimension of every significant chain. A significant chain -sonorous, written, visual,
etc.- which brings with itself a subjective attribution: it ascribes a place to the subject
(Miller 1997 p.16).
This subjective attribution it is not univocal; it is, regularly, distributive, as a
voice is capable to be assigned to many subjective places. In this sense, every
discourse is indirect, as the subject moves backwards, to retake its position in relation
to what s/he says. The subject of the significant is not a constituent, it is constituted
by the significant chain. If in the Lacanian view every significant chain has different
voices, the voice might be understood here as equivalent to the enunciation (Miller
1997 p.18).
Miller also explores the paradoxes related to the perception of the word, in which
the subject acts as patient, tolerating its effects. Every word of the Other provokes in
us a profound suggestion. Somebody might listen to the word of the Other, but it does
not mean that this word will be obeyed. This situation causes a distrust in relation to
the Others word. The subject gets protective in relation to the word of the Other
(Miller 1997 p.16).
In order to watch ourselves we need the mediation of the mirror. However, to
listen to our voice is part of the most intimate subjectivity. The subject always listen
to her/his own voice and words reflectively. This operation requires a division of the
subject, similar to that operated by an actor listening to her/his voice performing a
role. Through her/his voice delivery the actor becomes the role. Voice delivery
becomes an agency of territorialization. Thus, we move from a semiotic regime of
signs, to a pragmatic ground, ruled by actions and passions considered in a given
situation (Miller 1997 p.11).
Following Millers line of thought, it might be asked again: where is my voice
when I speak? The plane of the voice is always present since my position should be
established in relation to a significant chain, which is maintained always in relation to
the unspeakable object. There is something in the voice that escapes the instrumental
effect. The voice itself emerges every time in which the significant is broken, to reach
that object in the horror. There is voice in the fact that the significant turns around the
unspeakable object. Hence, we do not use the voice; it inhabits the language. For the
61
voice to emerge it is only necessary to speak; then the menace appears, since what
might emerge is not what is allowed to be said (Miller 1997 p.20).
Pragmatics: a Performative Approach to Voice and Speech.

The case of voice is not ignored in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari,
but it is not developed to any great extent. However, they do suggest original ways of
approaching the voice as object, which converge in some points with the Lacanian
notion. Through a non-binary epistemological frame and a pragmatic methodology,
Deleuze and Guattari formulate a cartographic approach to the subject, to the body, to
desire and language. Their approach to these questions is physical and social, rather
than psychological, configuring a performative approach to the voice, detached of a
semiotic model.
Deleuze and Guattari avoid talking about models, they rather talk about ways.
They do not ask what is voice?, but in what cases, where, when and how do voice
and speech function?, focusing the object in its contingency. They refer to the voice
in relation to music:
Music is the deterritorialization of the voice, which becomes
less and less tied to language, just as painting is a deterritorialization of
the face. The voice is far ahead of the face, very far ahead it seems to
have a greater power of deterritorialization (Deleuze and Guattari 1996
pp.302-3).
Here Deleuze and Guattari point to a vocal place, besides language also
perceived by Lacan. This comparison between voice and face relates to Millers
assertion about the intimacy of voice. Their pragmatic and performative view of
language, grounded in Austins theory, will be further examined in Chapter 2.
They quote Dominique Fernandez, who declares that in vocal music the
machinery of the voice, in other words, its way of production, necessarily implies the
abolition of the overall machine; the molar formation assigning voices to the man or
woman. Being a man or a woman no longer exists in music, just real becomings
(Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.307).
62
Here it becomes apparent that this particular place for voice is the place of
sexuality, in which the instituted binarism man/woman vanishes. Deleuze and
Guattari converge again in this point with the Lacanian view of voice. Their
formulation suggests that voice actualises an erotic production, highly mobile among
an infinite variation of sexual roles.
Voices may be re-territorialized in the distribution of the two sexes, as this
dualist system of the sexes reappears on the level of the voice. However, the
continuous sound flow still passes between them. The molar binary distribution
man/woman serves then as foundation, as coordinates, for new molecular flows
The molar physiological conception of the body, highly hierarchic and punctual,
operates as reference in the process of a body becoming molecular. Man is a major
entity, molar by excellence. A process of becoming, which as a process of
deterritorialization can only happen in relation to minor entities, such as woman or
child.
The second threshold of deterritorialization at which the voice may operate is
no longer that of a properly vocal becoming-woman or becoming-child, but that of a
becoming molecular. Becoming-woman or child means already becoming-molecular
Voice is far ahead of the face in its power of becoming, of multiplying the
subject. It makes possible diverse processes of subjectivation and individuation,
encouraging machinic assemblages of desire. There is a new conceptual convergence
here with Zizek, above quoted, who stated that voice moves in the circle of pleasure.
In relation to this, he adds that voice is capable of undermining the foundations not
just of the Estate, but of the social order itself.
Deleuze and Guattari declare that there is no deterritorialization without a
particular reterritorialization. It prompts us to rethink the abiding correlation between
the molar and the molecular: no flow, no becoming-molecular escapes from a molar
formation without molar components accompanying it, forming passages or
perceptible landmarks for the imperceptible processes.
In Deleuze and Guattaris formulation, the individual subject becomes a
heterogeneous aggregate of parts, molecules, that function as components of the supra
63
individual, social and natural machines. They speak of machines to suggest that the
unconscious is less a theatre than a factory; it does not represent, it produces meaning.
Deleuze and Guattaris theory of subject differs from classic psychoanalytic
theory not just in their approach to the unconscious, but also in their understanding of
the body, an overlooked question in the fields of humanities, as Gumbrecht recalls:
For the distinction between the human and the non-human,
it used to be crucial that the concept of the human excluded (or even
actively avoided) any reference to the human body. This explains the
strong convergence among otherwise diverging contemporary theory
positions toward a reintegration of the body into our models of human
self-reference - and it also explains the difficulty (if not the
impossibility) of achieving this goal on the basis of the conceptual
repertoires inherited from the tradition of the humanities (Gumbrecht
1994 p.391).
Deleuze and Guattaris approach to the body inscribes itself in the Spinozist
notion. No matter how small, a body always consists of an infinite number of
particles. A body is not a form nor an organism, but 'a complex relation between
differential speeds, between a slowing and an acceleration of particles', a relation that
varies between bodies and within each body. It is the power of affecting and being
affected together with its relations of rest and movement which defines a body in its
individuality. The affective powers of a singular body may be limited of extensive10
(Spinoza in Bogue: 1989 p.133).
A humans affective powers are so numerous that it is only through an extended
experimentation that we can come to know what a human body is capable of. A body
and its milieu, the particles that affect it and those that it affects, are inseparable,
interpenetrating, and always subsumable within larger bodies of particles, defined by
different affects and relations of movement (Bogue 1989 p.133).
Nature, when viewed form this Spinozist perspective, is made up solely of
differential rhythms and affective intensities. The coordinates of any body are
determined by what Deleuze terms the 'longitude' of its relations of rest and
movement 'between non-formed elements' and the 'latitude' of the intensive states of
10
A tick, for example, is defined by three affects: 'the first towards light (climbing to the top
of a branch); the second, olfactory (letting itself fall on a mammal passing under the branch); the third,
caloric (seeking the warmest region without hair)' (Spinoza in Bogue 1989 p.133).
64
anonymous forces: the force of existence, the power of being affected (Spinoza in
Bogue 1989 p.133-4).
'The totality of longitudes and latitudes constitutes Nature, the plane of
immanence or consistency, always variable, ceaselessly modified, composed,
recomposed, by individuals and collectivities'. A body made up only of particles and
affects is literally a body without organs, in the Artaudian sense. Nature, similarly,
as the sum total of particles and affects, may be described as the great Body without
Organs (Bogue 1989 p.134).
The Artaudian notion of a body without organs has been mostly regarded as a
metaphor. However, it might offer the opportunity to approach the voice in a very
different manner than that implemented in theatrical practice. As we saw above, the
body is, until this moment, approached in two main ways in voice work. It is
explicitly considered a molar, physiological entity. Its hierarchic organic structure is
taken as objective, over which acts the influence of the psycho-social sphere as
determinant of its biological organisation.
In theatrical practice, the body is also understood as a molar entity, divided and
hierarchically organised according with its use on stage. Pavis outlines the two poles
among the several positions through which the body might be approached in theatrical
practice. In the first case, the body is a support for theatrical creation, which focuses
in the text, in the represented fiction. Here the body is a mediator in the theatrical
ceremony, subordinated to a psychological, intellectual and moral sense. In Pavis
own words, the gestural repertoire of this body is illustrative and redundant of the
word (Pavis 1980 pp.110-2).
At the other pole of theatrical practice, Pavis recalls the body as material which
does not express an idea or psychology, but which refers to itself. This is the
predominant tendency in contemporary theatre, particularly in the experimental. The
duality of the idea and the expression is substituted here by the monism of the
corporeal production. The gestures here, states Pavis, are creative and original, and he
quotes Grotowski to conclude: the actor should not use his organism to illustrate a
movement of the soul; s/he must fulfil this movement within her/his organism.(Pavis
1980 pp.110-2).
65
Pavis aligns with Grotowskis position. However, the duality content/expression
subsists in Grotowskis concept of the body as an organism, in which it seems
possible to stage instead of illustrate the movements of the soul. This oscillation
between polarities might be overcome through Deleuze and Guattaris formulation of
the plane of consistency, which vanishing the split form/content becomes particularly
interesting in approaching voice and speech as objects of study.
This Spinozist schema of longitude and latitude, of differential speeds between
non-formed elements and intensive affects of anonymous forces, is used by Deleuze
and Guattari to describe planes of consistency and their characteristic mode of
individuation. They speak about both: the plane of consistency of nature and specific
planes of consistency constructed by abstract machines, which induce a cofunctioning of certain particles. This last is the case of the arts.
A plane of consistency is crisscrossed by lines of continuous variation, which
resemble series of singular points. These are abstract lines of virtual possibilities,
actualized in various machinic arrangements. Each machinic arrangement is a
collection of heterogeneous terms held together in a topological relation of 'proximity'
or 'vicinity'. It is 'the abstract line that traverses [the terms] and makes them function
together' (Deleuze Bogue 1989 p.153).
Within the concept of the plane of consistency in Deleuze and Guattari, it is
possible to speak of modes of individuation different from the identitary/biographic
modes. The rhizome, a key concept in Deleuze and Guattari, does not oppose the
binary mode, dominant in Western thought: it also includes the binary. Avoiding
oppositions such as binary-rhizomatic, map-tracing, etc., they define the rhizomatic
thought as anti-binarism and anti-genealogy.
Corporeal and incorporeal transformation take place in the plane of consistency of
the voice through the performance of language, establishing fluxes of territorialization
and deterritorialization, processes of subjectivation and individuation. We will
examine such questions aroused in relation to language in Chapter 2 of the present
study, when regarding the problematic of representation in voice and speech.
66
At the moment, we just want to note that Deleuze and Guattari move from the
idea of form and content to the notion of the plane of consistency. They also state that
machinic assemblages result from the possibilities of affects within a body, of the
performance of passion and act. Their approach to language is not representational,
but performative. These positions among many others, outline a movement away from
semiotics and towards performance. In this frame it could be maintained, in parallel to
what Deleuze and Guattari state about theatre (Deleuze and Guattari 1989 p.263), that
voice and speech do not imitate, reproduce or represent the world; they form rhizome
with the world.
At the beginning of this Chapter, we exposed a hypothesis about the role of
rhetoric and technologies in relation to human and actors vocality. Rhetoric has been
framed as a tool of social domination through speech, which contributed to
consolidate a rational pattern of thought in Western society. In the second section of
the present Chapter, we noticed that the contemporary discourse of theatrical practice
lacked not only socio-historical contextualisation. But also required a further
conceptual approach to the subject, the body and language, to be framed as an object
of study with high political potential.
The most relevant contribution of psychoanalysis and pragmatics to the present
study is their non-instrumental approach to voice and a performative framing for
speech. Voice is not perceived as an instrument; it inhabits language. Deleuze and
Guattari contribute also with an approach to the body that reinforces this noninstrumental and therefore performative notion of voice and speech.
Voice constitutes a place of libidinal flow, which has been the target of persistent
strategies of control and discipline in the field of the arts, apparent at several moments
in the history of music. This perception of voice and spoken word re-enlighten the
status of the oral anxiety that we detected at the beginning of this work. At the same
time, it allows us to define voice not as a communicative mean, but as a sphere of
subjectivation.
The instrumental framing is present in voice work, theatre studies and practice.
Brook and Barba oppose themselves to the semiotic, in their phenomenological
approach. They share a binary epistemological frame and a search for a universal
67
ground to acting. Their positions basically resist a semiotic ego-based view. In
Brooks ontological approach, training is placed as an hermeneutic process. Through
it the actor might learn how to allow her/his universal inner truth to be revealed in
acting. Barba seeks to go beyond cultures to reach a transcultural physiology. In the
context of his desired scientific approach to acting, training becomes a research tool
to place acting in a pre-expressive ground. Training and rehearsal confound in
Barbas proposal at some level. Barba conceptually frames the concept of voice
within the field of the actors body and introduces the idea of voice as a surplus.
However, he frames voice excess in the same way as Pavis: between the bodies, when
participating in a communicational act.
In voice work, scientific and phenomenological approaches are manifest in
diverse degrees. It should be noticed that it is directors who conceptualise training;
coaches just present sets of vocal exercises and lines of reading of scripts. However, it
is possible to infer a conceptual approach supporting these works. Sundbergs
scientific approach proposes that training as an instance in which to improve voice
and speech delivery and to reproduce styles. For Linklater and Berry, voice training
establishes a hermeneutic process through which an immanent truth might be revealed
through the performance of the text.
We will map these positions among others in detail in Chapters 2 and 3 of the
present study. We understand voice work as a process of preparation of the body to
cope with the widest possible range of meaning production, through voice and speech
delivery in performance. However, training may also become a sphere of reproduction
of vocal styles, in other words, a space of control in relation to voice and speech
delivery.
In the first section of this Chapter, we argued that rhetoric configures a tool to
ideological control in relation to human vocality. Voice work approaches speech
delivery as well as voice production. Considered thus, voice work might become a
methodological tool for the actors control the ideological frame of her/his discourse
in performance. However, in the case of voice delivery, training might restrain the
actors libidinal economy and the imaginary to which it relates.
68
The performing arts, particularly music, have been historically moulding,
reproducing and ruling vocal styles through training. This approach qualifies voice
work as reproductive. However, the decisive factor in relation to the configuration of
new patterns of vocality has been the evolution of the technologies of communication.
First the press, and then the twentieth century audio-visual and media fields, created
new contexts for voice and speech delivery.
The irruption of audio-visual technologies in the twentieth century, brought new
techniques that made possible the configuration of new languages as photography and
cinema entered the field of the performing arts. Faced with these new presences,
theatrical discourses opted to regard the questions of the origins of theatre rather than
those aroused by contemporary theatrical performance. In the next Chapter, we will
survey how science and technology have affected not just vocal production, but also
contemporary theatrical discourses and production.
70
Chapter Two
In Chapter Two I introduce the problematic arising from voice production,
reproduction and representation, which constitute the three main conceptual dimensions
in the frame of the present work. Strongly interrelated, production, reproduction and
representation contribute to conceptually refine human vocality as the object of study
above characterised, framing it specifically in contemporary actors vocality.
Johan Sundbergs scientific approach to the singing voice (Sundberg 1987),
which discusses Hussons hypothesis about voice delivery in high intensities (Husson
1965), establishes a solid reference about voice production. In the context of this work,
I do not discriminate between speech production and singing in performance,
considering both as voice production at high intensities. I discuss in this section
Sundbergs approach regarding voice as corporeal production and speech as incorporeal
intervention, capable of infinite becomings and resistant to cultural determination.
Finally, authors such as Gumbrecht, Austin and Conquergood, have provided material
to arrive at a number of questions relative to speech production.
Technology, training and theory are approached here as instances of production,
reproduction and representation, that also determine voice production. I believe that the
technologies available at a given time determine decisively human perception and
thought and, as a result, the uses of the body. In other words, I believe that a map of
human vocality can be drawn over the map of the technological production in a given
socio-historical moment. As it was indicated in Chapter One of the present study, the
role of the graphic press was historically crucial to place and shape the written and the
oral universes in Western society. In the twentieth century, the accelerated growth of
the audio-visual technologies of communication have drastically shaped the very way of
producing, perceiving and conceiving sound and speech.
This is why I propose to approach the actors vocality in the light of the
evolution of technologies, particularly when theatre practice and reflection today seems
to disregard such an overwhelming incidence in relation to voice production. The
perception of time and space and our notions of the subject do not escape the incidence
of technology. How could the actors vocality reproduce itself apart from such notions?
I believe that it is not possible to approach the actors voice in performance and training
disassociated from the continuous interplay of these categories: production,
Chapter 2 - Voice Production, Reproduction and Representation
71
reproduction and representation. This is the line of thought that will be developed
through the present Chapter.
The purpose of voice training for actors has always been to optimise voice and
text delivery on stage. Considering that training shapes the actors body to a particular
vocal performance style, the role of voice work as a mean of reproduction of a given
formal style, has been emphasised in the context of this study. On the other hand, the
need for optimising results is a consequence of the implementation of a Western
capitalist model, which encourages a culture of artefacts (Fischer-Lichte 1997 p.24).
In that sense, it becomes clear that training operates not just as an instance of
reproduction, but in representational level as well.
Literary theory, which in the eighties had perhaps its highest moment, has
exerted a great influence on contemporary theatre studies. The methodologies
conceptualised to analyse textual production has been often directly transferred to
analyse theatrical performance. As a result, the playscript has been regularly
confounded with its performance.
The vocal texture, regarded here as body production and intervention, is
characterized by its protean quality. I have been searching to detect a specific place for
the performance of the text, which appears to be currently highly impregnated by the
logic of the written and the visual. Phelans and Deleuze and Guattaris works are
crucial to the discussion of these questions.
To make a register of this vocal territory encourages a change in the way of
producing, reproducing and representing voice and spoken words. It stimulates a
movement from acting to performing, in the direction taken by Austin speech acts in
the field of linguistics. Intending a characterisation of the present object of research,
some considerations about language and the constitution of the subject are essential,
prior to facing the results of the fieldwork itself in Buenos Aires.
Deleuze and Guattaris reformulation of Austins speech acts offers new tools
to define the oral/vocal/aural sphere and a point of view to examine certain classic
assumptions of linguistics (Deleuze and Guattari 1988 pp.75-110). In relation to the
constitution of the subject, Deleuze and Guattari perceive the unconscious as a desiring
machine, a mill producer of significance, and not a representational theatre, as it is
understood in Freuds view. From this perspective of a de-territorialized subject in
which the voice is a source of becomings, I propose here that voice and speech
72
production and reproduction in theatrical performance exceed and resist the current
body of representation.
Voice Production: a Scientific or a Cultural Question?

The published material about voice work for actors is deliberately inscribed in
the authors concrete practical experience. With more or less emphasis and accuracy, all
of them bring some information about voice physiology, which is ordinarily understood
in the field of voice work as theoretical information. It is grounded in the field of the
health sciences, approaching the everyday use of voice and speech and its related
pathologies. However, the problematic derived of singers and actors vocality is of a
completely different nature.
This particular profile is not casual. Since its configuration as a specific area in
actors preparation, voice work has shown a therapeutic framing. Its precursors in the
beginning of this century were speech therapists. In Brazilian and Argentinean acting
schools voice work still remains, with almost not exceptions, under the responsibility of
speech therapists.
In Britain, a pioneer country in the field, there have been designed specific
degrees in voice couching. They regard the specific problems arising from the situation
in which actors face the script. The developments in health science in the first half of
the twentieth century in the field of voice and speech have left their imprint in the voice
books. All of them show more or less detailed anatomic and physiological reviews,
while the consideration of the interface of voice production with contemporary
technology and theory is almost null. Despite these facts, a great influence of science
over voice work is often reckoned.
Speech delivery and singing are usually understood as completely different
processes. However, this principle is not valid on stage, where speech and voice
delivery require the production of high intensities. According to this common objective,
vocal techniques for singing should be productive also to speech delivery on stage.
In 1962, the French physician Raoul Husson published in Paris the first research
work specifically approaching the dynamics of singing, in other words the physiology
of voice delivery in high intensities (Husson 1965). He sustained that the brain, via
nerve signals, determined the instant at which the vocal folds should part and approach.
73
On his view, there was one nerve impulse per glottal adduction/abduction cycle, being
this process responsible for the accuracy of singers pitch production.
Husson opportunely pointed to the mechanism of division of the neurones
axons of the Recurrent nerve, through which the nerves multiplies its potential.
However, Sundberg and others believes that the vocal folds mobility results of the
action of the Bernoulli force, which establishes an air stream tending to equilibrate the
differences of pressure under and above the glottis.
Husson brought accurate definitions of the protective mechanism of the vocal
folds in the production of high intensities, about the effect of the timbre of the singed
vowels and its repercussion in the laryngeal function, and about the functions of the
singers internal phonic sensibilities (Husson 1965 pp. 05-20/20-33/73-80). However,
the main shift on his work resides in the consideration of the crucial role of the brain in
the process of voice production.
Husson considered voice delivery as a phonic behaviour, which does not involve
any dynamic of vibration. On his formulation, the voice mechanism became analogous
to a synthesisers, and not to an acoustic wind of string instrument, to which voice
production is ordinarily referred. Despite the divergence of positions, the whole body of
research developed in the second half of the twentieth century brought abundant
information about voice behaviour. However, this scientific production has had little
acknowledgement in the field of voice work.
The Swedish voice teacher Johan Sundberg integrates the Department of Speech
Communication of the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm. He has developed
research at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique - IRCAM, of
the Centre George Pompidou, in Paris, where the results of his researches can be
consulted. It is important to notice that Sundberg works stands alone in the IRCAMs
library, probably the most important in the world in research and production of
contemporary music.
Sundberg reckons Hussons relevant role in the knowledge lately produced
about the singing voice. However, he contests Hussons hypothesis arguing that a singer
can directly deliver an exact pitch because of the human capacity to predict when and
which muscles to contract at a given moment. Sundberg affirms that the vocal folds
cycles of adduction/abduction are not provoked by nerve signals, which he believes to
slow to feed the vocal folds swiftness (Sundberg 1987 p. 14).
74
Framed in the field of acoustics physics, Sundbergs pays special care to
terminology, which helps to confer to his work a scientific style. He approaches voice
production as a result of three main functions:
the breathing apparatus acts as a compressor supplying an
overpressure of air; the phonatory apparatus constituted by the vocal folds
acting as an oscillator converting the transglottal air stream to a sequence
of air pulses corresponding to the voice source; and the vocal tract
resonator (Sundberg 1987 p.10).
(Sundberg 1987 p.10).
Sundbergs approach, as most of the works in voice production, is clearly

shaped in a structuralist pattern, proving that scientificist determinations are not free of
cultural influences. Following the understanding of the vocal apparatus as a
combination of a compressor, an oscillator and a number of resonators, vocal
production is considered as a result of a balance of a number of aspects: 1) anatomy and
physiology(morphology and mechanics), 2) breathing (compressor), 3) voice source
(oscillator), 4) articulation (resonators adaptation), 5) emotions and 6)perception; being
these two last moments are in excess in relation to the structure.
The vocal apparatus production would be predictable, if there were not
emotional interference in phonation. Regarding the study and possible control of these
particular phenomenon, there have been also attempts to classify vocal manifestations
of emotions. Davitzs chart of emotions associated with paralinguistic manifestations,
configured in 1964, serves as example of this kind of conceptions related to structuralist
semiotics approaches:
75
(Elam 1980 p.80)
Endorsing to the instrumental approach to language, the vocal apparatus becomes in voice
work the vocal instrument:
Modern voice training has been based upon the findings of voice
science which maintain that the act of voice production consists of an
interplay between the following four areas: breathing, phonation,
resonance and articulation. These four areas have formed the basis of most
textbooks written on voice training in the twentieth century, whereas the
following factors have been part of the process of voice production
through the ages: breathing, tone production, relaxation, pitch, quality,
loudness and diction (Martin 1991 p. 37).
In the books published in the field of voice work the scientific knowledge
appears so scarcely, that it does not even configure a clear reference. Succinct
information about the anatomy of the voice system appears with no mention of sources,
nor about the late research in the field. Considering so, it is not clear which are the
evidences of sciences influence over voice work, apart from the occasional sharing of a
discursive style, which might be understood as a password to legitimate voice work own
discursiveness.
The analytic approach to voice in both, science and voice work, appears clearly
in the above quotations, while science goes further in classifying voice phenomena, as it
is shown in the figures also above. According to it, it may be deduced that what voice
work and science have in common is the structuralist approach. To define by constants
instead of variables, at least in voice production, is an impracticable task. Voice
deceiving presence in today cultural environment and stage might be considered as
76
resulting of this kind of approaches, which goes far enough to encourage an attempt to
classify emotions and link them with their correspondent vocal manifestations.
Voice work suffers the consequences of lacking contact with an explicit
conceptual ground. Its undefined conceptual outline confers to voice work an
uncontrolled ideological contour, which weakens its potential productiveness. However,
such an isolation may have a positive consequence.
Voice works interest on the reproduction of styles, as well as the exploratory
approaches originated in Grotowskis proposal, have contributed to enlighten the
inconsistency of the idea of a unique foundation for voice production. This fact have
given to voice and speech a less stable contour in relation to a any scientific approach,
coming from health, semiology or linguistic.
In the structuralist approach to voice, emotions and perception are elements of
instability. This emotional/perceptive instability is crucial to voice work as it is
grounded in acting, weakening the whole approach of voice and speech. Lacking a
strong link with the scientific and conceptual productions, structuralism in voice work
presents fissures.
Works as Trn Quang Hai, come to enlighten other face of human vocality (Hai
1996). His research in a wide number of techniques in overtone singing, gave Trn
Quang Hai a crucial role in the diffusion of these styles, mainly in Europe. Overtone
singing pushes forward the corporeal limits imposed by Western voice production
which, reflecting its logocentric position, is widely accepted as the exclusive healthy
pattern of delivery. Overtone singing comes to relent the rigid limits characteristic of
Western notions of the body. If it was not clear enough that in the reproduction of styles
what changes is the very materiality of the vocal product, overtones made it clear.
Cultural exchange promotes situations in which, by contrast, incontestable
principles might be debated. However, in the context of the present work we want to
focus in a number of overlooked instances belonging to Western culture that are
constantly shaping Western vocal style, on and off stage.
Questions about Reproduction.

Voice and Technology: The Human and the Non Human.
Murray Schafer reviews Mc. Luham asserting that as the sewing machine
originated the long straight-lines clothes [] the printing-press flattened the human
77
vocal style [] for centuries we have just been listening to a continuous and
undistinguished whispering. Schafer also highlights the incidence of the new
technologies in contemporary acoustic environment, which is a central problem to his
work, and its interfaces with human voice production: important sounds of medium
intensity, such as the human voice for example, would be threatened by the
technological explosion of high intensity sounds in the environment (Schafer 1970
p.10) [my translation from the Spanish].
Schafer did not take the discussion about technology and voice any further.
However, in the context of the present work it is an unavoidable question. In addition to
the incidence of the written word in human vocality, the new technologies of
communication directly affect contemporary vocal styles in acting. Microphones and a
wide range of sophisticated recording and techniques of reproduction, modify the use of
the actors body as well as its resultant voice and speech production. These
transformations eventually leave its imprint on the conceptual sphere as well.
It is not a matter related to the huge volume of information available, but to how
some key information and its way of circulation, has changed our pattern of thought and
perception, compelling us to a revision and reformulation of the established conceptual
models.
Technology has drastically changed the way in which audiences perceive
theatrical performance. One of the most dramatic transformations in this field has been
probably operated by digital recording. Cinema has impregnated theatre practice with
new acting patterns, also creating a need of proximity, of close presence between
theatre actors and audiences. But as this is not a one way movement, cinema has also
absorbed, in a more or less explicit manner, theatrical approaches to acting. This
interface results in new organisations of the professional roles in relation to acting
practice and the configuration of new ones.
Another phenomenon resulting from the evolution of technologies in the
twentieth century is the huge market that it opens to voice in contemporary culture.
Zumthor states that besides the traditional types of orality, defined through the level of
exposure of a group to the written word, we should think today in a fourth type, the
mediated orality. The current massive production of popular songs by the audiorecording industry, which Zumthor defines as contemporary popular poetry production,
gives good example of this phenomenon (Zumthor 1985). Human vocality does not
78
dilute, but assumes different forms in every new situation. It is our intention to consider
this new vocal forms conceptually and in relation to contemporary actors vocality,
particularly in the case of Buenos Aires stages.
Since the beginning of this century, the huge developments of the technologies
of communication confined the human voice, the spoken word and the trends of
communication they establish, to a singular situation. The patterns of speed imposed by
these new technologies produced a multiple and unstoppable stream in which, radically
affected, our old vocal uses tend to precipitate, clearing spaces for new ones. This
dynamic arising from the interface of body and technology, of the human and the non
human, crucial to the present work, has been overlooked in the field of arts, particularly
in relation to voice production, reproduction and representation.
Human vocality is a corporeal and probably the most practised instance of
communication. This situation results in a sort of naturalisation, an unconscious mode
of appropriation, which added to the process of apperception pointed by Benjamin
bellow regarded in relation to the action of the mass media, results in the current
unawareness in relation to voice and speech in stage an society. Consequently, human
vocality precipitates both, into our current corporeal representations, and into a sea of
human communication, leaving today little vestiges to its mapping.
In the frame of this work, we do not consider interior depths or cavities in the
body, but spaces, limited by surfaces of contact where physical exchange takes place,
with more or less intensity. Once delivered, the voice, the most nomadic corporeal
production, may incarnate in many other bodies simultaneously. Affecting both, emitter
and recipient, voice establishes a productive path for becomings. To frame the actors
vocality in contemporary theatrical performance requires then, a multidirectional and
simultaneous dive into the streams of communications, and into the surfaces of the
actors body, stage to singular intensities which highlight the multiplicity of vocal
exchange.
Theatrical performance is a privileged place for voice and spoken words to
emerge, but even there, both have lately assumed an uncertain presence. This situation
has been frequently understood as a result of a deficiency in actors training. The
questions could then be why actors get a deficient voice training today?, why the
number of professional voice coaches have been decreasing lately? (see Chapter One
pp. 31-4).
79
Despite the diversity of situations of communication produced by the
proliferation of technology in society since the beginnings of the twentieth century, the
main questions it provoked then in the field of arts are still productive, and remain little
regarded. Between 1935 and 1936, Benjamin wrote The Storyteller - Reflections on the
Works of Nikolai Leskov and The work of art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
(Benjamin 1982 pp. 83-110/219-54).
Benjamin registered then the emergence of a new dimension in the field of arts,
resulting from the irruption of a number of technical developments in the very
beginning of this century, that would produce a revolution in Western cultural
environment. He exposes in these texts his hypothesis about arts evolution and its
interface with the evolution of technologies and society. His further contribution here is
to unveil the politic power implicit in the arts conceptual sphere. The problematic
brought by the new technologies and the reception situations they promote are of course
among the central issues approached by Benjamin.
Benjamin brush aside a number of outmoded concepts, such as creativity and
genius, value of eternal and cult value among others, whose uncontrolled
application would lead to a fascist approach to art (Benjamin 1982 p.220). Aware of the
political power of arts, he introduces new concepts, useless for fascists purposes and
productive for revolutionary cultural demands.
In The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Benjamin 1982 pp.
219-54), Benjamin analyses the questions arising of the evolution of technologies of
reproduction in contemporary mass society, and their incidence in the conceptual,
political and perceptive domains. Focusing particularly in the case of the fine arts, his
reasoning also considers the photograph, film and stage performance. The
transformations operated in human sense perception, resulting of the evolution in
technologies and society, affected humanitys entire mode of existence, he declares
(Benjamin 1982 p224).
Benjamin recognises two basic modes of reproduction of the work of art: the
imitation and the processes of mechanical reproduction (Benjamin 1982 p. 222). The
concept of authenticity is the first of a number of crucial concepts, emerging as a
consequence of the mechanical reproduction of the work of art. The authentic is not
reproducible, however as a concept it appears together with the techniques of
mechanical reproduction. The presence of the original supposes the existence of
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reproductions, which is a prerequisite to the concept of authenticity, situated completely
away from the sphere of technical and not technical reproducibility.
Benjamin declares that the authenticity of a thing, is the essence of all that is
transmissible from its beginning, ranging from its substantive duration to its testimony
to the history which is has experienced. Considering so, he defines reproduction as a
process that substitutes the unique existence of the work of art for a multiple one which,
differentiating and grading authenticity, reactivates the object reproduced when meeting
the beholder in his own situation (Benjamin 1982 pp. 223-245).
Benjamin detects a number of effects resulting of the processes of mechanical
reproduction, which:
put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of
reach for the original itself [] The quality of its [the originals] presence
is always depreciated [] what is really jeopardised when the historical
testimony is affected is the authority of the object (Benjamin 1982 pp.
222-3).
Photograph or phonograph records are good examples of the first situation

pointed by Benjamin, the socio-historical de-contextualisation of the work of art. A
symphony, once recorded, might be listened in a road while driving a car, a photo of
famous painting might be also exposed inside a small apartment room. Film comes to
exemplify the third and last case above exposed, as it brings further the effect of
decontextualisation. Film breaks the link with tradition, which remains alive even in the
poorest provincial staging (Benjamin 1982 p.223).
The effect of reproduction over the work of art might be synthesised in the
devaluation of its presence. Benjamin notices a lost of a crucial element resulting of
these processes, which he calls aura. What disintegrates, what decays in the age of
mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art (Benjamin 1982 p.245). In
relation to this matter Benjamin adds:
The concept of aura, which was proposed above with reference to
historical objects may usefully be illustrated with reference to the aura of
natural ones. We define the aura of the later as the unique phenomenon of
a distance, however close it may (Benjamin 1982 p.224).
Distance is the opposite of closeness. The essentially distant object is the

unapproachable one. Unapproachability is the major quality of the cult image, which is
independent of the closeness that might be gained in relation to its physical matter. The
unique phenomenon of a distance however close it might be, defines Benjamin, in
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categories of time and space, highlighting the cult value of the work of art which holds
its aura, (Benjamin 1982 p.245).
During the Renascence, the cult value in painting became secularised under the
form of the cult of beauty. The cult value of the work of art associated to religion, was
displaced by the empirical uniqueness of the creator. With the secularisation of art,
authenticity displaces the cult value of the work of art. The concept of authenticity goes
beyond the mere genuineness. Collectors, owning the work of art1, mean to share its
ritual power, retaining some traces of fetishism (Benjamin 1982 p. 246).
The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable of its place in the fabric of
tradition. This contextual integration art-tradition found its expression in cult. Refining
these concepts, Benjamin adds that the value of an authentic work of art resides in its
original use value, basically linked to a cult value, based in ritual. The cult value of the
work of art shifted through the times from magic to religion systems, to become later
secularised. In the prehistory, painting was instrument of magic [] meant for the
spirits. Preceding Renaissances painting, mosaics or frescos related to religious cult,
in a determined place and moment. What mattered in the beginnings was the existence
of what we later call work of art, not its being in view (Benjamin 1982 pp. 226-7).
The increasing significance of the painter operated another displacement in the
cult value of the work of art, patent in the new value of authenticity. In Benjamins
view, mechanical reproduction breakthrough the history of art, emancipating it from its
parasitical dependence on any kind of ritual, to base it in another practice: politics
(Benjamin 1982 p.226).
However, the new role of art as a political weapon did not cope to neutralise its
cult function. With the emergence of a cultural market according to the masses
demands, the work of art started to circulate as a commodity. Benjamin recalls Brecht to
enlighten this new statue achieved in this century by the work of art:
If the concept of work of art can no longer be applied to the
thing that emerges once the work is transformed into a commodity, we
have to eliminate this concept with cautious care but without fear, lest we
liquidate de function of the very thing as well. For it has to go through this
phase without mental reservation, and not as noncommittal deviation from
the straight path; rather, what happens here with the work of art will
change it fundamentally and erase its past to such an extent that should the
Records and videos, acquiring the status of a complete work of art on its own, attained the
position of a collection object.
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old concept be taken up again-and it will, why not?- it will no longer stir
any memory of the thing it once designated (Brecht in Benjamin 1982
p.248).
The new media not only affected arts function and the roles of the professional
artists, they also took up a crucial place in politics. Benjamin thematises the evolution
of cultural roles provoked by the irruption of technological means, through the roles of
the reader and the author in the context of twentieth centurys huge press expansion.
Through the readers letters and the specialised article, the twentieth century
reader is always ready to become an author. These new authors base their competence
not in a specialised education, but in polytechnic training and in their own experience
resulting from their self insertion in a work process, which has became each time more
specialised. The community of readers became then a new type of experts.
This displacement, took centuries to take place. In the case of the cinema, this
phenomenon happened in just a few decades. Under the present conditions, everybody
is potentially an author, an actor or a politician and at the same time, is compelled to
consume the products of the contemporary cultural market.
Considering the above, it may be said that if the media enabled the potential
revolutionary power of the work of art, they also encouraged its reproduction as a
commodity, a new form assumed by its value of cult. The audio-visual media
established also a new territory in politics:
Parliaments as much as theatres are deserted. Radio and film
affect the function of the professional actor and of those who exhibit
themselves before mechanical equipment: those who govern. This results
in a new selection, a selection before the equipment from which the star
and the dictator emerge victorious (Benjamin 1982 p. 248).
These new cultural roles, product of mass media reproduction, are

reformulations of the cult value of the work of art under the rule of the market logic.
processed by these media, the work of art becomes a commodity, which crystallises its
cult value in the figure of the star. Its potential revolutionary power is neutralised by the
massive exposure of the dictator.
The destruction of the aura of a work of art is a consequence of the adjustment
of masses to reality and vice versa. It characterises a perception whose sense of
universal equality of things has increased to such a degree that it extracts it even from
a unique object by means of reproduction. Such a process has an unlimited scope, not
just in perception but in politics and in the production of knowledge as well, which is
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manifest in statistics for example. (Benjamin 1982 p.225). These particular shift have
imposed precise aesthetic patterns, which affected contemporary corporeality and
vocality.
In order to introduce the concepts of tactile and optic, Benjamin refers to
important changes in relations to audiences attitude in a mass media society. Masses
seek distraction, he declares, whereas art demands concentration from the spectator. A
man concentrated before a work of art, an expert, enters into it, is absorbed by it,
dissolved into it. His attitude is close to devotion. Benjamin defines this mode of
perception as optic (Benjamin 1982 p.241).
The distracted man, that integrated in a mass society, absorbs, consumes the
work of art. His tactile appropriation is accomplished not so much by attention, but by
habit, by use. Films reception occurs in state of distraction. This new attitude towards
art reception, highly exercised in relation to film, is called by Benjamin apperception:
The film makes the cult value recede into the background not only
by putting the public in the position of the critic, but also by the fact that at
the movies this position requires no attention. The public is an examiner,
but an absent-minded one (Benjamin 1982 pp.242-3).
Mechanical reproduction changes the reaction of the masses toward art. For the
entire spectrum of optical, and now also acoustical, perception the film has brought
about a similar deepening of apperception (Benjamin 1982 pp.236-7). This split
experts-mass recalls the one operated XII century through the advent of the press, which
divided the public in literate and illiterate, and the cultural production in erudite and
popular, as McLuhan opportunely noticed. The recurrence of this phenomenon allows
us to think that new mass media technologies, reproducing a similar split, reproduce
also its related manoeuvres of power. Under the appearance of a democratisation of
culture, the technologies of mass media also favour a centralisation of the production of
discourses, ruled by the logic of the productive forces in society.
However, Benjamin illustrates how in the present situation, a lucid artistic
intervention is able to play with this split in a productive manner. The Dadaist
behaviour provoked the scandal through a kind of intense amusement. The work of art,
seductive for the eye and the ear, became a shoot, which Benjamin qualifies as a tactile
aggression (Benjamin 1982 pp.239-40).
According to Benjamin, cinema, with its continuous change of camera and
angles, is also against contemplation and aligns with the tactile order in terms of
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perception. It interrupts the spectators process of association, which is stimulated in
front of a painting. Those changes produce in the spectator a physical shock, now
liberated from the moral scandal, characteristic of the Dadaist scandal. Cinema, says
Benjamin, does not produce scandal, it produces danger.
From a 90s point of view, we can suppose that the dadaists spectator
experienced more terror than today films spectator who knows he is safe in the dark of
a cinema, a factor that may contributes to the endless growth of violence in film.
Furthermore, we can also argue that in front of the several sequences of films images it
is perfectly possible to contemplate and to operate free associations as well as in front
of a painting, and moreover, association itself may respond to a non linear fragmented
logic.
The expansion of the attitude tests in acting, brought about by mechanical
equipment, corresponds to its extraordinary expansion in society, faced by the
individual under contemporary economic conditions. Castings, vocational tests and all
kind of selections focus in segmental individual performances. The film shoot and the
vocational aptitude test are taken before a committee of experts. Reversibly, the film
director occupies in this situation the place of the examiner (Benjamin 1982 p. 248).
In films, mechanical reproduction is not, as it is in literature and painting, an
external condition for mass distribution, it is inherent to the techniques of film
production. Film encourages distribution because its high costs of production. An
individual might afford to buy a painting, but not a film, reflected Benjamin. Today,
however, everybody can buy a video. Thanks to technical reproduction, the increasing
in exhibition provoked a quantitative shift [] turned into a qualitative transformation
of its nature [] By the absolute emphasis on its exhibition value the work of art
becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious
of, the artistic function, later may be recognised as incidental(Benjamin 1982 p.227).
The irruption of the new means of mechanical reproduction in this century
resulted in the configuration of new art languages. Audiences immediately questioned
the artistic status of these new languages. The questions about how these new languages
transformed or not the entire nature of art were formulated only later. Benjamin notices
that in their desire to classify the film among the arts, and unaware of its emerging
political power, theoreticians were prone to read ritual elements into it (Benjamin 1982
p.229).
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Benjamin highlights a number of differences defining screen and stage acting.
While in theatrical performance the actor is presented to the public in person, the screen
actor is presented to the audiences by a camera, depriving them of a direct exposure to
her/his corporeality. The stage actor identifies himself with the character of his role.
The film actor is often denied this opportunity. His creation is by no means all of a
piece, it is composed of many separate performances, lacking the opportunity of any
adjustment to a given audience or space (Benjamin 1982 pp.230-3).
When shooting, film actors have as little contact with their audiences as any
article made in a factory. Audiences today, which constitutes a market of film
consumers, identify with the camera. Their approach, adds Benjamin, is that of testing.
This is not the approach to which cult values may be exposed. In film, actors have to
operate with his whole living person, yet forgoing his aura (and that of his character),
which is tied to their presence. There can be not replica of it. However, once lost their
aura, film actors build up an artificial personality outside the studios, which brings up a
new form of cult, the cult of the star: Fostered by the money of the film industry,
preserves not the unique aura of the person but the spell of personality, the phony
spell of a commodity (Benjamin 1982 p. 233).
the film [] provides-or could provide- useful insights into the
details of human actions [] Character is never used as a source of
motivation; the inner life of the persons never supplies the principal cause
of the plot and seldom is its main result (Brecht in Benjamin 1982 p. 248).
Filmed behaviour, adds Benjamin, is easily analysed because it makes it simple

to isolate each moment. Close-ups, expand the space, low motion, extends movement.
These procedures do not search for a more precise picture, they reveal entirely new
structural formations of the subject [...] a different nature opens itself to the camera than
opens to the naked eye -if only because an unconsciously penetrated space is substituted
for a space consciously explored by man [...] The camera introduces us to unconscious
optics as psychoanalysis does to unconscious impulses(Benjamin 1982 p. 238-9).
In relation to the transformations operated by the technologies of reproduction,
Benjamin detects a paradoxical situation, settled in the interplay between new and
traditional art languages:
In the theatre one is well aware of the place from which the play
cannot immediately be detected as illusionary.[ film] illusionary nature
is that of the second degree, the result of cutting [] mechanical
equipment has penetrated so deeply into reality that its pure aspect freed
from the foreign substance of equipment is the result of a special procedure
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[] the equipment-free aspect of reality here has become the height of
artifice; the sight of immediate reality has become an orchid in the land of
technology (Benjamin 1982 p.235).
In cinema the directors point of view is totally and carefully constructed and
enclosed by the camera. The directors gaze, mediated by the camera, coincide with the
spectators gaze. Benjamin compares the theatre director, with the magician, who
slightly reduces the natural distance between him and his patient, while
simultaneously amplifies it considerably, thanks to his authority, establishing always a
relationship with the patient/actor. Contrarily, the surgeon, who Benjamin identify with
the cinema director, intervenes in the body of the patient/actor establishing a negative
distance, which is diminished by his precise manipulation of the instruments. In the
crucial moment, the surgeon, as well as the cinema maker, does not establish a
relationship with the patient/actor (Benjamin 1982 p. 235).
We may agree with the different relationship developed between a
magician/theatre director and a surgeon/cinema director with their related
patients/actors. However, we sustain that both intervene on the body of the
patient/actor, leaving referential marks in his/her body. The association actor/patient
well illustrates the attitude of passiveness of the twentieth century actor in relation to
his/her work. The actors attitude, complementary to contemporary directors
omnipotence, characterises the contemporary reproductive actor, alienated of any tactic
procedure.
As a result of the new technologies of reproduction, the amount of reading,
hearing, and seeing matter increased in the twentieth century far beyond the
demographic growth (Huxley in Benjamin 1982 p. 250). This situation contributed to
alter a number of classical cultural roles and to give rise to new ones. As stated above,
the distinction between author and public in contemporary press is loosing its basic
character. In film, some people are not actors, but people that portray themselves
(Benjamin 1982 p. 234).
Benjamin points to the beginning of a process which is still developing in
geometric progression, which characterises Western art in the twentieth century: the
establishment of the market field in a mass media cultural environment. Cultural roles
and production have mutated in a drastic speed and style, while the demands for
production became imperative. The pace of this process has left not much time or space
to reflect about the magnitude of the change that the new materials and media would
87
certainly imprint. Analysing the positions assumed by theatre in the above outlined
cultural context, we will be able to determine where and why voice and speech
precipitated to the present position. To this tracing, Benjamin considerations remain still
fresh and productive.
Visibility had been a political arena since the Renaissance, but the massive
reproduction of the image generated an effect in the field of representation similar to
what Benjamin defined as a second nature. In the universe of this second nature is
settled the arena of visibility. There, a second war, a virtual one, takes place: the war of
representation. The value of cult, historically crucial to the work of art in Western
society, cedes its place to the value of exhibition, relocated also in the field of political
praxis. There is a kind of optimism in Benjamin in relation to the political power of
massive visibility. Today we can observe that old rituals were in some way substituted
by mass-rituals closely linked to power strategies, and discuss the political power of
visual exposure as a whole. About the economy of visual representation Phelan states:
The dangerous complicity between progressives dedicated to
visibility politics and conservatives patrolling the borders of museums,
movie houses, and mainstream broadcasting is based on their mutual belief
that representations can be treated as real truth and guarded or
championed accordingly. Both sides believe that greater visibility of the
hitherto under-represented leads to enhanced political power. The
progressives want to share this power with others; conservatives want to
reserve this power for themselves. Insufficient understanding of the
relationship between visibility, power, identity, and liberation had lead
both groups to mistake the relation between the real and the
representational (Phelan 1993 p.2).
The Imperialist war, resulting from powerful productive means not used in the
productive process, causing unemployment and the lack of markets, are an example of
the rebellion of techniques against society, which creates a spectacle by and for itself.
Training as Reproduction.
Benjamin considers that everything that has been made in the field of art has
been susceptible of being primary reproduced by imitation. This hand-crafted stage of

reproduction is systematised through the disciples training, and encouraged by the
masters efforts in order to improve the diffusion of their work, and people interested in
profit.
Disciples can produce a work alike to their masters through the imitation of
her/his gestures, of the way in which s/he uses the tools or frames the object to be
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represented. The ephemeral condition of theatrical and other kinds of live performance
make it resistant to be framed as a reproducible work of art. Its protean quality turns the
dynamic of the final product, which is heavily impregnated by the actors body, more
unstable than in painting or sculpture. However, the ideology of the artefact in culture,
as we will see bellow, has imposed formal patterns of performance and training,
dominant in the twentieth century Western theatre.
A process of training may be regarded as a primary mean of reproduction, which
characterise and determine the formation of the Western artist. Particularly in relation to
theatrical performance, where the final product tends to become blurred with the actors
body, we can define training as an instance of reproduction. Intending to reproduce
fixed styles, actors bodies become shaped to them, and not flexible to the demands of
a constantly evolving theatrical situation. However, we should distinguish other
instances in the actors formation.
The so call experimental approaches in acting, arising since the sixties brought
the illusion that the practice of imitating models was over. Actually, the established
voice and speech delivery models, accepted and effective for decades, became
ineffective. The substitution of these old styles by new ones was operated. However,
this was not the result of a choice, but of the intensity achieved by technological
reproduction. The lack of systematic register of theatrical experimental approaches
conferred them a lavish position in relation to the commanding presence of media in the
contemporary cultural scene.
Less interventionist approaches intend to stimulate the embodiment and
sedimentation of the actors own experience and their physical awareness, instead of
shaping their bodies according to given patterns. Other tendencies opt to explore the
limits of the actors physical possibilities, seeking for a universal anatomy or human
essence, beyond cultural patterns. In the context of this work, we would like to mark a
difference among the different approaches to the actors formation. While training leads
to the reproduction of styles, what we call an actors preparation searches for their
physical (considering the vocal) awareness, and the actors exploration searches for a
universal ground for acting. If the first might be defined as a process of reproduction,
the following characterises hermeneutic approaches to the actors formation. All these
three lines of acting formation are generally regarded as training. Certainly, elements of
each of them may be detected in the others.
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However, as defined above, the approach stressing training leads to
reproduction, which in theatrical performance constitutes a paradox. Benjamin detected
that the impossibility to be reproduced has left theatrical performance in a peculiar
situation in contemporary mass media society. If he saw this situation as a negative one,
it is in its ephemeral quality that theatres major strength resides today. To prepare
actors to these circumstances is completely different than to train them to reproduce
performance as a commodity.
Western actors, dancers and singers are trained, in a situation in which the
master exerts great influence over them. In an institutional environment, where the
approach is mostly that of training, to the influence of the master should be added the
power exerted by the institution, regulating and judging the process of the actors
formation.
In the context of this study we mean to maintain the difference between these
three instances in actors formation: preparation, exploration and training, which are
closely linked to the idea of style. In the case of what is here defined as exploration, the
style arises from the elements traced for the actors in the limits of languages and in their
own physical frontiers. In what we call here actors preparation, style is an instance of
negotiation between a given authors work, an audience and the actors body and
experience, situated in a determined socio-historical context. In the case of training,
style is approached as a prefixed formal pattern, to which the performer body is shaped.
This differentiation enlightens also the status given in theatrical practice to voice work,
which is characterized as training, and voice coaches, a role that will be particularly
regarded bellow.
Reproduction and Technology

Besides imitation, above regarded as a primary stage of reproduction, there is
another one, determined by the development of technological means. Benjamin

identifies woodcut and printing as the first patterns for technical reproduction of both
image and word. Lithography, preceded the illustrated newspaper, and photograph, the
film. At the end of the nineteenth century, the reproduction of sound was tackled. About
1900, any work of art was susceptible of technical reproduction. This procedures
captured a place of its own among the artistic processes with the consequent impact in
the public. The hand was then liberated for the first time from the responsibility of
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reproduction. This situation accentuated the already established role of the eye and the
acceleration of the reproduction process in Western culture (Benjamin 1982 p, 231).
The voice constituted the first corporeal instance to be diverted and subdued by
the dynamics of mechanical reproduction in silent cinema. Lacking immediateness of
visual presence, voice and speech became unable to cope with the pace imposed by the
process of visual reproduction. Actors vocality had been then devaluated, loosing its
provisional and situational authority, to the fixed and permanent legitimisation of the
mechanically reproduced.
At the end of the XIX century, the technical reproduction of sound initiated a
process of appropriation of the whole traditional musical production, when the record
became a work of art in its own right. As a result, recording won its own place among
the artistic procedures. It operated a deep transformation in every field of musical
production, including composition and performance, a process that became more
dramatic with the advent of digital recording. These new techniques correspond to an
art, in this case, music, which abandoned a model grounded in the value of the eternal
in favour of the value of the perfectible. One implicates the renouncing of the other.
The case of opera offers a good example of this situation.
Opera singers reproduce a kind of voice production related to a context where
technological amplification was not even imagined. They must still deliver under this
pattern because it would be impossible for a voice to achieve the range and phrasing
required for that repertoire, without implementing this kind of vocal emission. Operatic
repertoire, composed for voices produced without amplification, became later decontextualised and objectified through the developments of the technologies of
recording.
An opera singer faces today the pressures resulting from the irruption of digital
means of sound reproduction. Digital recording achieves levels of perfectibility defined
far away from the conditions for human production. Once audiences get use to it, a live
performance tends to be deceiving. As a result, singers, musicians and stage directors
have frequently been forced to technical marathons to be able to attune their vocal
pitch, timbre and intensity to the digital pattern of resolution. Often singers are asked to
sing half a tone or more higher in pitch, to achieve more brilliancy in the timbre, feeling
later the consequences in their own bodies (Pasqual Interview 11 Appendix 1).
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Since the last half of the twentieth century, the international circuit imposed on
singers continuous changes of climate and time settings, of opera houses and
companies, conductors and orchestras, resulting in a great deal of stress for singers.
Opera today has became a tour de force and the opera singer, an accomplished voice
athlete. The little time left for the singer to recover of the efforts of performance called
for the proportional increasing of technical support. In theatrical production the rhythm
and demands in performance have been also dramatically increased in the last half of
the twentieth century. However, the outset of the value of the perfectible in arts has also
contributed to encourage the ruling role of singers and actors vocal technics and
training since the beginning of this century. The believe that just a predictable and
perfectible performance can achieve the status of work of art, resulted in a constant
search for fixed acting styles, rigorously bounded to a number of precepts and
techniques.
The rationality ruling these techniques led to the reproduction of categorised
styles, and to allow the actors to perform every night (occasionally more than once
some nights), with no harm to their bodies and a guarantied quality, according to a
given pattern. In the context of the culture of artefacts, the implicit slogan is: to get
more results investing less. In this situation, the actors body become her/his capital and
the resulting performance, her/his good.
To conclude, todays opera high tech stages require sophisticated and expensive
equipment and highly trained professionals in all the positions of its line of production.
All this resulted in the centralisation of opera staging in great opera houses, which are
generally financed today by conservative trusts. If until the fifties many of these opera
houses staged contemporary productions, today they mostly restrict their seasons to a
carefully selected repertoire, predominantly non-contemporary, mainly according to the
sponsors choice.
Opera probably shows the effects in voice production resulting of the pressures
of technologies and the concentration of capital more clearly than any other genre in
arts, in a way that Benjamin could not even imagine in the 1930s. The tensions added to
opera through the evolution of technologies of reproduction, may be also detected in
theatrical performance. Technologic reproduction, emphasising the repeatability of the
work of art, turned transitory what seemed to be eternal. A sculpture from Ancient
Greece was conceived through an idea of eternity. Since the very moment in which it is
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finished, it configures an evidence of the experience of a whole tradition. This
tradition does not correspond to a genealogical pattern, it works by addition, giving
place to many unpredictable lines of flight in its evolution progression (Benjamin 1982
pp.225-6).
However, the process continue. The solid marble which it is made of, is in a
process of continued modification. The environmental conditions and the ageing add
more levels to this continuous action. Besides this material process, our perception of a
work of art itself modifies through the times, so we tend to build up different patterns of
representation in different contingencies, which by its time interact with the work of art
itself. In a culture ruled by the value of eternal, theatrical performance would
exclusively hold its ritual value. Decaying the value of eternal, dominant for ages in
Western culture, the ephemeral quality of live performance gains significance. In
opposition to mechanic repeatability, the protean quality of live performance, which use
to be seen as its weakest point, and in Benjamin times was seen as directly responsible
for its crisis in a mass media society, gradually became its mayor strength.
The liberation of the hand of the process of reproduction, opportunely noticed
by Benjamin, resulted in its progressive acceleration, and the privilege of the eye among
all senses. However, the technologies of reproduction liberated not just the hand but the
whole body of the assignments related to the reproduction of the work of art,
considering the voice in this notion of body. The new languages, as photograph, audiorecording and film, incorporating mechanical means to their production, established a
particular and new distance to the performer body. This process of disembodiment in art
reproduction and production, crucially modified the use and perception of the body in
all kinds of performance.
Our technology, according to Benjamin, is the most emancipated ever. In his
view, it creates in the arts a kind of second nature as we stated above. The twentieth
century is characterised then as the antithesis of pre-historical times, when technology
and art were absolutely fused to magic ritual. However, in strict relation to this sort of
second nature, second body and second voice produced by technology we face a
situation similar to that of the pre-historical men and women, having to learn everything
about nature. This second nature of representation have been explored through the
tracks of visibility. To the purposes of this work, we should think not only in the
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universe of orality and vocality, but also the sphere of aurality, that determines voice
and speech uses and place in contemporary performance.
Benjamin recalls Pirandello, who saw the actor in the cinema as disembodied,
exiled from the stage and from himself. In the very beginning of cinema, actors lost
even their voices. In 1932 Arnheim declared that the last stage will be reached when
the interpreter become a scenic accessory, chosen by its characteristics, and displayed in
the right place. This states the early perception that is to say that the effectiveness of an
actor in the cinema increases when s/he acts/ less, becoming pure representation.
Directors such as Robert Wilson have lately proposed this kind of project for theatre. It
illustrates both the visionary words of Arnheim and the interplay between the
performing languages, when an ideal originated in one language, becomes actualised in
another language.
Benjamin clearly discerns between screen and stage acting. The totally
situational acting for cinema represented a rupture in relation to stage acting. However,
theatre, cinema, and all kinds of performance (including political manifestations) have
been constantly territorialising each other, since then, through their practice, the thought
they produce and the technologies they apply.
Today, fragmented sections organised with a non linear logic, determined by a
number of random factors extrinsic to a unitary idea of character, are not exclusive to
cinema acting. They are frequently present on theatrical stages, where actors often play,
without entering in a character, guided for a specific task to accomplish and searching
to attain an effective intensity in each scene. This exchange processed in arts language
as a whole, established a constant and multidirectional transformation. As a result,
periodically, cinema responds to a purging impulse of filming with natural light, out of
studios, with little fragmentation and rehearsal, from which the language is also
transformed. The camera, which is not neutral, can be identified in theatrical practice
with the role of the director. Probably some of the huge power of theatre directors in
this century may respond to the influence of cinema in theatre.
The interface cinema/theatre have multiplied its effects through TV, super 8,
video, etc. This is patent in the increasing importance of certain actors material
characteristics as strict patterns of beauty, particular physical skills, etc., while size, in
terms of body and voice, which used to be decisive for theatrical stage, is now an
irrelevant characteristic. New patterns of thought have also aroused, accompanying this
94
multiple process among mass media and art languages. The unitary idea of the subject
have resigned its hegemonic status to new performative conceptions. All these come to
prove that a new form of art, once established, does not just overcomes the old one, but
installs an interplay which forwards not a dialectic, but a multiple evolution of all of
them, and the thought and perception patterns they produce.
What Benjamin defined as value of cult and value of exposure have been also
territorialising each other since the beginnings of mass reproduction. Mass fell the
illusion of control of what they see, which are those displayable scenes and celebrities
who passed the tests of the camera. Champions in sports, autocrat politicians and stars
in the field of arts are the centre of the public scene. Theatre resistance to technological
reproduction left it out of the mass circuit. This peripheral situation weakened its
efficacy as a language in a mass media society. However, the media omnipresence
achieved today restore to theatrical performance its political significance. As Phelan
stated, live performance becomes itself through disappearance. Without seeking to
preserve itself through a stabilised copy, it plunges into visibility -in a maniacally
charged present- and disappears into memory, into the realm of the invisibility and the
unconscious where it eludes regulation and control (Phelan 1993 p. 148).
95
Questions of Representation: Voice and Theory.

Martins survey of theoretical production related to the question of the word in
contemporary drama is a probably the only published work on this matter. The
contribution of Russian formalism, Czech structuralism, hermeneutics and semiotics
are there considered in detail. Martins review of theoretical tendencies in theatre in
the twentieth century bear out the dominance of literary criticism, from Russian
formalism to deconstructionism, and sciences influence, through linguistics,
psychology and medicine (Martin 1991 pp.11-32).
Martin acknowledges a number of approaches to voice on stage, indicating
how these theoretical tendencies have influenced vocal training in the twentieth
century. A psychological approach, influenced by Realism, romantic or formalist and
structuralist approaches, and what she calls they new styles, which she defines as a
blend of technique and truth. A structural approach to vocal delivery resulted in the
categorisation of the characteristic multiplicity of voice production in a number of
main instances of work. Among them, pitch, quality and loudness correspond to
frequency, timbre and volume, the constitutive instances of sound distinguished by
traditional music theory, while diction relates to word production. This account
highlights the current framing of voice work quite exclusively in the dimension of
vocal production, detached from its historical, social, and theoretical context. It also
shows the scant regard paid to the problematic of the performance of the theatrical
script on stage (Martin 1991 pp.32-47).
We can identify these new styles with Berry, Linklater and Rodenburgs
approaches, to which the problematics of truth and nature are crucial. (Martin 1991
pp.171-9). These new styles can be regarded as the main approaches to voice on
stage in English. In these specific cases, voice is produced in the old way,
emphasising the word while making it seem entirely natural. Martin sees an
influence of structuralism over these new styles, patent in their analytic approach to
voice. The lack of historical context to acting of these approaches to voice work, is
frequently regarded as an influence of Cambridge essentialism.
Their conceptual support is grounded in what Deleuze and Guattari call the
arborescent scheme, a binary thought structure, hierarchically organised from a
number of major conceptual oppositions, such as inner-external, nature-culture or
true-false, to cite just a few. The actors voice is then placed between these conceptual
96
poles, according to a dynamic of continuous shifting, a situation that confers to voice
and speech a kind of deceptive presence.
Stanislavski, Brecht and Artaud are also considered by Martin. Systematic,
formalist or anarchical in relation to acting and speech, their proposals clearly reflect
the concerns of the art of their times. These diverse approaches to voice respond to
particular conceptual principles, which result in different attitudes in terms of
practice.
In comparison to the consideration given to a significant number of linguistic
theoreticians, there is a brief reference in Martins book to Austins theory of speech
acts. His formulation of the performative and illocutionary spheres has had, for
Deleuze and Guattari, three main consequences:
It has made it impossible to conceive language as a code, []
to define semantics, syntactics, or even phonematics as scientific zones
of language independent of pragmatics, [ and] to maintain the
distinction between language and speech because speech can no longer
be defined simply as the extrinsic and individual use of a primary
signification, or the variable application of a pre-existing syntax. Quite
the opposite, the meaning or syntax of language can no longer be
defined independently of the speech acts they presuppose (Deleuze and
Guattari 1996 pp.77-8).
That pragmatics reveal a perception of language, is crucial to understand the

problematics of contemporary speech in theatre. However, many of the most relevant
theoretical approaches in the field of theatre studies do not explore the question in this
direction, preferring the linguistic-literary point of view in relation to the performance
of the text on stage.
Literary theory and linguistics have broadly influenced theatre practice since
the beginning of the twentieth century. As a consequence, there are scarce
considerations about sound and its performatic instances as a whole. Barthes, when
approaching the grain of voice in singing, and Kristeva, when she relates the use of
sound in poetry to primary sexual impulses, are some of the few authors that think
about the role of voice production in relation to language and performance (Selden
and Widdowson 1993 pp.141-2, 228). This indicates a grade of omission in relation to
speech in theatrical performance both, in reflection and practice.
Zumthor probably went further in framing the use of voice in his approach to
medieval poetry. He determines four levels of orality, differentiating orality, an
abstract and imprecise notion, from vocality, the vocal concrete and sensual
97
experience, as the historicity of a voice, in other words, its use (see Introduction
p.12 - Zumthor 1993 p.21). Zumthor sees our lack of perception in relation to the oral
text as a consequence of the establishment and diffusion of the written letter as a
central instance of knowledge production in Western culture. He associates the power
of the printed letter since the Renaissance in Europe with an extensive process of
privatisation in the arts. Human vocality was expelled from the medieval spaces of
generalised theatricalness, intimately connected with oral performance, to a cultural
periphery.
Harvey agrees with Zumthor when concluding that the Renaissance split the
senses of time and space in order to turn them scientific and supposedly factual, and
separated them from the more fluid conceptions that could emerge from the flux of
experience. Harveys observations about the evolution of the map illustrate a process
of representation, which goes from the sensual experience of the Middle Ages
traveller, to the rationalisation of space operated in France during the late sixteenth
century (Harvey 1989 p.223).
New technologies result in new patterns of representation and thought that,
affected by social contextual becomings, end by shaping new performance styles.
Benjamin sees in storytelling the oldest ground for the epic form which, in his view,
originated in all modern performance and literary forms. He frames storytelling, and
art that he defines as hand-crafted, as closely related to human sensual experience, in
the context of contemporary informational society. His reflections about memory and
his characterisation of information enlighten the contemporary context for human
vocality in performance.
Storytelling and contemporary vocality.

In 1936, Benjamin wrote The Storyteller - Reflections on the Works of Nikolai
Leskov (Benjamin 1982 pp.83-110). There he considers the particular devaluation of
sensual experience in the twentieth century, as a result of the adverse political and
economic situations configured in Europe which find a climax in the first Great War.
In Benjamins point of view, the decline of oral storytelling, which he acknowledged
in the 30s to be an art in extinction, is a symptom of such circumstances.
We see the storyteller today from a distance imposed by the social situation:
It is as if something that seemed inalienable to us, the securest among our
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possessions, were taken from us: the ability to exchange experiences (Benjamin 1982
p.83). Benjamin associates this phenomenon with the transformations suffered by the
ethical world, which has also modified our image of the exterior world: experience
has fallen in value. And it looks as if it is continuing to fall into bottomlessness.
Benjamin focuses here again on the effect that the contemporary uncontrolled
evolution of technologies has on human vocality, which he perceives as a basic
ground for human experience:
With the [First] World War a process began to become
apparent which has not halted since then. Was it not noticeable at the
end of the war that men returned from the battlefield grown silent-not
richer, but poorer in communicable experience? What ten years later
was poured out in the flood of war books was anything but experience
that goes from mouth to mouth. And there was nothing remarkable
about that. For never has experience been contradicted more thoroughly
than strategic experience by tactical warfare, economic experience by
inflation, bodily experience by mechanical warfare, moral experience by
those in power. A generation that had gone to school on a horse-drawn
streetcar now stood under the open sky in a countryside in which
nothing remained unchanged but the clouds, and beneath these clouds,
in a field of force of destructive torrents and explosion, was the tiny,
fragile human body (Benjamin 1982 pp.83-4).
According to Benjamin, storytellers maintain fidelity to the times that Schiller

identifies as nave literature. They had always been bound to the people, particularly
to craftsmen. What is common to them is the ability to move in all directions through
diverse levels of experience, states Benjamin (Benjamin 1982 p.97).
The real extension of the narrative domains, in all its historical magnitude, can
only be perceived if considering the inter-penetration of the two archaic types, which
originated the subsequent families of storytellers: the resident master craftsman and
the travelling journeyman. If peasant and seamen were past masters of storytelling,
the artisan class was its university, combining the lore of faraway places and the lore
of the past. The medieval corporate system contributed to an extent to this interpenetration, when the wisdom of distant lands, brought home by the migrants, was
associated with the wisdom of the past, gathered by the sedentary worker (Benjamin
1982 p.85).
The nature of true storytelling has always had, even latently, a utilitarian
dimension. To Benjamin, storytelling practice seems to be today out of fashion
because the experiences are becoming less communicable. The storyteller, whose
sense of practice is characteristic, takes from the experience which he narrates, the
experience of his own or that recounted to him by others, incorporating what he tells
99
to the audiences experience. The usefulness of a story may take the form of a moral,
of a proverb or maxim practical advise (Benjamin 1982 p.86).
Further exploring the relation experience/vocality, he characterises the
storyteller as somebody who has counsel. To counsel is not to answer a question, but
to suggest the continuation of a story which is being narrated. So, in order to receive
counsel, first we need to be able to tell the story. Anybody could be receptive to
receive counsel. However, it would only be possible if s/he first verbalises her/his
situation. The counsel, woven in the living substance of the existence, has a name for
Benjamin: wisdom; it is the epic side of truth and, to Benjamin, it is also
extinguishing. (Benjamin 1982 pp.86-7).
The current diffusion of information, which always brings an attached
explanation, is to Benjamin the main thing responsible for the current decline of
storytelling. Today, information beholds the place that once belonged to the counsel:
...with the full control of the middle class, which has the press
as one of its most important instruments in fully developed capitalism,
there emerges a form of communication which, no matter how far back
its origin may lie, never before influenced the epic form in a decisive
way. But now it does exert such an influence. And it turns out that it
confronts storytelling as no less of a stranger than did the novel, but in a
more menacing way, and that it also brings about a crisis in the novel.
This new form of communication is information (Benjamin 1982 p.88).
Information is valuable only when it is new. It must be offered entirely and

immediately. A story, differently, does not expend itself. It preserves its forces, so
after a long time it is capable of developing itself again. Half of the storytelling art is
to avoid explanations, recalls Benjamin. The extraordinary, the miraculous might be
narrated with careful detail, but the psychological context of the action is not imposed
to the reader/listener (differently from what happens in relation to the modern novel
or naturalistic theatre), who is free to interpret the story as s/he wants.
Having completed its circuits, information becomes useless, generating the
need for new data to be consumed. The explanation attached to this always new data
induces certain interpretations, closed in the medias choice. In contrast, the narrated
episode reaches an amplitude that we cannot find in information, in the novel nor in
realistic theatre, which all tend to circumscribe events (Benjamin 1982 p.90). The
possibilities of interpretation are so widely open in storytelling, that we should better
talk about an open production of sense. These characteristics of storytelling disclose
the political strength of such an oral style.
100
Benjamin quotes Valerys idea of nature as the precious product of a long
chain of similar causes, to notice that we used to imitate this patience through
storytelling. Today, we just cultivate what can be abbreviated. Stories are also
ephemeral, but in a non-consumerist manner. This taste for the summary probably
results in a short life of information, motivated in the high prices of media spaces and
in the need to produce always new data to consume. The contemporary production of
short stories, emancipated from the oral tradition, do not allow anymore for the slow
superposition of fine and translucent covers, which were constituted by the successive
flux of stories (Benjamin 1982 p.93).
For Benjamin, the process that gradually expels the narrative from the sphere
of the living discourse, giving a new beauty to what is disappearing, is not a
symptom of decadence or a modern characteristic. It results from the secular
evolution of the productive forces. Like Zumthor, Benjamin links the ruptures in
Western vocality to political processes, pointing also to the territorialization of human
vocality by the letter. He is pessimistic in relation to the disappearance of the
storyteller as an inexorable evidence of the devaluation of human sensual shared
experience, disregarding the possibility of the configuration of new modes of human
communication that might reflect new vocal styles.
Martin and Linklater share the idea of a contemporary devaluation of vocality
as a symptom of moral decadence. The ethical system declining, in their vision, is that
of the classic perfect man which, according to the ideal model of the Greek citizen,
probably represents the earliest reference to Western logocentrism. Benjamin also
talks about changes in the ethic world in correspondence to the displacement of oral
storytelling in the cultural scene. To him, both are symptoms of the same phenomena:
the evolution of the forces of production. The ethical models considered by Benjamin
and the voice specialists show in this case clear divergences. Also differently from
Martin and Linklater, Benjamin never confounds systems of rhetoric, which are
totalizing versions of speechs normative bodies, with vocality. While rhetoric tends
to homogenise discourses according to a dominant ideology, the storytellers oral
discursiveness tends to a polyphony, resistant to state manoeuvres of control.
Regarding the link of voice work to the Shakespearean theatrical tradition,
Knowles has qualified the voices specialists position linking the retreat of
oral/rhetorical as a symptom of moral decadence, as a nave nostalgia of the early
101
days, associated with Cambridge essentialism (in Bulman 1996). The scant
development of the conceptual sphere in the voice books has not operated any kind of
resistance to the impregnation of a dominant discourse. However, the a-historical
approach is not a peculiarity to voice work; it extends to important contemporary
lines of acting which, in some cases, have no contact with Shakespearean tradition.
Considered thus, the lack of historical and social context in voice work and acting
might be better grounded in structuralism, a model obviously present in voice work
since the 1960s, with a lack of historical contextualisation as one of its main
characteristics.
The elegant concision that saved storytelling from psychological analysis is
what helped the listeners to memorise it, inclining them to tell the story some day. A
kind of peacefulness is required to listen to a story, points out Benjamin. Such an
uncommon state of being today might be the reason why the ability and aptitude for
listening is gradually disappearing along with the community of listeners. The more
self-forgetful the listeners are, the more they retain the story (Benjamin 1982 p.91).
For Benjamin, to tell stories was always the art of telling them again, an art
that disappears when the stories cannot be preserved. According to Benjamin, the
relationship between the listener and the storyteller is a nave one, dominated by the
interest to preserve the story, in order to safeguard its reproduction. This is
accomplished through the exercise of three main faculties: reminiscence,
remembrance and memory (Benjamin 1982 pp.91-7).
Memory is for Benjamin the epic faculty par excellence. Only a
comprehensive memory permits, on one side, the appropriation of the flow of events,
and on the other side, resignation with their disappearance under the power of death.
Memory records the various epic forms, which being the older forms, are a common
denominator to the others, in this case, the story, the novel or naturalistic theatre.
Memory weaves the net that all stories constitute, the chain of tradition, which passes
a happening on from generation to generation. Memory manifests in different forms
in the novel and in the story. The novelists memory is perpetuating and dedicated to
one hero, one odyssey, one battle. Benjamin identifies it as remembrance. The
storytellers reminiscence is short-lived and devoted to many diffused events. Both
originate in the epic memory (Benjamin 1982 pp.97-8).
102
Through this consideration of memory, Benjamin determines a highly
dynamic space for storytelling and for oral genres in general as well. We want to
highlight the peculiar relation of storytelling to memory, a short memory, utterly
contingent and infested with forgetting. However, storytelling is generally associated
with a kind of institutionalised long memory related to tradition as a state function.
Who listens to a story is in the company of the storyteller. Who reads a poem
is prone to recite it aloud to an occasional listener. Novel readers, on the contrary, are
solitary. They seek characters through which they can unveil the sense of life. They
need to be sure first of all, that they will participate in the death of the hero, even in
the figurative sense.
This sharing is consummated through the novels most crucial words: The
End. It invites the reader to reflect about life in the afterwards, a Western tendency,
as Phelan notices, which could be associated in Benjamins view to the influence of
the novel in Western culture. What seduces the novel reader is the possibility of
warming his shivering life with the death described in the book, says Benjamin.
Storytellings crucial words otherwise, have the form of a question: What happened
next? The sense of life and the morality of the story are what differentiates the
novel from storytelling (Benjamin 1982 p.100-1).
The net that retains the storytelling talent, constantly woven through the
exercise of the short memory, is today constantly undone, after being woven,
millenniums ago, close to the oldest forms of manual work. Enlightening the
materiality of speech, Benjamin declares that the storyteller marks what is narrated in
the same way as the craftsman marks the argyle. Storytelling, a handcrafted way of
communication, is alien to the industrial/technological society.
Post Structuralists Approaches.

Desire for Theory, Towards a Future without Theory.
The high degree of abstraction characteristic of Western intellectual tradition

is a basic epistemological concern for Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, who considers it as a
powerful and dangerous tendency, which risks losing contact with the concrete and
sensual dimensions of our experience (Gumbrecht 1994 p.391).
103
Gumbrecht points to the mimetic and the instrumental misconceptions of
theory. The instrumental misconception, popular in literary criticism, legitimates only
those theories capable of improving the techniques of textual interpretation. The
mimetic claims a relationship of adequacy between abstract theories and concrete
extra-theoretical realities. Theoretical innovation should be, he argues, considered
only in the case that they respond to changes in the real world. The restrictive
economies of instrumentality and mimetic correspondence, according to Gumbrecht,
set theory against reality. Reducing them to a reactive function, these views
understand theories as a part of those institutionalised structures of knowledge that
are human reality (Gumbrecht 1994 p.391)[Italics in the original].
Gumbrecht positions himself in this situation, defining theory as the space
where forms of human self-reference can be negotiated, using the word selfreference instead of identity here:
... because identity points to a historically and culturally
specific configuration of self-reference (perhaps exactly that
configuration of self-reference which the contemporary desire of theory
seeks to overcome). If social knowledge is reality and if theory is that
sector of theory that negotiates figures of human self-reference, then we
may assume that transformations of reality take place around
transformations of human self-reference as a centre of productive
instability (Gumbrecht 1994 p.392).
A conceptual reintegration of the human body should bring those phenomena,

traditionally defined as non-human, closer to new forms of human self-reference.
This movement might be associated with late theoretical tendencies of becoming less
anthropocentric or, in other words, more ecological. All this involves a desire, central
to the present work, to discuss functional equivalents between the human mind and
the human body on the one side and machines on the other, leaving the traditional
bias against anything technical. This desire may lead to a situation where a single
and very abstract (transcendental) definition of the human will is replaced by
multiple and more concrete models of human self-reference (Gumbrecht 1994 p.392)
[Italics in the original].
Gumbrechts materialities of communication may be defined as a desire in
theory, which integrates these three tendencies, toward less anthropocentric (less
spiritual), less antitechnological, and less transcendental forms of human selfreference. This negative formula refers to a stage of problematizing Western
theoretical heritage, rather than working toward their substitution, a transition that
104
might not be continuous. This desire for theory may well lead to a situation without a
form of self-reference that is exclusively human, without a construction of time
through which we can follow its transformation as narrative - and hence toward a
future without theory (Gumbrecht 1994 p.393) [Italics in the original].
The political dreams of the 1960s were based on Marxism as a set of
certainties, states Gumbrecht, in which ideological criticism functioned upon
substantialistic truth-claims. The only questions which remained open were those
concerning a strategy to subvert political order according to this truth (Gumbrecht
1994 pp.393-4). Derrida problematized this philosophical tradition which assumed
such a truth claim, and the group of assumptions that established a common
denominator among the dominant theoretical lines, which in Derridas view determine
Western logocentric thought: structuralism, Marxism and phenomenology.
Gumbrecht notices that Derrida sustains one side of his critique to
logocentrism considering it as a result of a continuous privileging of speech over
writing, as a totalizing model for human communication and interaction within the
tradition of Western thought. Occasionally there also appears in his early work, as a
complementary side and under the guiding concept of criture, speculations about a
different class of thought, repressed under logocentrism (Gumbrecht 1994 p.394).
Gumbrecht points to what he identifies as the main elements of a
deconstructivist anti-logocentric side.
Derrida argues that only speech provides the impression of a
self-presence of thought and meaning (we hear ourselves speaking while
we speak) on which any Western philosophy of consciousness is based,
whereas the completion of meaning is infinitely deferred by the
sequential character of any written of printed text. The aspect of selfpresence functions as a precondition for the idea of a subject controlling
its own acts and its own speech; in addition, by excepting language from
the destabilising effects of time as deferral (or diffrance), selfpresence fosters the illusion that it is possible to attribute stable, selfidentical meanings to individual texts and words -an illusion that
strengthens the position of the subject, emphasizes its instrumental
relationship to language, and confirms, through the idea of language as a
mediating instrument, its claim to controlling a world of objects
(Gumbrecht 1994 pp.394-5).
Only under such a notion of meaning identity can structuralism try to analyse
content as constituted in binary semantic oppositions. Logocentric thought tends to
dismiss the exteriority of language, its physical side, because of the ephemeral status
of the sounds that constitute speech. This exclusion of language exteriority is
relevant in the understanding of the absence of the human body as a topic within the
105
humanities. Surprisingly, Derrida and subsequent forms of deconstructionism, pay
scant attention to exteriority as an anti-logocentric element (Gumbrecht 1994 p.395).
The reintegration of the body into our models of human self-reference is a
point of strong convergence among otherwise diverging contemporary theory
positions; a goal impossible to achieve on the basis of the conceptual repertoires
inherited from the tradition of the humanities (Gumbrecht 1994 p.392).
Deconstruction has lately developed a strong interest in the analysis of those
textual structures and rhetorical forms that generate effects of meaning and illusions
of reference. Under the assumption that only literary texts may offer a possibility for
logocentric openings, if such a possibly exists at all, Derridas work became more
literary (Gumbrecht 1994 p.396). As Gumbrecht points out:
It seems to be their -perhaps problematic- claim that at least
some concerns of the antilogocentrism inaugurated by Derrida can be
maintained and actively pursued in a discourse that is still logocentric
(Gumbrecht 1994 p.397).
In order to deconstruct the hierarchy established by the couple speech/writing,

Derrida approaches speech as a species of writing, disregarding it as a sensual shared
experience. According to this view, to interpret oral signs we have to exclude the
accidental phonic substance, that is to say, the sound, in order to recover a pure form.
It not only negates Austins position, above acknowledged, but denotes an approach
to speech permeated by a literary perception.
Derrida refers to phonocentrism as a classic feature of logocentrism, the
privileging of speech over writing, which ignores difference and insists upon speechs
self-presence. Derrida acknowledges that Austin breaks with logocentric thought by
recognising that speech does not have to represent something to produce meaning. He
also suggests that the repeatability of the speech act is more fundamental than its
attachment to a context (Selden and Widdowson 1993 pp.144-9).
Speech has been generally confounded as rhetoric. Searching for repeatability
instead of variability and multiplicity of effects, rhetoric is also impregnated by the
written. Written and spoken establish and interplay, which is weakened when one
instance imposes its own devises, restricting the others space. Derrida neutralises
Austin and Searles differentiation between serious performatives and fictional
parasitic discourses, determining that both involve repetition and citation, instances
that he identifies as typical of the written. If repetition and citation are
106
characteristics of writing, speech is determined by a multiplicity of simultaneous
instances, which also erase the possibility of a differentiation between serious and
parasitic discourses.
According to Deleuze and Guattari, speech acts are, and can only be,
accomplished in the statement, a peculiarity that Derrida does not consider in his
efforts to invert a binarism in which valuation is also arguable.
Metaphors and metonymies are merely effects; they are part of
language only when they presuppose indirect discourse. There are many
passions in passion, all manner of voices in a voice, murmuring,
speaking in tongues [] all discourse is indirect [] language is a map
Characterising language as indirect discourse Deleuze and Guattari privilege

the ear over the eye. Their formulation of language clearly moves forward the binary
opposition written/spoken to the performativity of speech as variation and
multiplicity. It is not the case to deny binary opposition endorsing a new opposition:
arborescent/non arborescent, but to formulate a thought which does not negate, but
contains the arborescent scheme in a wider theoretical context.
Inverting the value of the binary opposition speech/writing, deconstruction
remains in a conceptual arborescent domain, which limits the characterisation of
speech in many senses. Restricting speech to a dynamics of shifting, we lose its
variable and nomadic dynamic. The very opposition speech/writing does not consider
speech in a broad sense, referring to its normative sphere of rhetoric. The systematic
overlooking of human vocality in contemporary culture, its abstract framings, which
misses its materiality, its very actuality, the misperception of speech as rhetorical
devices, indicate that to approach the use of voice in contemporary theatre has not
been and is still not an easy task.
The group and experimental approaches dominant since the 1960s can be
seen, among other political factors, as a response to the literary overloading in theatre
reflection, scripts and performance. Collective creation, happenings and other scenic
proposals were frequently founded in the denial of the script. Mass media culture,
encouraged certain performance styles with general disregard to the actors vocality
and the scripts, which influenced contemporary theatrical acting. However, the
influence exerted by both literature and mass media, exceeding the classic boundaries
of theatre studies and practice, is still overlooked in the field of the actors
preparation.
107
Words became a point of resistance also to the late developments in
transcultural theatre, which expanded the semiotic approach to the spectacle and the
body. This recent experimental movement not only reproduced again a theatrical use
of literary tools, it also stressed the idea of speech as a code, related to a disembodied
intellect, and a physical, organic and corporeal kind of pure voice, not contaminated
by words. This approach gave rise to the new opposition voice/speech.
As a consequence, a number of approaches have tended lately to
underestimate not just the role of voice, but the consideration of the actors
performance, especially in relation to speech. All kind of fragmented scripts, which
disregard the logic of their performance, the movement from the script to the
spectacular text, and the denial of script and speech at all, have been outcomes of
the recent efforts to free theatre of literary overloading. The theatrical script, basically
a non-literary text close to poetry and storytelling as an oral genre, acknowledged
the late consequences of this kind of framing.
Market pressure in theatre contributed to enlarge the gap between practice and
reflection. Practitioners, have been impelled to produce according to the urgent
demands of the cultural market, which made them remain alienated from reflection.
The reflection, dominated by literary thinking, has been frequently developed by
critics and theoreticians, who often have little or no experience in the routine of
theatrical performance.
Acting techniques became useful actors tools to get more with less effort, in
the best capitalist manner. Mistaking technique as reflection, ignoring the interplay
among actors and society, and developing a reflection away from theatre practice,
created a gap between theory and practice in theatre that today is difficult to bridge.
Several attempts to set up a debate in the field have failed because of the lack of
common assumptions between the parts and the impossibility of crossings between
the discourses of both the practice and the reflection. In this context, Performance and
Performance Studies may offer alternatives to overcome such an impasse.
To Be, To Act, To Become.

Performance today can be understood as a contested concept, as a function, as
a new genre, as a fusion genre, as a multidisciplinary genre, as event, as political or
environmental intervention, as ritual, bare action or presence. Despite the differences,
108
looking back to the twentieth century from any of these perspectives it is possible to
affirm that performance redefined Western culture in every field. Arts, theatre,
politics, market, theory as well as day to day life have been overhauled through
performance
studies
and
practice,
uncovering
social
performativity
while
simultaneously blurring disciplinary bounds.

Fischer-Lichte defines Western culture as a predominantly performative
culture. However, in the first half of the twentieth century, with the establishment of
the market through the mass media circuit, it became a culture of artefacts. Since the
1950s, performance production as a whole positioned itself against the dominant
culture of artefacts:
The artefact dominated the performance process to such an
extent that its production (writing, composing, painting, sculpting), or its
transformation into a performance (in theatre and concert) as well as of
the performance itself and its reception, had almost entirely slipped out
of sight. The untitled event dissolved the artefact into performance
(Fischer-Lichte 1997 p.23).
To achieve that, performance positioned also against theatre. Performance

recalls the permanent existence of the performative in theatre practice, disregarded
until the 1950s by practitioners and scholars. Many authors see dadaists soires and
futurists serate as inaugurating the performance era, while Fischer-Lichte sees them
as forerunners of Cages untitled event when a crucial shift took place. While the
first
... focused on the destructive forces of their performances in
order to shock the audiences -pater le bourgeois- and to destroy
bourgeois culture, Cages event emphasised the new possibilities
opening up not only for the artists but also for the audiences. The
performative mode here was applied as a means of liberating the
spectators in their act of perceiving and creating meaning (FischerLichte 1997 p.24).
Since then, space, time and audiences have been deeply redefined through
performance. In this context, theatre may be seen today as a particular case of cultural
performance. This performative movement opened a new space for reflection,
unconsidered by theatre theoreticians until then. In this situation, performance studies
became the place for both, experimentation and reflection, which made it possible to
frame the performative body and to open the boundaries of theatricality to every
possible field. From this broad point of view, performance may be seen not just as an
answer to the artefact culture, but as the biggest rupture in the process of the
privatisation of the arts, initiated in the Renaissance, to a renewed situation of
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generalised theatricalness. In this process, the theatrical script has probably been
one of the most resistant instances.
When critics and theoreticians are today inclined to perceive even their own
texts as performances, the difficulty in approaching the performativity of the
theatrical script, a text that has been always explicitly written to be performed, is a
paradox. It is patent in the frequent resistance to the authors script, in the difficulties
that actors often face today when approaching a text in performance, as well as in the
scant attention paid to the actors vocality by the current production of critical and
cultural studies.
While not just literature but history and the sciences acknowledge their own
performativity, theatre seems to be still struggling to liberate the script from an old
idea which relates it to literature and to the means of analysis it produced. Berry,
Linklater and Rodenburg certainly intended to transfer directly their practice to voice
texts, in order to avoid the constraint imposed by this kind theoretical frame,
predominant in contemporary theatre, which do not seem to be competent to consider
the peculiarity of the actors vocality.
However, their efforts have been limited by the widespread view of speech
linked to a particular idea of literature, still dominant in theatre practice and studies.
When voice coaching as a whole became an easy target for many critics, it is
important to stress that the problems strictly related to speech on stage are not
exclusive to voice coaches and the views they sustain. There is an urgent need to reinscribe culturally the actors vocality in theatre practice and studies in the context of
contemporary theatre and culture.
The reflections on silence and screams aroused in the field of performance
studies is undoubtedly highly productive. Works by authors such as Hrvatim focused
on these extreme boundaries of voice delivery, allude to a territory of vocality which
has been persistently overlooked in terms of conceptual reflection. (Hrvatim 1997
pp.82-91). However, the interest of the present work is not restricted to the
exploration of the singular place of voice and speech in performance.
We intend to focus on the machines of training and ideologies constantly at
work over this territory of vocality, considering that under the present conditions
actors tend to become less capable to find creative path to the performance of the
theatrical script. This situation is not restricted today to classical theatre and poetry.
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To perform twentieth century authors such as Beckett, Pinter or Kolts, requires a
competence in terms of speech and textual performance that most actors lack today.
Unless we decide to agree with some tendencies that intend to erase the
theatrical script, storytelling and the performance of poetry from the cultural map,
suppressing theatre and the spoken word of the field of arts, we should agree that the
vocality of contemporary actors requires urgent attention. Speech is not a question of
pervasive nostalgia, it is a broad question, with political and philosophical borders.
However, if it is true that contemporary theatre has became more
performative, this process has certainly been less radical when facing theatrical
scripts, especially those written before the 1960s. The cultural overloading of these
scripts and the heavy link between them and literature and its correspondent means of
analysis, might be some of the reasons for this situation. In other words, these scripts
have been enclosed to a restricted place in culture, where they become crystallised.
Fischer-Lichte recognises in the untitled event the starting point of a main
transformation in theatre, comparable to the change operated in language by Austins
theory. While performance theorists often thematise the theory of the speech acts, it
remains largely ignored in theatre studies and voice work. This confirms the alien
status of actors vocality, even in the very theatrical context.
What Austins theory of speech acts accomplished with regard
to the knowledge of language, Cages untitled event realised for
theatre. Suddenly, that which theatre artists and spectators had known
intuitively and practised for ages became evident: theatre not only fulfils
a referential function, but a performative one, too (Fischer-Lichte 1997
p.24).
Defining theatre as a specific form of cultural performance, it is possible to

transpose theoretical formulations from one field to another. This is Phelans position,
when analysing theatrical performance, film, photography, visual arts and political
performance with the same theoretical approach. What she actually examines in all
the cases approached in Unmarked is the relation between representational visibility
and political power (Phelan 1993 p.1).
Phelan places her analysis at the intersection of Lacanian psychoanalysis and
quantum physics, focusing on the economy of visibility through the theory of
representation. This conceptual crossing, together with her epistemological
interrogations about the role of institutions of Higher Education dedicated to
performance studies and production, is highly productive for examining the actors
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vocality today in performance and training. I propose to maintain this conceptual
crossing, to consider the human vocality from the point of view of the subject, the
body and the institutions, in this case, schools and theatres. However, if Phelan's
crossing persists in this study, the tolls change according to the needs of our object of
study: I propose schizoanalysis, instead of Lacanian psychoanalysis, multiplicity
instead of deconstruction, to approach the present enquiry in relation to the aural/oral
economy of voice.
Deleuze and Guattari notice that psychoanalytic conceptual discourse did not
escape the established relations of power. In their view, the psychoanalytic
representation of desire, based in a lack or need, is a capitalist device that deforms the
unconscious, internalising to the subject a set of power relations as a result, not of
repression, but of oppression within the family:
Schizoanalysis would, conversely, construct an unconscious in
which desire constitutes an untrammelled flow -an energy which is not
contained by Oedipal anxiety but is a positive source of new
beginnings: schizoanalysis means the liberation of desire. Where
paranoiac unconscious desire territorializes - in terms of nation,
family, church, school, etc. - a schizophrenic one deterritorializes,
offering a subversion of these (capitalist) totalities (Selden - Widdowson
1993 p.143).
Schizoanalysis, as well as art, can subvert and free itself from social systems
of power and control. In terms of the formation of the subject, Deleuze and Guattari
bring the performative notion of becoming which, as it dissolves the essentialism
implicit in the idea of being, could be extremely productive for the present study.
Their critique of psychoanalysis extends to linguistics and the theory of representation
through one of their main concepts: the rhizome, which comes to displace the
arborescent scheme, a binary centred thought system, dominant in Western culture.
The multiple must be made, not by always adding a higher
dimension, but rather in the simplest of ways, by dint of sobriety, with
the number of dimensions one already has available - always n - 1 (the
only way the 1 belongs to the multiple: always subtracted). Subtract the
unique from the multiplicity to be constituted; write at n - 1 dimensions.
A system of this kind could be called a rhizome []
being the rhizome characterised through the following principles:

1 and 2. Principles of connection and heterogeneity: any point
of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be. [] 3.
Principle of multiplicity: it is only when the multiple is effectively
treated as a substantive, multiplicity, that it ceases to have any relation
to the One as subject or object, natural or spiritual reality, image and
world. 4. Principle of asignifying rupture: against the oversignifying
breaks separating structures or cutting across a single subject [] Every
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rhizome contains lines of segmentarity according to which it is stratified,
territorialized, organised, signified, attributed, etc. as well as lines of
deterritorialization down which it constantly flees. There is a rupture in
the rhizome whenever segmentary lines explode in a line of flight, but
the line of flight is part of the rhizome. These lines always tie back to
one another. That is why one can never posit a dualism or a dichotomy,
even in the rudimentary form of the good and the bad [] the products
of an active and temporary selection, which must be renewed [] 5 and
6. Principle of cartography and decalcomania: a rhizome is not amenable
to any structural or generative model (Deleuze and Guattari 1980-96
pp.6-10).
Phelan makes clear that representation always conveys more that it intends;
and is never totalizing, however her grounding in Lacanian psychoanalysis brings her
to a place where conceptual dichotomies are quite unavoidable. The idea of the
Unmarked as the Real-real against the representational establishes the main
dichotomy in her work (Phelan 1993 p.3).
As Deleuze and Guattari noticed, conceptual dichotomies are always
organised in genealogical and hierarchical orders, which they call arborescent
schemes. Deconstruction and the negative dialectics, inverting the poles of the
conceptual oppositions, enlighten its hierarchical organisation, while remaining in
binary domains. This is not a productive ground to think about voice and speech
because it tends to define the voice as an in between two opposite poles, instead of
tuning into its nomadic flowing.
The arborescent scheme, declare Deleuze and Guattari, has grown in the field
of social sciences, linguistic and psychoanalysis, overcoming many other fields of
Western cultural and critical thought. The power manoeuvres it establishes through its
conception of a core unity cannot grasp the notion of vocality, which operates by
subtraction of the unity, that is to say, in the multiplicity (Deleuze and Guattari 1996
pp.3-21).
The concept of vocality resists hierarchical organisation. Binarisms,
ineffective to apprehend it, submit the notions of voice and speech to a conceptual
violence, producing discourses that are unable to consider the dynamics of its many
simultaneous instances, unexpected flows and lines of flight. Even a dialectic process
is not enough to frame the uses of a voice. The rhizome, capable of holding all these
forms, including the binary, the multiplicity and unexpected flows of vocality, suits it
conceptually, provoking an extremely productive shift.
Phelan crosses psychoanalysis with the theories of Quantum Physics and
Prigogines considerations about the Second Time; Deleuze and Guattari refer to the
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virus theory. All these new theories signified a crucial rupture in the rationalist
paradigm of science. These scientific theories configure another dimension of the
transformations provoked by technology in contemporary thought, the echoes of
which can be felt in our way of thinking and perceiving the body.
Detecting the interference operated by the observer over the observed
phenomenon, Quantum physicists faced the impossibility of exact measurement.
Prigogine concluded that time is not always reversible, but rather additive at a
microscopic level. Considering this second time, if time could be observable, it may
not be a neutral constant in the universe.
Benveniste and Todaro observed that under certain conditions, a virus can
connect to germs cells and () move into the cells of an entirely different species, but
not without bringing with it genetic information from the first host. (in Deleuze
and Guattari 1996 p.10). This may prove that evolution does not strictly follow a
genealogical arborescent pattern, but rather a rhizomatic anti-genealogical model.
The consideration of these theories signified a crucial rupture in the production of
knowledge, which led to what Phelan calls an epistemology of uncertainties (Phelan
1993 p.20). They are also crucial to think the body and the body in performance.
Theatre is produced by actors inter-playing with an audience. In this precise
situation, the physic, the subjective, the social, historical and political establish an
intersection. The psychical body in a situation of performance, its means of
perception, the visual and aural economies they produce and the place and space in
which all this takes place, from the very site of performance to the social and political
and institutional context, coincide to configure the historical contingency.
Voice training for acting isolates the actor from the audience and from the
rest of the figures of theatre practice, considering only the size of the performance
space as a variable of analysis. Todays technological environment drastically
changed our way to use the body and our conceptual framework. Consequently, it
cannot be ignored when thinking about the actors voice and speech in performance
as well as the preparation of his/her body for the performing activity.
What Deleuze and Guattari offer is not simply an interpretative strategy of
methodology, but a rethinking of the relationship between language, literature,
thought, desire, action, social institutions and material reality (Bogue 1993 pp.7-8).
We believe that to understand the problematic of the actors voice today requires a
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careful examination of the above instances in the context of theatrical production in
which language may be framed in a broad sense.
Language in-disciplines.
To Deleuze and Guattari, language and its specific translative movement are
indirect. It does not go from a first part to a second, but from a second to a third. If we
suggested approaching the theatrical script as an unstable map, Deleuze and Guattari
go further affirming that language itself is a map, not a tracing [] The map has to
do with performance, whereas the tracing always involves an alleged competence.
(Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.12-3).
The only possible definition of language is the set of all orderwords, implicit pre-suppositions, or speech acts current in a language at
a given moment. Order-words are not a particular category of explicit
statements (for example, in the imperative), but the relation of every
word and every statement to implicit presuppositions, in other words, to
speech acts that are, and can only be, accomplished in statement. Orderwords do not concern commands only, but every act that is linked to
statements by a social obligation (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.79).
The performativity of speech has been associated with a kind of practical

intelligence, which allows the speaker to play the moment, closer to the playfulness of
sophistic tactics than to the strategic regulation of rhetoric:
Plato and a long line of puritans and positivists have denigrated
the sophists for their performative and protean qualities, their nonseriousness, their tendency to to resist closure and extend play []
Sophistic tactics resist systematisation and totalizing discourses because
they are dispersed and nomadic; they are difficult to administer because
they cannot be pinned down (Conquergood 1992 p.82).
De Certeau suggests that Aristotelian rhetoric may be understood as a

dominant strategy of containment and control of troublesome sophistic tactics,
understanding tactics as an art of the weak. What Aristotle condemns as fraudulent
and out of place, De Certeau appreciates as a tactical manoeuvre (De Certeau in
Conquergood 1992 p.83).
As both terms, rhetoric and speech, are frequently mistaken as synonyms, it is
crucial for the present study to carefully determine them. We want to settle speech, as
human language experienced orally and aurally, into the wider concept of vocality, to
better differentiate it from rhetoric, or the state strategies of language. Vocality is a
fluid and wide notion, involving voice production, speech and silence. From this
perception, speech itself configures a map settled in a corporeal plane of consistency,
115
by successive contractions and expansions. The performativeness of speech is a
crucial factor which differentiates it from the fixed normative body of rhetoric.
Rhetoric relates to a dominant ethos, a totalizing strategy, to predictability,
and to a dominant truth, involving a sense of theory as opposed to praxis. Speech is
bonded with performativity, improvisation, playfulness, and contingent tactics. An
oral performance is not readable, is not predictable, cannot be measured or controlled
unless it is shaped by the precepts of rhetoric or literature, which qualify a given
speech as readable and proper (see Chapter One p.23 - De Certeau in Conquergood
1988 p.83).
Visual and aural economies take place within the body. Configuring
languages, their territorializations and their lines of flights are susceptible to being
mapped. Even affecting each other and sharing the same corporeal ground, the visual
and the aural maintain certain independence in relation to each other, as we will see.
A body is not defined by the form that determines it nor as a
determinate substance or subject nor by the organs it possesses or the
functions it fulfils. On the plane of consistency, a body is defined only
by a longitude and a latitude: in other words the sum total of the
material elements belonging to it under given relations of movement and
rest, speed and slowness (longitude); the sum total of the intensive
affects it is capable of at a given power or degree of potential (latitude).
Nothing but affects and local movements, differential speeds [] There
is a mode of individuation very different from that of a person, subject,
thing or substance (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.260-261).
De Certeau brings the question to a point where a difference between the

economy of visibility and an aural economy can be focused. Phelans axiomatic link
between the image and the word: what one can see is in every way related to what
one can say (Phelan 1993 p.2), may be then reconsidered. The aural sphere,
deceiving in terms of representation, multidirectional and ephemeral, challenges
totalizing control, turning a panaural practice highly un-probable. Therese Grishams
examination of their Plateau 4 underlines a number of concepts, crucial to a better
definition of vocality and rhetoric.
Grisham has noticed, that Plateau 4 escapes the field of linguistics at the very
points at which the authors use terminology of linguistic or quote important linguists.
It goes far beyond critique, concentrating on the in-disciplines at work in linguistics,
not only in terms of minor uses of language, but within the history of the field itself
(Grisham 1991 pp.43-51).
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In Deleuze and Guattaris view, linguistics establishes a constant ideal truth of
language (langue or competence), as an object researched through a proper mode of
rationality, according to Foucault. This attitude talks about a kind of ignorance about
the specific reality of language, which only appears as a certain interjection (the
sign) between speaking and thinking (Grisham 1991 pp.44).
Grisham stresses that concepts, in Deleuze and Guattari, vanish when they are
no longer useful, appearing again in an altered form somewhere else. They are
specific rather than universal. Conceptual tools must be suited to the specificity of
what is being analysed. Minor literature, nomadic thought, pragmatics are ways not
models to deterritorialize state functions (Grisham 1991 p.44).
Deleuze and Guattari do not ask What is language?, but rather in what
cases, where and when, how does language function? Pragmatics has historically
designated all that is outside linguistic studies. Subverting the term to deterritorialize
it, Deleuze and Guattaris pragmatics are immanent to a consideration of language.
Meaning lies in the position assumed by language in a power relation and not in
representation. Pragmatics approach language politically, involving the evaluation of
the internal variables of enunciation in relation to the aggregate of circumstances
To Deleuze and Guattari, language is neither communicational nor
informational. The communicational approach presupposes subjectivities prior to it.
In their view, it is language redefined in socio-political terms, which produces
subjectivity. From the informational perspective, it is assumed that language transmits
messages containing orders, clear to anyone that has a basic education. Information is
the minimum necessary for the transmission of an order (Grisham 1991 p.44). This
recalls Benjamins perception about information as a main factor in the devaluation of
human vocality, which finds in storytelling infinite lines of flight.
Deleuze and Guattari focus on the statement I sentence you to determine
their notion of the speech act. As a performative statement it accomplishes the act by
speaking, but not because it refers to other statements or external acts. A performative
fulfils the act because it is socially and politically empowered by what Oswald Ducrot
define as implicit or non-discursive presuppositions, which in this case are those
related to a whole juridical apparatus that distributes subjectivations, meeting in the
figure of the judge (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.80-1).
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The illocutionary are the acts accomplished in speech or writing. Classified
separately from the performative of Austin, the illocutionary constitute implicit
presuppositions for Deleuze and Guattari. Consequently, in their view the
performative is a subset of the illocutionary, which derives its power from its
connection to collective assemblages of enunciation; in this case, a whole aggregate
of juridical texts, acts, and speech acts which constitute the law.
I sentence you is a statement. Statements are actual and material, standing
strategically opposed to the ideal abstraction of linguistics. They contain incorporeal
transformations, which are those that make possible an accused to become a convict.
Nothing physically happened but, by virtue of attribution, of socio-political
configuration, a decisive event of speech transforms the body of the accused into the
body of a convict.
An accused/convict is simultaneously a social body and a biological body. To
affect his bodies affects the other bodies that he will come into contact with, such as
the body of a prison. The commission of the crime belongs to the order of collective
assemblages of enunciation; bodies reacting to each other, to their affects and
passions. This is what Deleuze and Guattari call machinic assemblage of bodies.
The incorporeal transformation has at its heart the order-word. It connects
speech and acts in a relation of redundancy. It is the word or phrase that arranges
social bodies and demands obedience. It is the fundamental unit of the statement,
connecting it to implicit presuppositions, collective assemblages of enunciation and
machinic assemblages of bodies. I is an order word as it imposes a different
discipline in each position it is uttered (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.78-9).
The concept order-word, Grisham points out, destroys the structuralist dualism
subject of the statement / subject of enunciation, since it immediately demands and
accomplishes subjectivation, through the incorporeal transformation it exerts. Each
time the word I is uttered it becomes another word, even grammatically or
phonologically, conveying a different configuration of power relations, a different
encounter of forces (Grisham 1991 p.46).
Order-words have two modes: limitative and expansive. The limitative are
those which order death, capture in forms, and accomplish a function of reterritorialization. The expansive or pass-word give a message to flee; they push
language to its limits and bodies to metamorphosis:
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There are pass-words beneath order words. Words that pass,
words that are components of passage... A single thing or word
undoubtedly has this twofold nature: it is necessary to extract one from
the other - to transform the composition of order into components of
passage (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.110).
Assemblages always suppose the possibility of flight or deterritorialization.

The continual ordering of flight and reterritorialization is what makes up power
relations. Deleuze and Guattari define indirect discourse as a translative movement
proper to language. In their view, it is actually the first determination of language,
denying linguistic communicational or informational function:
If language always seems to presuppose itself, if we cannot
assign it a non-linguistic point of departure, it is because language does
not operate between something seen (or felt) and something said, but
always goes from saying to saying (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.76-7).
To approach language as indirect discourse enlightens the un-totalizing nature

of language, which then becomes theoretical and not simply factual. In Deleuze and
Guattari, language as indirect discourse is an extensive notion, which involves the
vast echo of other sayings, all the voices in a voice, murmurings, speaking in
tongues. As the order-word, languages also has two modes. Its limitative mode
provides a matrix for the transmission of order-words, since an order always and
already concerns prior orders. Languages expansive mode, provides a force for the
continuous variation of language. (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.75-77).
Labovs notion of linguistic variation intends to destroy the notion of
synchronic constants, but ends by making language homogeneous in principle. Every
system supposes variation. A system cannot be defined by its constants or
homogeneity, but only by its open variability, whose characteristics are immanent and
continuous (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.93-4).
Statements and subjectivities are worked from within languages systems,
through these continuous variations. Each utterance is unique not only because the
context or situation in which it is uttered, but because
all the statements are present in the effectuation of one among
them, so that the line of variation is virtual, in other words, real without
being actual, and consequently continuous regardless of the leaps the
statement makes (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.94).
In every selective arrangement of the human being in encounters of forces

subsist multiple lines of flight as well. Defining language as
continuous variation is not simply a matter of setting variables
against constants, but of treating what are actually variables as
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continuously varying, instead of freezing them into constants [...]
Pragmatics must interpret language according with its state functions,
but must also be flexible enough to interpret its deterritorializing
functions (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 pp.48-9).
Saussure differentiates between content substance, which is defined as the

amorphous continuum of thought, and expression substance, the nebulous sound
chain. In his view, both precede language in time hierarchically, while each language
selects from this matrix to form its signifiers and signifieds.
To Hjelmslev, substance depends on form to such a degree that it lives
exclusively by its favour and can in no sense be said to have an independent
existence. He supplies content-form, content-substance, expression-form and
expression-substance as correctives. These functions are contracted by the signs
function (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.50).
All these functions presuppose each other, although they stand in arbitrary
relation to each other. In the Saussurean sense, it means that they are not naturally
motivated. It is the notion of purpot which binds these functions together. On the
plane of content, purpot can be defined simply as thought, but is formed differently in
different languages. It exists to be the substance for a form and this is what it remains.
Content-form operates on purpot to form into content-substance, putting on
each language form its own concepts. Expression runs parallel to content and has its
own purpot, which designates the vocalic continuum of the mouth. The expressionsubstance is formed in different ways in different languages, ordered by the
expression-form. It results in the different pronunciations of the same word in
different languages (Grisham 1991 p.49).
Deleuze and Guattari use these terms to break with the system, notices
Grisham, retaining from Hjelmslevs notion that the functions of content and
expression are in reciprocal presupposition with each other. They are always
interconnected, but are of entirely different orders (Grisham 1991 p.50).
Saussures substance of the content, if transposed to Deleuze and Guattaris
schema would be something like an amorphous body. Together with Saussurean
substance of the expression, which would be its linguistic equivalent, they are not
extractable or conceptual realities in Deleuze and Guattari.
Expression is then a set of incorporeal transformations; content, the set of
corporeal modification. Corporeal relates to a body, which in Deleuze and Guattaris
view is defined as any formed content, its actions and passions. Content and
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expression are variables that pass into each other continually, arranging each other,
the form of expression becomes the order-word (Grisham 1991 p.50).
Abstract machines are the diagram of the whole assemblage, of the
encounters of these orders. They are the agencies that select and interpret these
variables. They also have their limitative and their expansive modes, based in diverse
levels of abstraction. As they also are built around variables, concludes Grisham, they
are also singular and in flux (Grisham 1991 p.50).
Linguistics has set up its own abstract machine that derives constants from
variables and turns contents into simple matters of reference. But, since it interprets
language as a set of abstracted constants in the service of reference, it cannot interpret
its own selections. Lacking a self-gaze, structuralist linguistics configures a
logocentric system of thought, which becomes evident when approaching them
through Deleuze and Guattaris pragmatics.
Critics have asserted that transformational grammar is too abstract. Deleuze
and Guattari employ a different concept of abstraction, when they say that linguistics,
far from being too abstract, are not abstract enough. Abstraction can be thought of
spatially as extending across a virtual surface, rather than reaching to a hidden depth:
... if the abstraction is taken further, one necessarily reaches a
level where the pseudo-constants of language are superseded by
variables of expression internal to enunciation itself; these variables of
expression are then no longer separable from the variables of content
with which they are in perpetual interaction (Deleuze and Guattari 1996
p.91).
A true abstract machine is capable of interpreting these variables in relation to

state functions. It pertains to an assemblage in its entirely: it is defined as the
diagram of the assemblage (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.91). Pragmatics as an
abstract machine, has to be linked to the assemblages on which it depends. According
to Grisham, Deleuze and Guattari use in a subversive way the linguistic notions of
deep and surface structure:
the interpenetration of language and the social field and
political problems lies at the deepest level of the abstract machine, not at
the surface. The abstract machine as it relates to the diagram of the
assemblage is never purely a matter of language, except for lack of
sufficient abstraction. It is language that depends on the abstract
machine, not the reverse (Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.91).
In its major, or re-territorialising mode, language is concerned in producing

subjectivations. Therefore, it cannot be reduced to a system that already presupposes a
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basic subjectivity. To conclude, Grisham enlightens a crucial epistemological shift
operated by Deleuze and Guattari in relation to the systems grounded on the
Saussurean sign:
The assumption that speakers and hearers are rational actors
who make particular linguistic choices based upon how successfully
they think these choices will accomplish the goals of their
communication, often made by American linguists, even among
feminists, is a particularly banal example of this. Or, in another context,
we can look at the Lacanian model, which takes the Saussurean sign as
its base. Lacan would say we are subjectified in language as a signifying
system from which the signified has dropped out as the unapproachable
Real, or we are subjectified in the Symbolic Order in which we are
irremediably divided and condemned by desire to slip along the two
poles of language (metaphor-condensation and metonymy-displacement)
in the chain of signification. But are we not subjectified by, rather than
in, this particular arrangement of the human being? In other words, there
is not such a thing as the Symbolic Order -it is one regime of signs, or
order of discourse, among many, and one that assumes, still, a
Saussurean unity of language. As a post-signifying regime, it passes
through institutions, psychoanalysis, discourses on sexuality, and some
resistance struggles as a conception of the human being which ties us to
ourselves through particular, frozen forms, what Foucault so elegantly
and ironically calls self-knowledge in The Subject and Power
(Grisham 1991 p.51).
Deleuze and Guattaris conception of language, concludes Grisham, propitiate

a crucial epistemological rupture: it breaks with the rationalist principles linked to
essentialism and their implicit critique of valorised notions of subjectivity. According
to this view, rhetoric systems may be defined as limitative models. These major uses
of language territorialise it, producing capture through fixed norms taken as
invariable constants. Vocality instead, when is not territorialized by rhetorical or style
norms, can be defined as a minor use of language. As an expansive way of continuous
variation and infinite lines of flight, it deterritorializes state functions in language.
In the twentieth century, the accelerated development of technological means
of communication has operated a radical change in the perception of time and space,
two complementary and basic categories for human existence. The developments in
transport, audio-visual reproduction and computing, resulted in a subjective
shrinking of the world. Through image and sound reproduction, body and voice
have been re-situated, somewhere closer to the viewer-listener and beyond the actors
body, disembodied of their corporeality. Technological reproduction eludes the
materiality of the work of art. In the case of live performance, particularly in acting
and singing, this elusion has been crucial in the configuration of new vocal styles,
which has become evident in stage performance. These new styles have directly
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affected the actors corporeality, while conferred to contemporary human vocality a
deceiving aspect.
Once exposed to the new languages, audience perception has been gradually
modified. The classic concentrated attention paid in front of a work of art, remains in
a mass media society peculiar to the expert. Mass media audiences differently absorb
and consume the work of art through an attitude of expansion, defined by Benjamin as
distraction. This kind of perceptive appropriation is accomplished not by attention,
but by habit, by use.
The huge mass media production overloads the perception of contemporary
distracted audiences. The threshold of conscious sensorial activity is displaced in
order to relieve the current perceptive overloading. This configures a new attitude
towards art reception, defined by Benjamin as apperception. The ear, a sense
constantly at work, tends to behave in an apperceptive mode. In a mass media urban
environment, the overloading of the sound landscape emphasises this operation,
characterising contemporary aural apperception, in great part responsible for what I
defined as the actors vocal anxiety (see Introduction p.10-1).
The technologies of reproduction brought together a pattern of perfectibility to
voice production, imposing a process of permanent reformulation of styles, different
to a pre-technological pattern of voice production. These new requirements for vocal
delivery have provoked diverse effects in different art languages. In the case of opera,
technological reproduction has imposed patterns of perfectibility that bring singers to
the very limits of their possibilities of vocal production. In the case of acting for the
stage, the effect has been almost the opposite. It resulted in the drainage of activity in
vocal delivery and speech articulation, suitable to the indistinct needs of cameras and
microphones, but ineffective on stage.
This new cultural framing enlightened the subjective and fluid status of human
vocality and corporeality, which before the technological age, were supposed to
strictly respond to the classic laws of nature. The value of the perfectible, brought into
Western cultural environment by the means of reproduction, stresses the transitority
of the work of art. It will result in a revaluation of the ephemeral, which progressively
impregnates the value of the artefact in culture.
The technological developments in communication and aural and visual
reproduction in the twentieth century established a new situation in the map of the
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arts, a new configuration of the spheres of production and reproduction. The values of
authenticity, cult and ritual, and the concept of aura, belong to an old configuration of
these fields. Virtuality, perfectibility and the value of exhibition characterises the
sphere of contemporary reproduction, which came to actualise the political potential
of the work of art.
The mutual interpenetration between the spheres of arts and technologies,
produces endless reformulations not just in the languages of the arts, but over the
materiality of the work of art as well. As a result, characteristic values of each sphere
tend to territorialise the other, determining new configurations in production,
reproduction and representation.
The value of cult, which in different historical periods has been related to
magic and religion, reinstalled itself during the Renaissance, in the spheres of beauty
and authenticity. In the twentieth century, it reappeared, but in the sphere of
reproduction, under the form of the masses cult of the star, the champion, the
dictator. These new mass-media roles operate an eager resistance against the political
implications of the new circulation and diffusion of the work of art.
The multiple dynamic between the spheres of production and reproduction
achieves a particular intensity with the advent of computing in culture. Characterised
as virtual and reproducible, what tends to disappear through computer production is
the sphere of the authentic. This total elusion of the materiality of the original work of
art calls for a reformulation of the notions related to the sphere of production and
reproduction.
The interpenetration among the values related to the spheres of production and
reproduction and the languages originated from such an interplay, resulted in the
impregnation of their related acting styles. While today some actors enter the stage
with a task orientated approach, proper to cinema, other actors compose their film
characters according to a systematic realistic preparation. The dynamic of
interpenetration among languages imposed by the new technologies, also aroused a
number of new roles in the arts, such as the film editor; while the traditional roles,
such as the author, the audiences, etc. were redefined.
The rupture in culture resulting from the twentieth centurys technological
revolution is only comparable to that operated during the Renaissance. It imposed a
need for a deep and wide reflection about the new materialities and systems of
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representation. This need for reflection may be responsible for a decrease in artistic
production, the huge growth of theory and the configuration of conceptual art, while
mass media production began to grow in proportion and at a speed previously
unknown.
Music incorporated into its universe the new means and systems, which
coexist with more or less proximity the traditional approaches. Despite the sharing of
the same territory, the interaction between classical and electronic music has been
mostly restricted to questions of reproduction. However, electronic music production
established a productive intersection between contemporary and popular music.
Theatre instead, opted to mark a clear difference between stage production and
the new means of reproduction, grounding its self-definition as language in the actors
essential
presence
in
direct
relation of exposure to an audience. The
phenomenological-essentialist approaches relate their professional practice to their

theoretical production, prevailing in the field of theatre studies.
Their conceptual positions demarcate a territory for theatrical performance
different from that related to film and broadcasting. The concept of aura has
resonances in the notions of the pre-expressive, the pre-cultural and the essential
presence or the universal anatomy. Theatrical phenomenological approaches still
search for such an aura in acting. Theatre productions attitude to recall its ancient
sources and defining itself as a hand-crafted language, deeply influenced the
contemporary stage. Contemporary approaches to theatre established its roots in a
place far away from Western classical traditions in theatre, and moreover, from the
languages originated in the new technologies, losing popular or mass appeal. As in
the case of storytelling, insisting in this posture with a systematic disregard to the
evolution of technologies, contemporary theatre tends to its self-extinction in the
current Western contemporary environment.
Only in the 1980s did a number of theatrical groups acquire some visibility
performing in stadiums for mass audiences with a visual/non-textual approach. The
Catalan group La Fura dels Bauss has been among the first to attempt the
organisation of a worldwide live performance through the Internet. The crucial
presence of a market in contemporary culture associated with the new technological
means, has established mass circuits of reception. The high visibility of these kinds of
works attracted political and market support, increasing its prominence in
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contemporary cultures map. This situation contributed to add a number of strata over
the actors vocality and the playwright which, away from the spotlight of visual and
political control, grows unrestrained in peripheral areas of mass media culture.
Language has also been a barrier to the internationalisation of theatre
production, where the use of subtitles is quite recent and more problematic than it is
in cinema. It encouraged the search for a vocal delivery style beyond languages, by
phenomenological - transcultural approaches, which influenced contemporary theatre
production and studies. Theatrical local territories of production based in the
performance of a script have remained circumscribed mostly to peripheral areas in
Western culture. Despite their poor visibility, they reveal themselves highly prolific
and effective on stage.
As a consequence of twentieth century technological developments, the
production of thought has been expanded resulting in new conceptions of the subject
and new theoretical and methodological developments. These outcomes settled the
basis to formulate new configurations for the theatrical character. However, critical
thought in the arts mainly concentrated on approaching the new languages with the
old discourses and conceptual tools, contributing to the delay in the reformulation of
the discourses about theatrical performance.
The technological age revolutionised the arts with the expansion of the sphere
of reproduction. This brought together huge changes in the field of representation and
in the production of materials. Celluloid, crucial to the expansion of film industry, is
today close to becoming redundant. The actors corporeality, material support to
theatrical performance, has been also affected by the technologies of reproduction,
with its consequences in the spheres of representation and production. Affected by the
technologies of reproduction, the boundaries between men and machines, the human
and the non-human, seem to vanish today in the territory of the performative body.
The 1990s have configured a technological aesthetic, in which the
technological instrument took the place of an extension of the performers body,
becoming a central resource for the spectacle. Orlans performative work is probably
the most radical example. Her aesthetic of mutation circulates around the idea that
boundaries between the actor and the machine, the human and the non-human, have
gradually been abolished. However, Landi notices how Orlans is not a body of desire
body but a body ruled and territorialized by a technological thought:
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My [Landis] body is knowable, calculable and operable,
according to certain limits, from a scientific point of view. To myself,
the body is something tremendously ambivalent: I know it and I do not
know it; it is familiar and strange to me at the same time. My body
charges always a plus that escape from me because it is unalienable from
the unconscious desire. This is its real excess and the reason why
personal identities might be fluid and changeable. We might agree with
Orlan thinking exactly the opposite she and Sherleck think: the draft
endless writeable and re-writeable is not flesh but the technical reason. It
unfits the desirable body (Landi 1999 p.16).
The body, obsolete, inapt to cope with the speed of contemporary changes, in
Orlans view, do not respond to the natural order. In her work it is manageable,
profane material, which becomes her work of art on its own. Her corporeal mutations
are grounded in the intersection between the technical reason and the aesthetic
creation. Ideologically, the self-determination about her own body, corresponds in her
work to the enunciates of liberalism of the nineteenth century and to feminism.
Visual representation established a notion of the body which contemplates a
unique line of change through time, corresponding to the idea of a permanent
individual identity. Interventions such as Orlans intend to make visible the bodys
mutability, veiled by the action of visual representation in Western culture. Her
militant attitude in relation to permanent corporeal mutations talks about the
possibility of nomadic, unstable, reversible identities in flux.
The mainly unconscious transformations operated by technology in relation to
voice and speech production seem to be imperceptible to audiences. If the changes in
gestuality and movement in front of a camera were closely related to their size,
technological reproduction affected all the parameters of human vocal production.
The changes operated in the last half of the twentieth century in vocal production, as a
result of the technical mediation have been drastic.
Vocality, a corporeal production deceiving to the visual economy, does not
actually ask for interventions to assume its fluid, nomadic character. The protean
quality of its acoustic materiality is pure excess and rest, establishing a corporeal
endless source of becomings. Differently from the visual intervention, exemplified in
Orlans work, human vocality is the production of the desirable body most deceiving
to twentieth century technological thought.
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Chapter Three
Vocal Cartographies in Theatrical Performance
Macro-Mapping.
The following sections of this study, Chapter Three, Chapter Four and Chapter
Five, present a cartography of the actors vocality in theatrical performance of the
1990s in Buenos Aires. Focusing on the performativity of speech on contemporary
stage, these chapters aim to enlighten a practice that, although present, has frequently
been lost in the totalizing strategies of visibility.
The data considered in these Chapters has been collected from a number of
sources during the fieldwork period in Buenos Aires, between January 1998 and July
1999. Press and publishing material brought complementary information to that
contained in the interviews conducted with forty-seven prominent professionals
related to theatre production and training in Buenos Aires. These semi-open
interviews have been recorded and catalogued in Appendix I at the end of the present
study, and the recorded interviews are available at the School of English and Drama,
Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. The translation of the
quotations from the interviews in this study are all mine.
The data proceeding from theatre students has been collected through 200
questionnaires, 139 of which made up the sample under consideration. The
questionnaires were applied in two of the most important theatre schools in Buenos
Aires. They are the Eschewal National de Rate Dramatic-ENAD, a public full-time
school offering four year courses in acting, dramaturgy and pedagogy; and the
Eschewal Tuatara de Buenos Aires-ETBA, the biggest of the private studios, founded
and directed by Ral Serrano, offering a three year part-time course in acting. Both
schools provide official diplomas.
The data considered in Charts A, B, C, D, and E in Appendix I, reproduced in
pp.155-8 of this section, proceed from the interviews and from published material.
Appendix II, the last section of the present study contains a Questionnaire Model, in
English, and its respective Chart of Considered Variables. It also includes Charts 1 to
22 and Tables 1 to 12, all produced with the data proceeding from the questionnaires.
The Charts were processed with Word 7.0 for Windows 95 and the Chart of
Chapter 3 - Macro-mapping: Professional Roles
129
Considered Variables and the Tables, with Excel for Windows 97. The information
arising from the Charts in Appendix II intends to outline the main tendencies in voice
training in these two particular institutions.
We focus on the vocal-oral-aural economy, basically an economy of
exchange, deceiving to the mastering of the eye. We propose to map the unstable
and ephemeral experience of vocality, considering the performativity of speech
delivery and voice production and its radical potential, which resists both
reproduction and representation.
Such a map has nothing to do with neither descriptions nor measurements.
It has also nothing to do with a structure which, in order to prevent escape, always
forms closed systems. In Deleuze and Guattari, a map refers to the Body without
Organs, which is the only practical object of schizoanalysis. From this perspective,
a cartography involves questions such as:
What is your body without organs? What are your lines? What
map are you in the process of making or rearranging? What abstract line
will you draw, and at what price, for yourself and for the others? What
is your line of flight? What is your BwO, merged with that line? Are
you cracking up? Are you going to crack up? Are you deterritorializing?
Which lines are you severing, and which are you extending or
resuming? Schizoanalysis does not pertain to elements or aggregates,
nor to subjects, relations or structures. It pertains only to lineaments
running through groups as well as individuals. Schizoanalysis is the
analysis of desire, is immediately practical and political [] is the art of
the new. Or rather, there is no problem of application: the lines it brings
out could equally be the lines of a life, work of literature or art, or a
society, depending on which system of co-ordinates is chosen (Deleuze
and Guattari 1996 p.203-4).
A territory of vocality is not just a place where the same language is used.
It is a place where there are common codes, where individual or collective
elements of singularisation are shared; a place where we can talk about an eros of
the group (Guattari 1996 pp.63-4). To think of individuals as discourses remits to
an ethic of control; to think them as fluxes of desire relates to an ethic of the act.
Such a performative instance of singularisation transforms an ethical paradigm into
an aesthetic one. Contrarily, no-places are
... spaces in which we can not recognise identities, relations nor
stories (...) The new spaces in the planet are susceptible to such an
identification (...) Airports, supermarkets, gas stations (...) no-places
where solitary and silent individuals pass across. (These places)
impregnate each other: there are radio and TV broadcasts in airports, gas
stations and large hotels chains. The objective of no-places codes and
rules is immediate use (Augue 1998) [My translation].
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Places and no-places are defined according to their historical and social
contingencies. A place may become a no-place, and vice versa; an airport is not the
same for a passenger, and for somebody who works there. No-places are the
expression of three phenomena: the acceleration of history, the shrinking of the
planet and the individualisation of destinies (Augue 1998).
No-places manifest peculiar uses of voice and speech. In an airport, a
disembodied machinic voice, resembling a computers voice style, giving
instructions or information to passengers, leaves little space for ambiguity. In
supermarkets, there is no opportunity to chat about the quality of a product, nor to
negotiate its price. The indispensable information has evacuated the existential
dimensions of expression (Guattari 1993 pp.113-4). No-places of vocality are
territories of patterned information or instruction, under the form of a vocal
continuum or vacuum. Places of vocality are territories of negotiation, chatting,
and ambiguity, propitiating plateaus of vocal intensities.
In Deleuze and Guattari, a plateau is reached when circumstances combine
to bring an activity to a pitch of intensity that is not automatically dissipated in a
climax. The heightening of energies is sustained long enough to leave a kind of
after image of its dynamism that can be reactivated or injected into other
activities (Massumi, in Deleuze and Guattari 1996 p.xiv).
The geographical latitude in which this fieldwork took place also gave
meaning to the mapping. In relation to America, Deleuze and Guattari notice:
America is a special case. [] Everything important that has
happened or is happening takes the route of American rhizome: the
beatniks, the underground, bands and gangs, successive lateral offshoots
in immediate connection with an outside. [] The conception of the
book is different [] There is a whole American map in the West,
where even the trees form rhizomes. America reversed the directions: it
puts its Orient in the West, as if it were precisely in America that the
earth came full circle; its West is the edge of the East. [] America is
the pivot point and mechanism of reversal (Deleuze and Guattari 1996
p.19).
The confusion about the USA and America as a continent is patent in the
above quotation. Americas foundational event changed the direction of the sixteenth
centurys European idea of the world. The differences between the USA and Latin
America start in this very foundational act in colonial times. The USA was never
discovered; Latin America was discovered by the Spanish. The USA reproduced
the European shift of direction in its very territory. In the rest of America, the
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defeated then, became the excluded later. The astonishment certainly produced then,
has been actualised many times through Argentinean history, a territory of mixture
and exclusion.
Buenos Aires, the Argentinean capital city, is placed in this American Finis
Terra; it is beyond the edge of the map of Western universe configured by the
leading Western countries. This fact can not be overlooked from the perspective of a
symbolic logic. A particular map of Western culture can be detected in Buenos Aires.
The most southern of the capital cities on the Earth, it is an intensively productive
cultural place. In Buenos Aires urban territory, the European multicoding and the late
expansionist capitalist decoding are empowered, outlining a shifting cultural map,
also performed on Buenos Aires contemporary stage.
These codings establish directions, which constitute places and no-places of
vocality on and off stage. These cartographies of vocality in theatrical performance
intend to reveal particular places in which Buenos Aires theatrical stage form
rhizome with the city through the uses of voice and speech.
Chapters Three and Four fulfil a macro-mapping of places and no-places of
vocality on contemporary Buenos Aires actors practice and training. In order to go
into this mapping, we begin in Chapter Three with the definition of the main roles
operating in the international context of contemporary theatre, which serves as a
foreground to enlighten the specificities of Buenos Aires local professional roles, and
their productiveness in relation to the actors vocality.
The professionals and the scholars positions in relation to voice work in
English are also referred to in Chapter Three, in order to disclose the overwhelming
distance which exists between them. These conflicting discourses are considered in
the frame of the present study as a symptom of the lack of reflection about voice and
speech in performance, even in a highly professional territory as is theatre production
and training in English.
We do not find this kind of situation in the field of voice work in Buenos
Aires. Moreover, we will not find any kind of instituted discourse, even incipient, on
the topic in Spanish. However, the data proceeding from the interviews in Appendix I,
make it possible to outline, still in Chapter Three, the actors vocality today in Buenos
Aires as a highly territorialized field. It confirms Knowles assertion about the
impossibility of empty spaces ideologically speaking, considering that dominant
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ideologies tend to territorialise, once they do not find resistance.
In Chapter Four, an institutional mapping, considering the official and
independent theatre circuits, and the tendencies in voice training promoted in the
above mentioned acting schools, complete these macro-cartographies. The mapping
of the main tendencies in the institutional voice training for actors required a
methodological shift, acknowledged in detail at the beginning of the section entitled
Voice work has been systematically overlooked in the field of theatre studies.
However, the opposite is also valid. Voice coaches, in their will to be strictly
grounded in practice and training, have not considered the importance of a specific
and systematic reflection. These cartographies of voice work in Buenos Aires intend
to show the current directions in the field, which determine in many aspects Buenos
Aires theatrical production and training.
In Chapter Five, the focus shifts from a macro to a micro-mapping. The
discourses of a number of leading professionals unveil places of singular intensity of
vocality in theatrical performance, guiding the design of lines, directions, series in the
field. These ethnographic cartographies of vocality outlined in Chapter Five,
performed on top of the macro-cartographies in Chapter Three and Four, intend to
outline a multiple map of the vocal-oral-aural economy on the stages of todays
Buenos Aires.
To disclose the current situation is a first step in the direction to overcome the
circumstances, through a further reflection on the field of the actors vocality. We
should work towards new theories, from the perspective of a theorist-practitioner,
regarding the possibilities to overcome them in the future. Stressing the political
efficacy of pragmatics, Deleuze defines a theory as a tool box [...] What interests
us are the circumstances. (Deleuze and Guattari 1988 pp. xiii-xv). This pragmatic
attitude towards theory may be effective to overcome the current approach to the
actors voice. At the moment, both scholars and theatre professionals confront and
exclude each other from the debate, instead of working together. Moreover, both
remain peripheral to the current problematic of the actors voice in training and
performance. The following mapping intends to be an instrument which allows
further interventions to overcome specific contingencies and their related theoretical
designs.
133
The Professional Roles in Contemporary Theatrical Production.

The definition of the actors vocality as the object of this study brings us to a
position where we do not acknowledge any distance between voice and body, nor
between speech and action. We deliberately avoid these kind of conceptual binarisms.
Since the beginning of the process of rehearsal, the actors body affects and is
affected by being exposed to the text and the whole network of relationships
established through the mechanics of theatrical production. The actors body is a
plane of consistence, a stage to these multiple affections, source to further performatic
becomings. From this point of view, there are many virtual and actual scenes in each
staged scene. The one, holding a primary character, occurs in the actors body.
In the context of the present work, the actors body is considered as a primary
site of production of signification in theatre. The ephemeral stage work of the actor is
each time a last result of a continuous process. In this process, the actors body is
affected by the intervention of coaches and directors, framed here as mediators in
theatre practice and production. The actors body operates a resistance to this
mediation, which also affects the relationship between the roles collaborating in
theatrical production. The script itself, which is only consummated in performance,
also resists and serves as a ground for the interventions of actors, directors and
coaches. The relevance given to these roles and the script is in strict relation to the
actors autonomy and her/his acting results.
Theatrical production is basically a collaborative practice, which involves the
interaction of several roles. These roles do not necessarily remain equal in power
throughout the productive process, and they also manifest changes at different social
and historical moments. To place these professional roles, crucial to theatrical
production, in the context of todays cultural framework, provides valuable
information to enable us to understand the treatment of the actors vocality on todays
stages. It also serves as a base to discriminate the tendencies that are peculiar to the
case of Buenos Aires of the 1990s, subsequently outlined in this section and the
following ones of this study.
The relationship established between the crucial roles collaborating in
theatrical practice (the director, the voice coach, the author and the actor) defines
tendencies in contemporary Western theatrical production. The director and the voice
134
coach roles result from twentieth century theatrical production. In this particular
environment, directors often operate as authors, and the role of the coach is restricted
to the area of voice work, away from any creative process.
Audiences also hold a primary role in theatrical performance. However, a
focus on audiences requires a whole set of methodological tools that exceed the limits
of this research. In the frame of the present study, audiences may be considered only
tangentially, through the information arising from interviews and specialised critics,
among other sources. A further exploration could advance in this direction in the
future.
As stated previously in this study, Peter Brook believes that the actor is
probably the least trained professional in the field of arts (see Chapter One p. 47).
Besides the exception that Brook himself acknowledges in relation to the actor who
works in a company, a number of tendencies, heavily grounded in training, have
developed in contemporary theatre. Brooks assertion refers mainly to the pattern of
the actor that achieves celebrity in a circuit of spectacle ruled by market logic.
Actors often float in diverse territories, adapting their production to the needs
of each circuit. The mechanisms of productiveness or non-productiveness in relation
to the actors vocality exceed the limits of a particular institution, or movement.
However, we do not intend a description or a tracing of the activities developed by a
number of particular actors. We intend to configure a diagram of the main directional
series, which form vocal machines in the Buenos Aires stage of the 1990s. The
mainstream circuit will not be particularly considered in the present work because its
profile is almost totally captured by market logic.
The actors vocality, object of this research, is approached in the present and
the following chapters in relation to both theatrical production and actors training. In
order to understand its place in todays Western theatrical practice, we examined
relevant publishing about the work of some of the most influential contemporary
directors and coaches. Some general information arises from the published material
here considered, which reflects the idiosyncratic role of directors and voice coaches,
in contemporary theatrical practice.
Knowles indicates that the way in which theatrical practice is gendered
denotes the relevance given to each specific role in contemporary theatrical practice.
In his view, voice work tends to be defined as a secondary and dependent position in
135
relation to the leading, independent, creative will of the director:
The role of voice coach (almost always a part-time position) is
constructed as a service function, allowing interpretation to take place,
and it is gendered female. As such it may not encroach upon the creative
realms of playmaking and directing which [] are gendered male
(Knowles 1996).
A map of vocality in acting might start to be outlined from the diagram

drawn from these crucial relationships. According to Knowles, the above roles
could be typified as follows:
Voice coach: female - dependent - reproductive - corrective - private.

Director: male - autonomous - creative - experimental - public.
Seventeen interviews with some of the most important contemporary

directors have been published in In contact with the gods?-Directors talk theatre
(Delgado/Heritage 1996). As is shown in Chart A - Appendix I, just two of them
are female, one of which, Fornes, works also as an author. In contrast, Chart B
Appendix I the leaders of the most influential tendencies in voice work for stage,
responsible for most of the reflection and publishing in the field, are mainly
woman.
Cicely Berry, who has opened a whole new space for contemporary voice
work, admits that she has always been negotiating in a male defined environment.
Despite her remarkable prestige and ascendancy in professional theatre practice,
she recognises that voice work is female defined and a complex area to develop
professionally in the environment of theatre production, definitely male defined:
I was negotiating very much then with a very male approach,
and that is also quite interesting because I think male directors are more
at home with a voice person who is female than with a male one which
is why when I had the opportunity, like twelve, fourteen years ago, to
employ somebody else I chose to employ a man that was David Carry
who now runs the voice course at the Central School; Andrew Wade is
really head of voice now (at the RSC). I do know that male directors
find it more difficult to bond with a voice person who is not female its
quite a complex area (Berry Interview 3 Appendix I).
The institutional sphere is a definitive factor in relation to this kind of

paradigmatic work. To some extent, institutions mark the work they support. A
director who works for a national theatre produces a different kind of work than
another director who is supported by a private organisation. In any case, they lead
136
the creative processes, and are responsible for the production as a whole. Directors
do not teach, nor train: they direct; and sometimes, they feel the need for voice
coaches on their projects.
Much of the voice coaches work in Europe is also institutionally
supported. Berry and Rodenburg work in national supported companies. Martin
and Linklater operate in academic environments. At the moment, Berry holds a
part time position in the Royal Shakespeare Company. However, she can not be
characterised as a part-time professional, a definition that also does not fit
Linklater, Rodenburg nor Martin (see Role Charts p.156).
The crucial point here is not the institutional support but the voice coaches
position in the institutional frame, which is mainly associated to teaching and
training. When they do rehearsal work, they tend to organise it in relation to a
conceptual frame predetermined by a director and not according to their own
reading of the script. Even when working for a production, voice coaches have
limited space for creative work and experimentation.
Voice coaches are directly associated with voice and text delivery.
However, the very word coaches used in this case relates to the idea of a sports
trainer, whose objective is to train people to overcome their own limitations. Table
1 shows also that their formation is more specifically related to their area of work.
Their work tends to remain hidden behind the actors, authors and directors
work, being generally inscribed as a training assignment. Voice coaches stay out of
sight in theatrical production.
From the collection of interviews in Delgado/Heritages book, it appears
that few directors have taught. In every case, it was a temporary activity, the limits
of which were well defined in relation to their directorial role. Directors such as
Wilson include performers training as part of their work methodology. The
directors leading position allows them to conduct experimental and creative
experiences, which do not have a corrective profile, simultaneously to the rehearsal
processes.
Maria Irene Fornes discusses the manipulative quality of contemporary
rehearsal practice, inscribing the current relation between playwrights and
directors in accordance to the above outlined gendered pattern. In this situation, the
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author appears always to be performing the female role, and the director,
maintaining the male position (Delgado/Heritage 1996 p.99).
A play is written to be staged. The creation process escapes from the
authors grasp when they can not hold a position of relevance through the whole
process of production, when their collaboration is not always welcomed by the
director. At some level, authors retain a more creative role in relation to voice
coaches. However, their position is also devalued by their dependant situation in
relation to directors.
This disposition of assignments in relation to professional roles in theatre
practice tends to reproduce an androcentric point of view, which could be seen as
affecting contemporary Western theatrical production: directors holding the
creative and experimental sphere, progressing into the authors realm, and coaches
acting in a reproductive and corrective level.
However, Berry has lately detected an interesting shift in her position in
relation to the other roles of theatrical practice, which she attributes in part to the
working conditions at the Royal Shakespeare Company. If this new shift takes root
as a tendency in voice work, the current androcentric profile of the field may
present crucial changes.
[] Ive done workshops here with directors and workshops
with writers which Ive lead one with Edward Bond and Augusto Boal
. So there is an opportunity for experimenting in the company which I
think there isnt in any other company. Once all the plays are on we
have a period when we can do workshop work and experiment on that
[]. Im very interested in directors at the moment. I think thats where
the work should be done (Berry Interview 3 Appendix I).
The work of most of the directors considered in Delgado/Heritages book is

effectively supported by institutions: state-subsidised theatres, financially aided
companies or independent organisations. This support allows directors to have the
freedom to develop innovative and systematic work, and the possibility to sustain
it through time, independent, to a certain extent, from market logic.
Directors can construct original lines of work, which constitute them as
enunciators. This position allows them to exert great influence over many other
directors, practitioners and theoreticians. Their proposals are occasionally
absorbed by the market in different ways.
138
Ten of the seventeen directors interviewed in In Contact with the Gods Directors Talk Theatre are European.1 The group is completed with two Latin
American, two Asian and three North American directors. In the case of voice
coaches, the most influential professionals belong to the Anglo-Saxon world, a
region that concentrates the strongest political, economical and institutional power
in Western society. Cicely Berry, with a wide international reputation and
diversified experience, Kristin Linklater, working in the United States and Patsy
Rodenburg, working in London, are British. Dr. Jacqueline Martin, currently
Senior Lecturer of the Academy of Arts at the Queensland University of
Technology, Sydney and Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at the University
of Stockholm, is Swedish.
The voice coaches discourse is intended to be the discourse of their
experience. Considering that coaches do not relate their practice to a clear
historical and social framework, it could be understood that their practical
programmes are implicitly valid for Western culture as a whole. The possibility of
an Anglo-Centric point of view in voice coaching may be seen as another
potential, and probably undesired, result of the lack of reflection in the field.
The Scholars vs. The Professionals: an Unproductive Rupture in Voice Work.

Voice work in English certainly did not breakout with the imprint of a
therapeutic/corrective profile, easily linked to a female position. Considering all
the above, we may say that Knowles arguments in relation to the characterisation
of the role of voice coaches, in the frame of a dominant and highly
professionalised theatre production, are relevant to the present work. He carefully
limits his analysis to the voice books, not considering the proposed training
practice itself. However, such a re-framing is necessary, in order to avoid other
kind of undesired deviations, this time in the scholars discourse.
The conceptual production in the field of voice work is incipient. However,
a restricted number of articles on the subject has been enough to outline the abysm
Being four British, one German, one Rumanian, one French, one Spanish, one Italian and
one Russian. If Lavelli, who became a French citizen, is considered with this group, they total eleven.
He was born in Buenos Aires, but developed his whole theatrical work in Paris. In the same way, we
can consider Jatinder Verma as Anglo-Asian, raising the number of European directors to twelve.
139
opened between the discourses belonging to the practice, and the few attempts
which manifest a self-disposition to be inscribed in a theoretical frame. The need
to produce a reflection capable of considering the actors vocality in all its
dimensions became evident after the publishing of a polemic article by Sarah
Werner (Werner 1996). In this article, Werner disposes herself to examine not just
the coaches discourse, with particular consideration to Berrys, but their practice,
which is considered through the account of Stevensons composition of Isabella,
during a rehearsal process of Shakespeares Measure by Measure.
Knowles carefully determines the limits to his approach to the published
material about voice work in English. The pertinence of such a conceptual
circumscription may be questioned. However, it confers consistence to Knowles
exposition of which he does not ever lose control. Despite her frequent reference to
Knowles, Werner does not show such a rigour. Her apparent ideological control of
the discourse does not resist a real exposure to the practice it is supposed to
examine, being completely dismantled by the coaches answers to her article in a
published response. If the coaches discourse may become uncontrolled because of
its lack of ideological definition, the academic discourse should avoid installing
itself in positions which lead to the same results. The lack of pertinence of
Werners judgement in relation to the practice it intends to analyse, is dramatic.
Werner defines the coaches position as the anti-intellectual via. Regarding
them as responsible for the configuration of a binary conceptual relation, such as
head/heart, Werners position itself disregards history. Her assumptions in relation to
acting methods, directorial strategies and Shakespearean acting are formulated in an
evident pseudo academic style and reveal a considerable ignorance about the
specificities of rehearsal processes. But overall, the disqualifying attitude assumed by
Werner in relation to the coaches reaches unthinkable proportions, when stating:
Insistently reading the plays language as revelations of a
characters emotions and though process ignores the fact that these are
fictional characters created by the dramatist [] The type of reading
that voice training encourages ignores the representational and
dramaturgical strategies of the text, finding meaning to reside in the
characters motives, and not in the playwrights (Werner 1996 p.253).
At this point, the uninformed reader could think that voice coaches are in
principle, not just anti-intellectual but ignorant. Unfortunately, Werner seems to
believe that to have an academic support allows her to manipulate arguments
140
according to her will. In doing so, Werner challenges every possible line of analysis
of her own text, and disrespect no only the output of remarkable professionals, but
also the legitimacy and rigour of academic order. As a result, what could be a muchneeded step further in voice work and studies, ends by deepening the split between
the conceptual field and the practice.
The coaches answers did not take long to come out. Berry, who inexplicably
was the most attacked by Werner, replied with a moving letter. Unable to overcome
the split deepened by Werners discourse, Berry concludes by noticing that it is so
dangerous when academic argument/language can have supremacy and weight over
actual experience [] We voice teachers are not talking theories: we are interacting
with people and the ways they live (Berry in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997
p.49).
Rodenburgs answer is probably the one that approaches the problem in a
wider context. She starts by questioning Werners professional and political ethics
and authority in relation to Berry and Linklater:
Didnt she know that the two teachers she was attacking, []
were among the leading forces that had contributed to the political
awareness of actors and actresses in the last thirty to forty years? Her
point of view can only exist largely because of their work (Rodenburg in
Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.49).
Rodenburg defines her reaction facing Werners article as sadness and

exhaustion, being these feelings associated with the impossibility of communication
between the professionals and the scholars discourses. Rodenburg acknowledges
this situation as a heavy weight to carry every day, especially for professional
practitioners, who tend to be rapidly disqualified in any debate where scholars take
part.
In relation to this, Rodenburg thinks that: only undergoing years of work and
explanation could fill in the gaps in her [Werner] knowledge (Rodenburg in Berry,
Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.49). To end with her exposition, Rodenburg formulates
a number of questions she considers as urgent, stressing the need for reflection
produced within theatrical practice.
Rodenburg places the freeing process in the context of voice work practice,
and defines her work as offering starting points [that] can be jettisoned at any
point by actors and directors. If coaches have any power it is in the teaching of craft
141
[ and] a notion of self-discipline, remarking that Werners assumptions about
voice coaches power in relation to a final performance are simply not true
(Rodenburg in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.50).
Stressing transformation as an unequivocal theatrical characteristic,
Rodenburg invalidates Werners reasoning in relation to voice coaches as governing
actors, especially because of the fixity of her reasoning. Rodenburg also notices the
daily discrimination suffered by female actors for being women, something that
Werner suggests as restricted to the stage. Rodenburg also remarks the relation
between voice coaches and living authors, in order to prove that voice work in
rehearsal is not meant to censor the author, but to release her/his scripts, which in the
case of a dead author, becomes a more hermeneutic work.
Regarding Werners framing of Shakespeare as an antifeminist propagandist,
Rodenburg concludes:
... the truly repressed seem to recognise this better than those
who want to pick at him and reduce greatness. Men, women and
children find in his work compassion and peace - the peace of being
known and finally respected (Rodenburg in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater
1997 p.51).
Rodenburg well places Werners discourse as belonging to a white upper

middle class woman, highlighting the confusion in relation to her feminist position.
Werners authoritarian discourse, unable to listen to the others, is also outlined by
Rodenburg, in opposition to Shakespeares attitude.
Linklater brings the most caustic reading of Werners article, which she
frames in a specific political struggle. Ironically, Linklater and Rodenburgs
ideological reading of Werners article is far more solid than Werners attempts to
read the coaches discursiveness.
Linklater starts her argument by placing Werners article in a split which she
unfolds on two levels: between academic theatre and professional theatre in general,
on the one hand, and academic feminist theatre and the very active womens theatre
movement on the other. Referring to her experience with ATHEs Women and
Theatre Forum she recalls a meeting in which they came so consistently to ugly
verbal blows that eventually the professionals pulled out, leaving the verbiage to the
academics (Linklater in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.51), to what she adds:
It is well known, though not widely acknowledge among the
protagonists, that the feminist cause within American theatre is riven
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and fragmented by the splintering of gay women from straight, nonwhite women from white, socially active women from politically active
women, and academic theatre women from professional theatre women
(Linklater in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.51).
Taking active part in this struggle, Linklater shows from the beginning her
own bias in relation to the academics. She frames Werner in the context of feminist
historicism, one of the several tendencies in American womens theatre, while
exposing the general disarray in the womens theatre field, which contributes to
enable a unified political agenda. Addressing Werners characterisation of Berry,
Rodenburg and Linklater herself, as reactionary, anti-feminist, and somewhat,
stupid, Linklater points to the incorrect placement of the essentialist element in
voice texts, as operative in their professional practice (Linklater in Berry,
Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.51).
Linklater also denies the charges of bardolatry made to the coaches, and
ironically wonders:
what kind of innocence leads [Werner] to assert that Language
that is organic and natural is not language that challenges societal
structures? [] Does she really think that Cicely Berry, Patsy
Rodenburg and I believe that the characters are real people and ignore
the fact that these are fictional characters created by the dramatist?
(Linklater in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.51).
Heightening the irony, Linklater writes:

Had I written Freeing Shakespeares Voice for an academic
readership, the light-hearted liberties I take with psychology and
dramaturgy, designed to enliven the actors imagination, would have
been replaced with humourless, well-documented, and copious
footnotes. Because its not that sort of book, it becomes a perfect target
for the slings and arrows of Sara Werners PhD (Linklater in Berry,
Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 pp.51-52).
In her very final statement Linklater carefully reinforces her symmetrical

opposition in relation to Werners, concluding that a voice that is free will always be
used to challenge status quo because [] it cannot be brainwashed by education,
culture or politics (Linklater in Berry, Rodenburg, Linklater 1997 p.52).
Werners article comes to incense a polemic not always explicit, but subjacent
to voice work. It proved that the productivity of a scholarly or a critical discourse that
has a scant contact with the practice it examines can be easily challenged. Voice
coaches displayed in their answers an awareness, which suggests a deep knowledge of
the current situation of voice work in theatre.
143
The above regarded polemic is exemplary in many ways. The coaches
displayed great argumentative ability and demonstrated a greater conceptual
awareness than Werner, indicating that it is not possible to develop any conceptual
reflection in voice work aside from the practice. In other words, at the present
moment, the professional coaches seem to inform voice and speech training and
performance as an object of study better than the academics. Moreover, Werners
article is an output of a field such as theatre studies, which has generally disregarded
the questions related to the actors voice in performance. These facts, in addition to
Werners arrogance and random argumentation, explain the reactive position assumed
by the coaches.
Rigid and intemperate attitudes would not contribute to overcome the present
impasse. The pertinence of the position of the theorist-practitioner previously
outlined in the present work, shows its relevance in this particular situation. A
pragmatic via grounded in voice work practice, may overcome the impertinence of
both Werners anti-professional via, which she defines as anti-intellectual, and the
anti-academic via, assumed by the professionals in response to these pseudoacademic attacks.
In Buenos Aires the lack of defined discourses is evident in the field of acting,
and is heightened in the frame of voice work. Such a situation may be understood as a
result of the scarce development of theatre studies and of the institutional
environment in theatrical production and training. However, even in a highly
professional environment such as theatrical performance in English, the lack of
reflection in the field of voice work is apparent. The need to develop a conceptual
framework is acknowledged in this particular case mainly by Rodenburg, while
Werner, who could be supposed to work towards this objective, displays a highly
disqualifying attitude. Established as a general situation, this lack of conceptual frame
appears to be one of the more urgent needs in the field of voice training and
performance.
144
The Case of Buenos Aires: Mapping the Professional Roles in Theatrical
Practice.
There is a strong tendency in contemporary Buenos Aires theatrical
production to merge the above described professional roles in a number of
polyvalent combinations. This defines a completely different profile for local
theatre production in relation to the dominant Western profile above outlined. The
role of the director, which was more clearly defined until the 1970s, has been
progressively ceding place to a number of creative combinations. Eduardo
Pavlovsky, who exclusively acts and frequently directs his own scripts, might be
considered a precursor of this tendency, which became a characteristic in Buenos
Aires theatrical production of the 1990s.
Actors such as Guillermo Angelelli, are responsible for the script and
direction of their theatrical performances. He shows his works in his own space,
where he also teaches; Cristina Banegas and Ricardo Barts are some of the
professionals that direct, act and teach, in their own theatre-studios. They also
work in other local circuits, for television and/or cinema. However, their theatrical
production is mainly grounded in their own spaces. Even Rubn Szuchmacher,
who clearly assumes a directorial role, occasionally acts.
Among the latest generation, this tendency has been accentuated. Works
such as Federico Lens provide good examples of this attitude, which assume
diverse forms in Buenos Aires theatre production today. Len writes for specific
actors, departing from a particular theatrical situation. He directs his own texts and
frequently works as an actor in some other authors plays.
Jos Mara Muscari and Lucas Mendez work in collaboration as director
and dramatist respectively. Their writing is also determined by the group of actors
selected for each production, involved in a specific situation. They work with a
considerable number of actors, with a highly performative profile. Differently,
Len rigorously searches for closeness in acting, working with two or three actors
performing for a small group of spectators.
This is also the case of Rafael Spregelburd, a leading and prolific
playwright, who directs his own plays, always having Andrea Garrote as actress.
Spregelburd, who also acts, had a key role in Caraja-J, a movement of young
145
playwrights of diverse tendencies, which established a rupture in relation to
Buenos Aires playwrights of the 1960s.
Garrote is equally known as playwright and actress. Grabriela Izcovich has
participated in the adaptation of texts she has directed and acted. She also teaches
and produces her own works. What is unusual in Buenos Aires contemporary
theatre is to occupy any exclusive role in production. This multifaceted
professional profile operates in the official and the alternative circuit and also in
what we describe below as a mixed mode of production.
Differently from Europe, the lack of definition in the professional roles in
theatre production and training in Buenos Aires, may be an evidence of the imprint
of a strong creative will over the scant professional development in the field. A
first look at the Charts in Appendix I (see Role Charts pp.155-8) characterises
Europe as a multicultural territory and Buenos Aires as a culturally homogeneous
one. The difference in ages of the professionals considered in Europe and Buenos
Aires may result from the institutional support, which in the first case, allows for
sustained work through the years. The institutional environment in Europes and
Buenos Aires theatre production and training shows great differences in the
Charts. While most European professionals have been formally trained in
influential and traditional institutions, most of them in Buenos Aires have received
informal training. Moreover, all those who got institutional training in acting,
graduated at the ENAD, the only integral school in acting in Buenos Aires, despite
the reserves that many informants manifested in relation to the training it provides.
In relation to the training, Charts C and D (see Role Charts pp.155-8)
indicate some curious facts. Barts, who has trained most of the leading avantgarde theatre professionals in Buenos Aires, does not acknowledge any particular
training himself. Szuchmacher and Carlos Demartino, who are the least formally
trained of the professionals considered here, show the highest institutional support.
The institutional links acknowledged by the informants are characterised as private
and polyvalent. The consideration of this data may suggest that the support of
public or academic institutions, which in Europe guarantees continuity and
freedom in production, operates in Buenos Aires as a shield to professionals who
are not potent enunciators.
146
Knowles definition of voice coaches as a female position does not seem to
be confirmed in the case of Buenos Aires. However, to decide if the apparent
dominance of male professionals in voice training invalidates Knowles hypothesis
or indicates a stronger male dominance in the field, there will need to be a further
exploration of this specific question.
Considering the information brought by the Charts in Appendix I (see Role
Charts pp.155-8), it can be said that voice work lacks visibility in Buenos Aires
theatrical training and production. Moreover, the references to the available vocal
training were generally negative. If the profile of voice work in English has been
defined as corrective, in Buenos Aires it outlines an operative mode to which we
will refer later. Away from the actors actual vocal needs, this formal machine in
voice work does not even reproduce fixed vocal styles; it reproduces the code of
code of codes.
Local Machines of Production.

The professional roles in theatrical practice are highly determined by the
conditions of production, which are also related to the social historical context.
However, the mechanics of such a determination is not linear; it involves
occasional lines of flight. Otherwise, there would not be theatrical productions
where there are not regular subsidies or institutional support. In other words, even
though financial and institutional support guarantee the sustenance of cultural
production, they are not a necessary condition to its existence nor to its final
quality. A number of works examined in Chapter Five illustrate how an
inauspicious macro sphere, such as that of Buenos Aires theatrical production,
may be overcome by a number of works, which establish micropolitical territories
in the map of Buenos Aires stage of the 1990s.
In relation to the multifaceted profile of Buenos Aires theatre practitioners,
Izcovich identifies two main factors: one political and referring to the formative
process, and the other economic and inscribed in the frame of professional
147
practice. She recalls that during the dictatorship2 at the ENAD, people were not
allowed to study Shakespeare. Authors such as Brecht were unthinkable then.
Theatre was under vigilance, Izcovich states, and notices:
you can forbid a text, but you can not proscribe acting. I did not
like the dramaturgy available then. So I composed my own works,
created or adapted, as soon as I had the opportunity to do so. I think in
this way the dictatorship encouraged this multifaceted profile to stage
performance from the beginning of our training (Izcovich Interview 9
Appendix I).
Izcovich acknowledges that with a few exceptions, as in Pinters work, a

theatrical script is not suggestive to her. As with many other local theatre
professionals, she prefers to work with poetry, narration or novels. In Izcovichs
view, everything is theatrical because life is theatrical, so there is no reason to tie
a work exclusively to previously defined scripts. However, she points out that she
exclusively works with contemporary texts: I need to leave my imprint on the
texts I work on. I do not see how I could do such a thing with Shakespeare, for
example. I think we should leave it the way it is (Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix
I).
In Izcovichs view, this textual patrolling, which weakened playwriting
during the dictatorship, might be also a factor for its effervescence in the 1990s in
Buenos Aires. The course in playwriting at the ENAD has lately set up an entry
examination because of the huge demand. New playwrights also have the
multifaceted profile above outlined, being often actors and/or directors (Izcovich
Interview 9 Appendix I). What was a creative way to elude a practice of
surveillance, later configured particular styles in playwriting, also encouraging a
kind of stage performance originating in a pre-existent non theatrical text.
The dramaturgy which resisted the pan-vigilance at work over Buenos
Aires theatre production under the dictatorship has no meaning to the recent
generation of theatre practitioners. Their search for new kinds of textual
approaches, which Izcovichs case well illustrates, displays the need to
There have been several periods when Argentina was ruled by a military government
characterised as dictatorship. In the present work, there are references to the last of those periods,
between March, 1976 and September 1983. These seven years left about 8000 people missing. There
were no institutional civil guarantees; the juridical system and the Congress were deactivated. This
period left its imprint in the educational and the social order, as well as in the artistic sphere.
148
deterritorialize the map of Buenos Aires theatre, with a drastic change of sign,
away from the active fluxes of coding and decoding in vocality.
The second point perceived by Izcovich as determinant of Buenos Aires
multi-role stage performance, relates to the impossibility of working with
complicated scenery or with a numerous cast (Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I).
Nocturno Hind, one of her latest works, based in a Tabucchis novel, in which the
main character meets sixteen secondary characters, animals, monsters, on his
journey through many places, gives a good example of Izcovichs method of
production.
I can not meet to rehearse with 16 actors without paying them.
It is out of the question. So, I found two actors that liked my proposal,
love and support me, who came to rehearse (and lose money) at 10 at
night, after working for 8 hours in other things [] I conclude that I
must have thirty broken chairs in pieces as scenery, just to have
something on stage that could ironically resemble India, where people
sit on the ground. All this determines the artistic event I can produce
[] I wanted to stage Nocturno Hind in a totally unknown place. It
was risky because my name was not established then. Actually, it was
my first work in which I directed other actors. The Galpn3 was a risk
because nobody knew it (Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I).
Izcovich recalls that this peculiar way of working is not exclusive to

Argentinean contemporary artists. Bacon created a great artistic event painting the
back side of the canvases, and Buuels choice for two actors for the same female
character in That Obscure Object of Desire was found genial. In both cases, they
were determined by contingencies; in Bacon, his total lack of money and in
Buuel, the desertion of the first actor (Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I).
Javier Daulte, a well-known young playwright wrote Faros de Color using
Izcovichs acting style as a departure point. Izcovich proposed to work with
theatricality as a theme: we work without objects or scenery. There is NOTHING
on stage, but the actors and fixed white lights; actors have to go to the light in
order to act. This situation promotes interesting things, for example,
... one actor comes and says: 'I have changed', and the other
says, 'but is this you?' it is incredible! And you do not know what she is
perceiving because he remains the same. However, from the audiences
point of view the actors words are enough to make something change
(Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I).
Theatre of the circuit off - off Corrientes.
149
Izcovich defines her work as avant-garde/alternative theatre, without any
economical or institutional support, and consequently, extremely free in form. In
the map of Buenos Aires stage, she feels close to the people she works with. In
the case of Faros de Color, she exemplifies,
Javier gave me an idea, and I appropriated it. We called the
actors and there is a point in which it is impossible to know who leads
the process. We need great and passionate people to work in such
conditions. The ideal should be to maintain such a freedom at work,
with economic remuneration. Mine is not a positive situation; what is
positive about it, is that total lack puts me in a productive situation. Of
course, it is possible because I can count on great human resources
(Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I).
My work has a lot to do with fun and playfulness on one side, and with the
whole of economic impediments and cultural resistance on the other she
concludes. Izcovich declares that she has never got money from theatre, except
when she worked at the Teatro Municipal General San Martn-TMGSM, the main
official theatre in Buenos Aires. She worked there as a supporting actress, but it
was a terrible experience for her. Now, they have asked me to work on a coproduction but I refused it, I could not even think about the possibility (Izcovich
Interview 9 Appendix I). In Izcovichs view, the vacuum of enunciation lately
produced at the TMGSM is not easily overcome by theatre practitioners working
in independent basis. It is perceived as a totalizing no-discourse according to a noplace of production.
Many professionals working on an alternative basis in Buenos Aires
reproduce their work in similar conditions to Izcovichs. However, the stage
approaches and results are completely diverse. Muscari and Mendez for example
work with numerous groups, selected for each specific performance. Their work is
particularly exuberant in costumes and make up. They tend to work in alternative,
non theatrical spaces and their performances, which have no financial support, are
free. At the end of each session, they ask the audience to contribute with money to
support further performances. Their work, which has great acceptance among
young people, has also been acknowledged by the specialised critics.
Izcovichs austerity and Muscari-Mendezs saturation on stage stand in
opposition within the field of alternative theatre. However, they have in common a
strong approach to the words in performance. In Izcovichs plays the actors
speech determines the place of the actual stage reality while in Muscari-Mendez,
150
actors with remarkable vocal capacity, overload the scene in an almost obscene
manner.
The return to democracy in the early 1980s accomplished the need for
collaborative works. Those were the years of the flourishing of theatre studios and
groups. Among the remnants of those times stand El Perifrico de Objetos and De
la Guarda, which despite their completely different aesthetics, produce visual
theatre; while Pista 4 explores an intense approach to words, voice and sound and
Los Macocos are grounded in a theatrical language close to clowning.
Having scripts or any kind of text as a departure point, defining the actors
speech in the rehearsal process or improvising it, the spoken word occupies a
crucial place: intense and extended, in Buenos Aires theatre of the 1990s. If the
1980s can be called the decade of the groups, the crucial shift of signs changed the
imprint of the theatre of the last decade of the twentieth century in Buenos Aires,
which certainly passed through the use of words and the acoustic environment in
performance.
Besides those artists working with no institutional support or financial aid,
there exist other professional modes of organisation. Daniel Veronese, who leads
the group El Perifrico de Objetos, has been for twenty years a member of the San
Martns puppeteers company. Veronese also accepted official distinctions, which
provide him with a monthly budget to support his work (Staiff 1999 p.8). The
group frequently creates its works in co-production with the San Martn, which is
also the case of other groups, such as Los Macocos. De la Guarda, whose work is
mainly performed in the open air, has frequently obtained solid support from
Buenos Aires Cultural Office. The group Pista 4 which has a totally independent
profile and less mass appeal than the groups quoted above, has the most intense
approach to word and sound among Buenos Aires theatrical groups.
Ricardo Barts first notable work, Postales Argentinas, in 1989, result of
his integral mode of production in an independent basis, was also performed at the
San Martn theatre. Hamlet was produced and performed in 1991 under the same
conditions. Barts declares that he had created the conditions to produce in his
studio, which he established as an independent theatre also and defines as a ghetto
(Barts Interview 2 Appendix1). However, in 1998 he premired El Pecado que no
se Puede Nombrar, for which he gained financial support and contracts for the
151
season for himself and the whole cast. Despite his radical discourse in relation to
official theatres, he also has, like Veronese a subsidy for life from the Citys
Cultural Office, being both of them supported for several years by the National
Cultural Office to show their work abroad (Staiff 1999 p.8).
Izcovichs work illustrates the case of independent theatre, to which the
works of Pavlovsky, Angelelli, Spregelburd, Muscari-Mendez and Len, among
others, relate. These works are situated in between the theatrical circuits. Veronese
and Barts are examples of directors with an alternative profile, although solidly
supported by the official theatre and cultural system.
This support confers on them more visibility in the local cultural
environment, so they are generally associated with the independent theatre, which
lacking a permanent support, has no visibility in the media. This kind of mixed
production is established in a territory common to both, the official system and the
alternative theatre. Both mixed and alternative production are located on the
antipodes of the main stream stage. In the alternative independent and what we
may identify as mixed theatre, the multifaceted profile in production is dominant.
To Izcovich, just a few directors, such as Spregelburd or Barts, can pass
through the San Martn without getting its imprint. Actually, a number of wellknown contemporary directors have diverse levels of institutional support.
Spregelburds is limited to the occasional staging of one of his plays. Barts and
Veroneses situations are different and come to illustrate other areas of the map of
Buenos Aires contemporary stage (Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I).
Language to Izcovich has not been a barrier to show her work in other
countries. In Italy she refused simultaneous translation, because she thinks we
should act as they always do, it is our reality, I speak this language, I like it, and I
think we can work with it (Izcovich Interview 9 Appendix I). Actually, to define
in which language to perform has configured a problem for the lately growing
multilingual companies, which generally opt for a visual language. Izcovich
acknowledges her background in realism as a main influence to her effectiveness
on stage, which is remarkable in relation to the performance of the script.
Moreover, she thinks her realistic technique has never been a barrier, but an aim,
152
even in relation to her training process with Ricardo Barts4. Izcovichs case
clearly indicates that the quasi-realist methodologies in actors training are not the
source of the ineffectiveness of contemporary actors vocality in performance, as
has been generally indicated by voice coaches. The problem seems to reside in the
diverse territorializations operated by a number of teachers and directors arising
from Stanislavskis proposals.
The defined profile achieved since the 1960s by Buenos Aires playwrights
have assured them a solid presence in Argentinean theatrical production. While the
work of authors such as Gambaro and Cossa still have resonance, a later
generation of prolific young playwrights, whose plays are widely staged and
published, came to drastically change the theatrical map of Buenos Aires. Most of
them, mainly in their 20s and 30s, assure the strong place historically given to the
word by Argentinean playwrights.
However, the multiplicity of styles fragmented the quite uniform approach
to the actors speech in performance, as will be exposed in Chapter 5 of the present
work. Another peculiarity is that they often act, and/or direct their own plays, also
consolidating this dynamic of shifting roles, characteristic in Buenos Aires current
theatrical production.
In Chapter Five we will examine four cases in which particular blends of
roles establish places of high productiveness in relation to voice and speech in
performance. These are the cases of Barts, Spregelburd, Angelelli and Edelstein.
At the moment, we will focus on the role of voice coaches and of music composers
for theatre, both crucial to this study and peculiarly configured in Buenos Aires.
In relation to voice coaches, the tendencies detected in Europe are also not
verifiable in Buenos Aires. In public theatre schools, such as the EMAD and the
ENAD, which give integral acting formation, voice work is mainly under the
responsibility of speech therapists. Occasionally, a few positions are held by
singers in these schools. As we saw in Chapter One, this was the dominant
tendency in England at the beginning of the twentieth century, when voice work
was configured as a new field in actors training (see Chapter One p.30).
Most of the private theatre studios in Buenos Aires do not include voice
training. However, a few of them offer voice work as an optional and/or occasional
4
The work of Barts is particularly focused in Chapter Five pp. 231-9 of the present study.
153
activity, which must be paid for separately, a fact that might reduce the demand for
voice courses. It is not usual in Buenos Aires to appoint a voice professional to
support a rehearsal process. However, when it happens, the coaches are mostly
speech therapists, occasionally singers, frequently selected among those working
on a regular basis at a recognised school. They are assigned to give specific
support to the actors during the rehearsal process.
The local publishing on voice work is highly limited. Leticia Caramelli
wrote a particularly interesting book on voice technique, resulting from her own
inquiry in the field. She frames her accurate knowledge of voice technique as a
corporal production, through a number of concepts grounded in Euthony.
However, her proposal has not had a notable repercussion in theatrical training nor
production.
Having considered the situation of voice coaching in Buenos Aires, we will
look at the role assumed by a number of music composers, working on a regular basis
for theatre. The influence exerted by these professionals in theatre production
configures another peculiarity in Buenos Aires stage today, resulting in an intense
treatment of the aural sphere in contemporary theatre. As we will see later, the most
eager polemic about the place of voice, words and music on stage have been publicly
taken up by Edgardo Rudnitzky, a music designer, and Ernesto Schoo, a theatre critic,
at the time directing the San Martin Theatre.
154
Role Charts.
The following charts organise basic information about a number of influent theatre professionals, intending to
overview characteristic tendencies of their roles, crucial to practice and production. The sources for the Western
Contemporary Directors and Western Contemporary Voice Coaches charts are listed in the bibliography. The
data for the other charts were collected from the sources classified in Appendix 1. The item Training does not
intend to provide comprehensive information about these professionals formation, but a general profile, which
enable us to detect tendencies in their formation and its incidence in theatrical practice. The item Institutional
Link indicates some relevant institutional positions occupied by these professionals in the nineties. Most of
these professionals virtually work as freelancers, some of them besides their institutional assignments. The
Tables related to Western professionals are considered as reference to analyse Buenos Aires tendencies in
theatre production. It is not intended to fulfil a comparison between both universes.
Chart A - Western Contemporary Directors.

Name
Training
Boal
Columbia
Univ. - NY
Engineering
Oxford
IATC- in
Acting
Theatre Inst.
of Leningrad
Brook [o] [r]

Caramitru
[o] [a]
Dodin
[o] [a] *
Donnellan/
Ormerod
*
CambridgeLaw
Fornes
[a]
Lavelli
[o]
Informal in
painting
UBAEconomy
UTN-Paris
Drama
Conservatory
of Quebec
Lepage
[o]
Miller
[o]
Mnouchkine
Ninagawa
Pasqual
[o] [a] *
Sellars
[o] [a]
Stein
[o][a] *
Strehler
Verma
[a]
Wilson
[o] *
CambridgeMedicine
Oxford/Sorbo
nne in Psycho.
Inform. Acting
Autnoma de
Barcelona
Harvard
Univ. Munich
Academia
Filodramatici
Univs. York /
Sussex
Pratt Institute
Institutional
Link
CTO/RioParis
Gender
Nationality
Brazilian
Born
in
1931
Age2000
69
Male
CIRT-Paris
IACTC
Male
Male
British
Rumanian
1925
1942
75
58
Malys Theat.
Comp./State
Theat. Inst.
Cheek by Jowl
-Theatre
Company
RNT
INTAR
Male
Russian
1944
56
Male
Male
British
British
1953
1951
47
49
Female
1930
70
Colline
National
Theatre
Ex Machina
Company /
national
theatres
Old Vic/ Nat.
theatres
Thtre du
Soleil
Theatre Comp.
Lliure
Male
Cuban/
American
Argentinean/
French
1931
69
Male
French Canadian
1957
43
Male
British
1931
69
Female
French
1939
61
Male
Male
1935
1951
65
49
1957
43
National
theatres.
Official
Comp.
PiccoloOdeon
TARA Arts
Male
Japanese
Spanish
Catalan
American
Male
German
1937
63
Male
Italian
(+)
Male
British-Asian
19211998
1954
Water Mill
Male
American
1941
59
Chapter 3 Macro-mapping: Professional Roles
46
155
In Order of Age:
Strehler
(+)
Brook
75
Fornes
70
Boal
69
Lavelli
69
Miller
69
Stein
63
Mnouchkine
61
Wilson
59
Caramitru
58
Dodin
56
Pasqual
49
Declan
47
Ormerod
49
Verma
46
Sellars
43
Lepage
43
[o] Opera [a] Academic experience [r] Research

* Work in partnership:
Donnellan: director + Ormerod: stage designer
Pasqual: director + Puigserver: stage designer
Stein: director + Herrman: stage designer
Wilson: director + Glass: music composer
Dodin: director + Stronin: playwright
Sources;
Martin/Delgado-Heritage/Pavis.
Chart B - English Speaking Contemporary Voice Coaches.

Name
Training
Berry
*
Linklater
[a]
Central School of
Speech and Drama
LAMDA
Martin
[a] [r]
Stockholm University
Rodenburg
Central School of
Speech and Drama
Sundberg
[a] [r]
(?)
In Order of Age:
Berry
Martin
Linklater
64
Rodenburg
Sundberg
Institutional
link
RSC
Emerson
Coll./Gugge
nheim
Fellow
Queensland
Univ. of
Technology
of Sydney
Roy. Nat.
Theatre/
Guildhall
Sch
Roy. Inst. Of
Technology
of
Stockholm
Dep. Of
Speech and
Commun.
Gender
Nationality
British
Born
in
(?)
Age
2000
(?)
Female
Female
British
1936
64
Female
Swedish
(?)
(?)
Female
British
(?)
(?)
Male
Swedish
(?)
(?)
[a] Academic experience [r] Research experience

* Work in partenership:
Berry: with Brook and Bond.
Sources:
Linklater/IRCAM/Rodenburg/Martin.
156
Chart C - Buenos Aires Contemporary Theatre Professionals.
Name
Training
Institutional
link
Gender
Nationality
Born
in
Age
2000
Angelelli
[t]
ENAD/
private in Dance and
Acting
(?)
El Primognito
Private
theatre/studio
Sportivo Teatral
Male
Argentinean
1962
(?)
38 (?)
Male
Argentinean
(?)
(?)
ENAD/ private in acting
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1956
44
ENAD/
private in Dance, singing
and acting.
UBA-Economy
UTN-Paris
Lecoq/Dullin school
psychodrama-UBA +
private/
private in acting
Inst. of Theatre and
Cinema I.L. Caragiale/
private in direction
Translator (?)/
private in Acting and
Playwright
(-)
(-)
Konstantn
Private
theatre school
Colline
Female
Argentinean
1960
40
Male
Argentinean/
French
1931
69
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1933
67
ETBA-private
officially recog.
Theatre school
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1934
66
Male
Argentinean
1970
30
TMGSM
CCRR/Goethe
Inst./TMGSM
Perifrico de
Objetos
theatre group
Male
Male
Argentinean
Argentinean
1927
1951
73
49
Male
Argentinean
1955
45
Barts
* [t]
Chves
[t]
Izcovich
[t]
Lavelli
[o]
Pavlovsky
Serrano
[a]
Spregelburd
* [t]
Staiff
Szuchmacher
[o] [t] *
Veronese
[t]
Puppeteer-TMGSM/
private in Playwright
In Order of Age:
teaching
Spregelburd
30
Angelelli
Izcovich
40
Chves
44
Veronese
45
Szuchmacher
49
Serrano
66
Pavlovski
67
Lavelli
69
Staiff
73
[o] Opera [a] Academic experience [t] Informal
38
* Work in Partnership:
Barts: director + Villavicencio: musician
Spregelburd: director + Zipse: musician
Szuchmacher: director + Rudnitzky: musician
Sources: Appendix I
157
Chart D - Buenos Aires Contemporary Voice Coaches.

Name
Training
Institutional
link
Gender
Nationality
Born
in
Age
2000
Caramelli
[t]
Demartino
[t]
Private in singing/
autodidact
(-)
Female
Argentinean
(?)
(?)
Private a-systematic in
voice work
Male
Uruguayan
1942
58
Surez
[t]
ENAD/private in opera
singing
Univ. de El
Salvador
School of the
Press Union
ETBA
Instituto de la
Voz
private schools
El Teatrito
private
school
Male
Argentinean
1965
(?)
35
(?)
[a] Academic Experience [t] Informal teaching
In Order of Age:
Surez
Demartino
Caramelli
Sources: Appendix I
Chat E - Buenos Aires Contemporary Music Composers for Theatre.

Name
Training
Edelstein
[o] [a] [r]
CICMAT (Ex-Instituto
Di Tella)/
LIPM/Private in Music
Composition
Universidad de La
Plata/ Private in Music
Composition
Rudnitzky
* [a]
In Order of Age:
experience
Edelstein
47
Rudnitzky
44
Institutional
Link
Universidad
Nacional de
Quilmes
Gender
Nationality
Argentinean
Born
in
1953
Age
2000
47
Male
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1956
44
[o] Opera [a] Academic experience [r] Research

Edelstein: musician + Villanueva: director
Rudnitzky: musician + Szuchmacher: director
Sources: Appendix I
158
The No-Mans Land of Voice Work in Buenos Aires.

A number of voice coaches who work privately have became reference
points for Buenos Aires voice work. Carlos Demartino and Jorge Surez are the
most popular among young actors and students. Leticia Caramelli works mainly
with singers. However, she has taught many workshops for young actors at the
CCGSM and is the only one among them who has written a book on voice work.
Demartino trained singing and recitation sporadically in his youth. He has
been teaching since he started training. After a period of voice work at the Teatro
del Pueblos school, he contacted voice therapists demanding accurate
physiological information. The outcome was not different: it was he who gave
lessons to them about the actors voice. Demartino has been a full time voice
teacher since 1981, when he started to teach at La Barraca, a theatre school
founded by Rubens Correa, where he worked until 1986. There, he had the
opportunity to teach groups for a continuous period of two years.
In 1986, Demartino jointed Liliana Flores, a prominent voice therapist, at
that time directing the Asociacin Argentina de Fonoaudiologa. They founded
together the Instituto de la Voz, where they implemented a two-year program,
intended for professionals that use the voice publicly. At the Instituto, students are
taught in groups or individually, depending on their needs. Since then, he has been
teaching Oratory at the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Buenos
Aires, and at the Union de los Trabajadores de Prensa de Buenos Aires, and a
number of private theatre studios, where his courses are offered as optional. He has
been also invited on many occasions to talk about his work on articulation and
expressiveness at a number of public universities.
In 1984, Demartino started to teach with the assistance of a voice therapist
who does what he calls the basic work of breathing, relaxation and voice
production, while he dedicates himself to work on articulation and expressiveness.
He declares that technique is totally grounded in physiology, and he constantly
differentiates between sound and text work. We may infer then that his work on
articulation is similar to that of voice therapists and the work on expressiveness
should correspond to the textual work.
To approach the text, in verse or prose, he believes that actors should start
working with what he calls a close verb, in other words, plays written in a
159
language familiar to that spoken by a given group of students. According to this,
Demartino believes that the Argentinean theatrical repertoire of the 1960s works
well as a starting point to do textual work with young students from Buenos Aires.
Gradually, students should progress in a series of style variations, which will make
them face diverse vocal complexities:
Gradually the student should progress through style variations.
They can approach Miller or Tennessee Williams, who are realists but
translated. Then, they can go on to a different kind of realism, such as
Chekhov or Brecht. Then, they can work on authors that create
complexities in speech, even working in our language, such as the local
authors of the grotesque, like Discepolo. Then, they can move on to
Molire comedies, go on to Lorca, the Spanish Golden Age and stylised
authors such as Racine, Corneille and Shakespeare (Demartino
Interview 7 Appendix I).
The main criterion to organise the above series appears to be to move from the
familiar to the unfamiliar. However, it is not clear how and why the students would
abandon a speech style patterned in Buenos Aires day by day working class to any
other. Demartinos own categorisation seems arbitrary, as Chekhov and Brecht are
qualified as different kinds of realism. In his view, Miller and Williams seem to be
closer to the Rioplatense Realism than an emblematic local author as Discepolo. It is
not clear why particularly these four authors should work as a link between the realist
local playwright and the local grotesque.
Demartino suggests in his sequential training program a late shift from Buenos
Aires grotesque to Shakespeare, passing through Molire, to Lorca, to Spanish
Golden Age, and authors as Corneille and Racine. Qualifying all these authors as
stylised, Demartino disguises any possible link from the familiar to the unfamiliar.
His proposal appears to be grounded in a highly random option. Though, Demartino
affirms: this is logic, and it must be done like this (Demartino Interview 7 Appendix
I).
He thinks that the actors main problem in relation to voice delivery resides
in the shift from the conversational to professional speech delivery, a shift that
corresponds to that between naturalism and what he calls aesthetic realism. He
defines the conversational as lacking vocal openness and consonant articulation.
However, he does not refer to any difference in the air support between
conversational and stage delivery. He does not elaborate further on this crucial
assertion, asking at least why actors do not abandon conversational styles on stage.
160
He also detects other obstacles, such as the cost of voice work and the
acting teachers and directors lack of awareness about voice. In his view, these
facts contribute to determine the current situation in which students come to voice
work when they already have pathologies. However, Demartino indicates that
technique is not a guarantee to preserve healthy voice delivery, as pathologies
result from sustained effort.
This single assertion proves that his work is not intended for high
intensities, required for stage voice delivery. An opera singer, for example, makes
huge physical efforts in singing, which would be harmful without a technique, the
basic objective of which is exactly to preserve the performers material. Besides
the shift between the conversational and the stage delivery, the problems are all
external to voice work. It is surely excessive for a theatre student to pay for an
extra course, particularly if ultimately, vocal technique does not offer them any
guarantees.
Demartino thinks that voice work in Argentina dos not lack professionals,
but rather institutional environments which propitiate continuity to the work. He
acknowledges a group of about twenty voice professionals active in Buenos Aires.
Among them, Susana Naidich, who in his view is not a teacher, but an individual
therapist; Casquevich, also a therapist; Marta Sanches, a teacher at the ENAD and
the EMAD, who comes from singing and whose work he defines as voice
liberation, Isabel Pereira and Liliana Flores, both voice therapists, and Surez, one
of the actors who teaches. In this context, Demartino claims:
I am the only [authorised] name in this group. I am dedicated to
a more integral work between voice therapy and the expressive in the
actors vocal training. I am the only one to have a clear methodology
which is called actors vocal technique (Demartino Interview 7
Appendix I).
The majority of voice therapists in Demartinos list of professionals are

obvious choices. He also claims to have a different profile, being the only
professional to approach the integral training of the actors voice, which is in
contradiction with his original assertions that Buenos Aires does not lack voice
professionals. In such a situation, it could be asked why we need institutional
environments if there is nobody that could teach in them?
161
Demartino is the least trained of the coaches here considered. However, he
is the only one who holds several permanent appointments. His professional
prestige is grounded on his co-operation with voice therapists, which is patent in
his use of language. This peculiar situation has promoted him to many
appointments in diverse institutional environments.
Jorge Surez is a well-known young professional actor. He studied at the
ENAD and had private lessons in opera singing between the ages of sixteen and
twenty-one. Surez recalls that he developed a voice which, although powerful,
had an unchanging style of delivery inadequate to the demands of theatrical
performance. He quit singing and started to work alone to turn his vocal material
more flexible. Having achieved his objective, he started to give group lessons,
because he wanted to share this experience with other actors. Surez believes that a
good part of his success on stage resides in his effective voice delivery in
performance.
Surez illustrates the case of the singing student shaped to his masters
style of delivery, a problem that he believes to be characteristic of opera training.
As voice therapists, the old Italian opera school also make an option for abdominal
breathing. This approach to singing, related to a historical period in which
technical demands were far less than today, is still reproduced by teachers who
remain linked to the ninetieth century traditions, as Caramelli further
acknowledges. However, this kind of breathing is also taken for granted by Surez
as the only valid support to the voice on stage.
Surez works exclusively with young actors and advanced theatre students.
Technically speaking, Surez declares that he works with physiological grounding,
abdominal breathing support, relaxation, resonators, articulation, the neck and
exercises against obstruction. Contrary to Demartinos linear approach to the text
in voice work, Surezs students must always define for themselves the texts they
want to work with. Surez may suggest authors or plays, but students choose what
they want to say. His students always works with monologues, Surez declares,
because they do the scenes at school or on stage.
Surez defines the actors voice as a tentacle that asks for technique to
grow. Another objective of vocal technique is, in Surezs view, to overcome
physical problems during a season. Like Demartino, he also detects the crucial
162
difference between the conversational and the stage delivery style and does not
define them technically.
Surez also acknowledges that acting is taught separately from voice work,
while corporal disciplines are part of most acting programs. As a result, young
actors, who generally have a good corporal performance, are mainly afraid of their
voices and hardly understood on stage. Angelelli, a successful young actor
graduated at the ENAD like Surez, detects the same problems in voice and
corporal training, at least at the ENAD, a school that offers both.
Surez is a young actor, whose acknowledged universe of reference seems
to be that of a pre-1960s actor. A number of professionals interviewed declared
their appreciation for the comprehensive training offered at the ENAD, however
admitting its huge limitations today. Most of them consider the training at the
ENAD solid as basic groundwork. However, they also acknowledge a need to be
exposed to other approaches after leaving school, to establish a rupture which
enables new options in acting. Surez trained at the ENAD, and simultaneously
with an opera coach, and does not present a critical view in relation to his
background.
A training detached from the actors creative needs and of the present
performance requirements will be defined below in this study as the formal
machine in training. It is at work in the most influent theatre studios and schools
in Buenos Aires, since the 1960s. Ral Serranos publishing and teaching practice,
also quoted by Surez, at the ENAD or at his own studio, are crucial to the
configuration of such a machine in training.
This particular matter will be considered in the next sections of this
Chapter and also in Chapter 5. However, it is interesting to notice, considering the
particular approaches to Stanislavski dominant in both schools, that Surez
believes that ENAD is the best school in Argentina, followed by Serranos (Surez
Surez declares that the San Martn is in his view the only theatre with a
serious project, an assertion difficult to maintain at the moment of the interview,
when the intervention by the Citys Cultural Office was imminent, because of the
huge administrative problems of the theatre. Surez might mean that as an official
theatre, the San Martn has the possibility of a project, not strictly related to the
163
market circuit. However, many young professionals share Izcovichs position in
which just a few of very solid proposals resist the territorialization exerted by the
San Martn as institution, in the final result of its productions (Surez Interview 17
Appendix I).
Surez points to Szuchmacher and Francisco Javier as models of directors,
whose work is generally referred to as highly professional but not exactly as avantgarde, and Alfredo Alcn and Nuria Espert as paradigmatic actors, vocally
responding to a European coding of the 1950s. Surez gives a good example of
how actors such as Alcn work as an indisputable reference in terms of voice
delivery:
Alcn speaks Lorca in our language: you might not like how he
says it, but you should like to listen to it. You might like or not his
voice, his acting, his interpretation, but nobody dislikes to listen to it (...)
Nuria and Alcn staged a homage to Lorca. Many of my students were
there, and they got bored. I thought it was that Spanish actors have no
technique, no method; there is not still an elevated theatrical concept in
Spain (Surez Interview 17 Appendix I).
The possibility of Alcn not achieving a great performance is not

considered. It might be a problem of the Spanish theatrical repertoire, or Esperts
deficiency (she is an outstanding Spanish professional who frequently works with
Alcn), or a limitation of the students perception, but the problem would never
reside in Alcns performance. Surezs students were probably exposed to a
performance of Lorca grounded on a coding completely alien to them. Surez
critique of Spanish theatre shows that it is not this style of performance, but
Alcns style, which is still considered as ideal, probably because of the lack of
alternatives. Surez does not imagine a problem in Alcns performance, but
everywhere else.
Alcn has been referred to by the three voice coaches considered here as
paradigmatic in terms of vocality. However, Surez is certainly the one who goes
further pointing to Alcns vocal approach as exemplary. Undoubtedly, Alcn is
the most emblematic Argentinean actor. He trained in Buenos Aires when the
Spanish influence was dominant in training and production. However, among the
actors of his generation who are still active, he is probably the most ductile to
adapt to diverse styles in performance and to shift from acting to directing. It is
probably his characteristic mobility in terms of performance which turned him into
164
a paradigm in acting, as the actor that can do classics and the Absurd with the same
freedom that he films a comedy, without becoming attached to a particular style, as
happened with most actors of his generation.
However, particularly when performing the Spanish repertoire, Alcn
grounds his performance in the European coding in which he was trained, and of
which he is most representative. The high formal definition of this coding defines
it as an overcoding, a territory in which a great number of conventions remain at
work. This European overcoding have been territorialised by diverse tendencies in
performance since the 1960s, when playwrights in Buenos Aires demanded a vocal
style shaped in a Buenos Aires working class day by to speech. But the most
important of the territorialising waves over the actors vocality have been operated
by the new styles configured by television.
The media coding, progressively removing the installed conventions in
voice and speech delivery, configured itself, by its functionality, as a decoding.
Ruled by the market logic, it has been established as a capitalist decoding at work
over the actors vocality. These two main variables at work in the field of actors
vocality in Buenos Aires are unavoidable to configure a local map of voice and
speech training and performance in the 1990s.
In relation to Surez assertion, it may be said that Alcn characterises not
just the European overcoding, but a crystallisation of the map of Buenos Aires
vocality in the face of which, even Esperts performance fades. However, young
acting students, who certainly do not share all these previous positions, can not
differentiate between Esperts and Alcns performance. They face an
actualisation of what we define in the frame of this study as the European
overcoding, the possible links of which have been totally blurred through the
constant action of the capitalist decoding.
The lack of elements to read this situation stimulates the configuration of
patterns of performance as referential. This kind of procedure stimulates capture,
restraining the fluidity of styles characteristic to the actors vocality. In Alcn case,
his imprint became such a strong referent in Buenos Aires acting, that Alcn
himself became captured in it, frequently reproducing his own style in
performance. Surez overlooks the clear clues about the codings at work in Buenos
Aires stage of the 1990s, implicit in the above quoted situation. Affirming his own
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position over Alcns pattern, Surez contributes to framing it in a close profile of
capture.
Surez has a dramatic and passionate discourse about theatre and words on
stage, full of moral judgements and with little critical value, which tends to
oversimplify the problems and hide basic contradictions, as is made manifest in the
following assertion and belief. Words used to be a value, recalls Surez; they are
not anymore, but they still should affect us, like love does. Surez perceives the
voice as a private part, which signifies contact with the audience (Surez Interview
17 Appendix I).
Acting to Surez is a trilogy of body, soul and voice. However, he
acknowledges that frequently great actors keep their personal voices on stage. It is
not clear then, how they might be considered good actors if they do not fulfil the
above pointed trilogy. Surez believes that good theatre is difficult to support
economically because it has no audience. Thinking about why people do not go to
theatre, Surez recognises that there were lots of spectacles where nothing
happened. In this case, audiences left theatre because it was not good enough, not
because they do not search for good theatre. Surez maintains that bad actors do
not play Golden Age classics because this kind of repertoire totally exposes them.
Considering the scant presence of this repertoire on the Buenos Aires stage, it is
possible to infer that local good actors are unusual.
To Surez, the visual on stage compensates for the current failure of speech
delivery. However, he recognises that technologies have brought new codes
unexplored until now in theatre practice. Considering this, the above assertion
which simplifies the relation between the visual and the aural on stage as a
complementary duality might be discussed. To reduce the poor performance in
terms of voice and speech to deficiencies in training, to trivialise complex relations
as the visual/aural on stage or to acknowledge the key presence and effects of the
new technologies as a not very significant factor, demonstrates Surezs lack of
reflection on the field of voice work, were he, as a professional actor and coach,
multiplies his view of the problem. We will return to Demartino and Surez, after
referring to Caramellis case.
Leticia Caramelli developed her work on an autodidactic basis, having the
antecedent of a solid training in singing. Between 1983 and 1993, Caramelli taught
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at the University of El Salvador, in the career of Music Therapy. She is now
working at her studio in Buenos Aires, and as a chorus coach. She has taught vocal
technique for actors at the Workshops of the Centro Cultural San Martn.
Occasionally, she prepares casts for musicals. Caramellis target public in theatre
are mainly beginners, and young musical actors (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix
I).
To Caramelli, it is this quality of voice, which she defines as an acoustic,
intangible but perceptible, body, that is responsible for the general unawareness of
it. To her, voice has more to do with the gaze than with the physical body. She
defines voice technique as the conscious work of an instrument which, at the
beginnings of the speech learning process until five years of age (or more in
untrained adults), is self-governed (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
To Caramelli, technique should respond to the situation (...) to shape the
bodys behaviour according to a determinate activity. According to this definition,
the presence of technological means on the contemporary stage configures a new
situation, which establishes a problematic completely different from that of the
1950s, and so requires new technical strategies. Caramelli states that voice work
has to do with conscious corporal techniques, because it intends to make
intentional use of autonomous muscles. We do not feel the whole vocal system at
work, but it is there. So, the more we know about its mechanics, the more it suits
our intentions, reflects Caramelli (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
She identifies three key points in voice technique: to maintain the muscles
expanded in expiration, to define the difference between a conversational and a
stage voice delivery and to articulate the larynx movements. A crucial question in
voice work is to maintain the muscles expanded in expiration, while the muscular
system responding to the autonomous nervous system is asking you to do the
opposite. Producing sound in high intensities is an anaerobic work; you reserve air
in the lungs, and recuperate what you have wasted. Here comes the interplay
between two nervous systems. The pyramidal and the extra-pyramidal, the later
being responsible for fine and low motion, and the autonomous, which is
responsible for 80% of our body work. They are responsible for the production of
stage and conversational speech respectively (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
In relation to this matter, Caramelli is sharp and clear:
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In singing and in all kind of stage delivery, everything is
cortical, everything is commanded by the cerebral cortex. The
conversational voice, which modifies in the case of a trained voice. is
more ancient, it belongs to the diencephalus, where emotions reside. It is
highly developed in animals, and is not cortical. Human beings have
developed the cortex more. When we cannot dominate emotions,
conversational voice is controlled by the diencephalus, not by the cortex.
This cortical development makes it possible to observe and
command the autonomous system voluntarily by the extra-pyramidal
system. When I have to open the larynx I produce a sound consciously
worked through a technical principle. To achieve this I have to work in
low motion. From the position related to ordinary conversational voice
production it is not possible to understand the openness needed to
produce a cortex voice (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
The conversational voice is the personas voice; the cortex voice is the
performers voice. This is the crucial difference between these modes of speech,
which also demands diverse breathing mechanisms of air support. Synthesising,
diverse modes of speech delivery correspond to diverse uses of the larynx and
diverse aerial support. The trained larynx does not work in block, with the
cartilages rigid, it detaches them. Untrained people could become caricatured when
trying to deliver with a darker vocal timbre (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
Voice therapists do not work with the cortex, states Caramelli. As a result,
they work with the larynx as a block and cannot implement rib reserve. Voice
therapists work well with conversational voices with pathologies or fixed
positions. With abdominal breathing and relaxation, as voice therapists propose,
we should work in an office, not on stage states Caramelli. If singers or actors
support their voices with the abdominal muscles, voice gets completely fixed in
delivery. Caramelli notices that voice therapists may not improve a voice, but they
also cannot ruin it. Differently, voice teachers can damage voices, because they
work in a mode of delivery which intends to achieve high intensities (Caramelli
Interview4 Appendix I).
Caramelli considers vocalisation as a basic activity to voice work not only
for singing, but also for acting. Vocalisation is the means to acquire control in
voice delivery, states Caramelli. In vocalisation, the cortex and the extra-pyramidal
intervenes disputing with the autonomous nervous system. This does not involve
relaxation; it is freedom in articulation and work with the body weight (Caramelli
I named each muscle in my book, because I want people to
have a consciousness about their bodies. The critics were ferocious.
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People said that to have consciousness tends to block people. This is
why in this country there are some many problems with voice. This
country is anti-technique (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
Technique cannot be set up in a moment; it needs time to incarnate.

Information might block students at the beginning, but ultimately, it works,
continues Caramelli. In relation to singing training, Caramelli thinks that voice
teachers work, based mainly in the imitative approach, remains in the nineteenth
century:
Opera singers start teaching when they stop singing. Singing
was their exclusive occupation until the moment in which, suddenly,
they shift to teaching. They are not prepared to be malleable [in terms of
voice production], but to deliver in the way it was useful to them.
Frequently, they diagnose students that cannot sing, just because they
cannot reproduce their masters styles (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix
I).
Caramelli points out that singing teachers use of language is often

inaccurate, as Sundberg noticed (see Chapter One p.41), producing a number of
undesired effects. The words we use to give images are crucial. Other crucial
questions in relation to voice work are, in Caramellis view, the current disregard
of the body as a ground for a voice technique, the general students tendency of
guiding themselves through their ear, and the implementation of technical devices
lacking a previous exploration of the performers material (Caramelli Interview 4
Appendix I).
A main problem in vocal technique is not to have the body as a departure
point, regarding its hierarchy. Vocal technique has to do with expanding the
transverse axis of the body, while maintaining stable the vertical axis to
compensate the transversal expansion; posture is a crucial and defining point in
this matter. The larynx opening itself accommodates the spine as well. It is rare to
find somebody that commands breathing symmetrically, it is lead by one lung or
the other, depending on what side our body is grounded. If we expand the
abdomen, the vertical axe is altered, and people finish by supporting the voice in
the lumbar spine, which hurts it (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
Students should not guide themselves by the ear, because the work is
muscular. To her, vocal work is grounded in 3 works: muscular, breathing, and
resonantial-aural. The resonantial participates in sensations of duration, the aural
depends on defined pitch, timbre, etc. Resonantial and aural spheres work always
169
in combination. We should neutralise the aural to concentrate on the muscles
work, to check the resonance results, but the three bases are always at work. What
is at work in a performer is not imagination, it is memory. A performer has a huge
data base through observation and perception, which is stored in memory
If you know how it works, sometimes you get there. And if you
store the sensation in your memory, you keep a reference to return to.
When you enter through the sensation you do not think anymore, you
sing (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
People should know their original vocal material before starting to work
technically. If we take away this particular ground from the performers, we destroy
them, says Caramelli. To her, techniques work as a mask to the body, emotions and
the psychological structure, to preserve the original material of the person, of the
stage stress faced by performers, asserts Caramelli (Caramelli Interview 4
Appendix I).
Conversational voice, the personas voice, originates in emotion. A
performer might have great technique, but if the emotion of the role s/he performs
is not placed, her/his personal emotion will take over the performers voice. In
singing, voice delivery has more distance from the personal emotions because the
music mediates between them. Actors do not have a score to step behind; music
controls the emotions in singing. The actors objective in voice work is the
modification of resonance (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
Actors that come to Caramelli have always the same problems: they do not
fill the room, they get disphonic, do not have support, the exercises given to them
by their voice coaches in the theatre studios they attend, do not suit their problems.
Their teachers often confound technique with style, and most of the singers and
actors come with abdominal breathing (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
I discover a number of things facing my own problems and
experience. As this problem is shared by many people, I think I can help
them, knowing that this is not a unique path. When you work well and
sustained, intuitively or not, you become progressively better. I work
with the concept of the fine movement. This kind of movement may be
approached from Euthony, from yoga, from the extra-pyramidal, from
tai-chi. These are the new forms of connecting the body in a highly
energising, however subtle, activity which is far away from relaxation
(Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
Caramellis knowledge in vocal technique is solid and accurate. Her

inquiry in the field of voice production has been extensive and intensive. As a
170
result, her work, is well defined. Caramelli precisely outlines crucial questions in
vocal technique, such as the mechanics of rib reserve breathing and the difference
between conversational and stage speech, among many others. She also makes
clear that there are not physiological differences between singing and stage speech
production, a question that has been frequently mistaken not just by coaches but by
relevant directors and acting teachers. To Caramelli, who at some level approaches
voice instrumentally, a technique should respond to the needs of a given situation.
However, her situational framing to technique and her approach to the body
dissolve the instrumental view. Caramelli has a solid technical approach to voice
production and singing, but does not specialise in textual work.
Differently Demartino and Surez show an indeterminate grounding in
technique and an arbitrary approach to the text. In Demartino, texts are accessed
according to an erratic canon. Its intended linear logic, of which Demartino seems
to be proud, shows some deviations, such as considering Brecht as a realist author,
or approaching indistinctly Shakespeare, Racine and Corneille; and huge leaps,
such as that from Discepolo to Molire.
Differently, in Surez, students decide what to work on, establishing a nonlinear mode of arbitrariness. The only restriction is that the text chosen has to be a
monologue, not because it is a technical requirement, but because they do the rest
of the scripts at school Surez states (Surez Interview 17 Appendix I). Despite
the differences, both approaches are based on scarcely justified decisions, which
confers on them highly hazardous profiles.
Surezs use of a passionate discourse, full of value judgements, results in
frequent contradictions and imprecise definitions. In the case of Demartino,
however, we find no definitions at all. The vagueness in Demartinos discourse is
indicated by a number of terms, coming from voice therapy, such as episode,
which he uses indiscriminately. Caramellis discourse instead, is consistent in
terms of physiology and also conceptually speaking.
In terms of voice coaches, Naidich is a reference for Caramelli and
Demartino. However, while Demartino places himself within a frame of therapists
and singers, Caramelli feels detached from any reference in the area of voice work.
Surezs frame of reference is official theatre. He does not acknowledge the work
of voice therapists or singing teachers at all. Actually, he presents himself as an
171
actor who teaches voice, not as a voice coach. As there is no formal training in the
field of voice work in Buenos Aires, the professionals trained formally are voice
therapists, actors or singers. Surez is the only one of the coaches interviewed to
have formal training as an actor. Demartino, despite being the one to occupy the
widest institutional space, shows an a-systematic and scant profile in training.
Caramelli defines with originality crucial points, systematically overlooked
in the field of voice work. However, she is the less recognised among the voice
professionals considered here and, paradoxically, the only one who has manifested
the need to share her experiences with colleagues. Caramelli is also the only one to
ground vocal technique in an approach to the body, which she frames not
organically, despite her physiological knowledge, but as a plane of consistence.
Caramelli believes that Susana Naidich, a prominent voice therapist and
singer is the only proficient professional teaching vocal technique in Buenos
Aires. However, she guards her knowledge because she cares about her business.
Often, people go to her to get information and soon open their own studio states
Caramelli (Caramelli Interview 4 Appendix I).
Reinforcing Caramellis assertion about the traffic of information in the
local field of voice work, it should be said that Susana Naidich has not been
interviewed during the field work related to this study in Buenos Aires, because
she insists on being paid to give interviews. Caramelli, regarding the above
outlined situation, decided not to work with voice therapists anymore: Liliana
Flores and all the people of the Instituto de la Voz are terrifying. Voice therapists
are a corporation of lonely woman. There are no men doing this specific work.
Caramelli notices that famous artists work with Naidich. However, it should be
said that their performances are not always in accordance with their celebrity.
Caramelli instead, has not a major influence in the field of voice work (Caramelli
In terms of actors voice delivery, Alcn is a unique reference for all the
coaches interviewed. It shows that the European overcoding in voice delivery
installed in Buenos Aires decades ago by a generation of Spaniards theatre
professionals, remains intact until now, appearing as the unique and ideal
possibility in delivery. The capitalist decoding, which is associated with television
styles in voice and speech delivery, are identified by Demartino and Surez as
172
harmful. However, Caramelli, who is the only one among them to have a position
regarding technological means of communication, sees the influence of television
as settling new contingencies with which to work. Demartinos omission about
technologies of reproduction and his restrictions to the vocal, with no reference to
a corporeal or an acting frame, makes him think in a world of ambulant larynxes,
which occasionally deliver a verse. Surez tangentially acknowledges the presence
of a new code brought by technologies. However, it does not seem to be a crucial
question for him.
This lack of an institutionalised sphere, with no referential tendencies in
voice work in Buenos Aires configures a No-Mans Land, where the main concern
of voice therapists seems to keep control, at any cost, of their territorialising
machine. Actors vocality in performance appears to be highly captured
(influenced and crystallised) by the fluxes of the European overcoding and by the
late mass media decoding. However, the vacuity provoked by this lack of
discourses in voice work, also propitiates lines of flight in works such as
Caramellis which, lacking the resistance operated by such discourses, is capable
of following the fluid quality of voice.
In Chapter Five of the present work, we will refer to a number of artists,
who approach the actors vocality with unusual intensity, escaping the currents
codes of voice delivery in performance. To reveal the directions established by
these kind of productive machines of vocality over this No-Mans Land of voice
work in Buenos Aires, is one of the main purposes of the present study.
Stages Sound Machines

Music composers hold a peculiar place in Buenos Aires theatrical
production, where their partnership with directors is frequent. The mode of
constant collaboration between professionals, such as Valcarcel with Barts, of
Zipse with Spregelburd, of Szuchmacher with Rudnitzky have, been leaving a
particular imprint on the Buenos Aires stage in the last decade. Musicians such as
Misrahi, who frequently works in collaboration with Iebadni, show a Brechtian
profile, which has a productive tradition in Buenos Aires theatrical practice.
Collaborations such as Edelsteins with Villanueva, produced potent events, such
173
as Las Personas no Razonables estn en Vas de Extincin, by Peter Handke, and
Borges y Pern, by Estrazulas. New formulas promise to explore new trends in
theatrical performance.
This fertile mode of production is generally not one way. In relation to the
interplay between the director and the composer, Rudnitzky states: I take a lot
from them, they are intuitive and allow me, from my position, to intervene in the
staging, to modify it (Rudnitzky in Weinschelbaun 1998 p.7).
Oscar Edelstein, a composer whose approach to voice, words and
technology in performance will be particularly considered in Chapter Five of the
present study, reflects about this interactive mode of productions in which the aural
sphere on stage acquires particular relevance:
The music composer, once working over these materials, is
working in the musical domain (...) The control of specific musical
parameters -such as time, space, form and textures- may be applied to
new forms of theatrical performance. These mechanisms may evolve
over the actors control on stage, generating a discursive instance
(Edelstein in Cruz and Liut 1998 p.5) [My translation]
Nevertheless, the presence of musicians, who are certainly not regarded as

sound technicians, has a substantial incidence in Buenos Aires theatrical practice,
particularly in the resulting performance of the text on stage. They see theatre as a
sound environment par excellence, framed in a singular conceptual approach
(Rudnitzky in Weinschelbaun 1998 p.7). The actors voice and speech is
considered as part of this aural environment, in which technologies have a
particular role today.
Music composers working in theatrical performance hold a peculiar role on
the Buenos Aires stage. The musicians are particularly regarded in the frame of
this study because of their particular perception of both the actors vocality and its
interplay with the new technologies on stage. Works such as Edelsteins, establish
one of the most potent places of vocality in Buenos Aires contemporary theatre.
The musicians approach to words in performance as merged into the aural
whole is not naive. Thus, it has provoked the reaction of those inscribed in a more
conservative line of thought who, denying the materiality of words on stage, see
them as the mere register of a discursive option behind them. The public answers
given by a number of musicians and theatre directors to a letter signed by Ernesto
174
Schoo in a local newspaper, in March 1998, well illustrates the action of these
positions about the actors vocality.
As a composer, Rudnitzky has been working for many years for ballet and
theatre. He was the musical director of the Grupo de Danza Teatro de la
Universidad de Buenos Aires, which has an distinctive approach to music, voice
and speech. He also worked with at a sound company for films, from where he
acknowledges he acquired specific technical training (Rudnitzky Interview 13
Appendix I).
Some years ago, Rudnitzky started to work in collaboration with Rubn
Szuchmacher, an influential theatre director in Buenos Aires. Among the classics,
Rudnitzky has made the music design for two versions of A Midsummer Nights
Dream, Faust, Calgula and Richard III (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I). He
dedicates himself almost exclusively to compose the music for stagings of the
Argentinean and international theatrical repertoire. In 1997, Rudnitzky composed
the music for eight stagings and in the last three years, for more than twenty
(Rudnitzky in Weinschelbaun 1998 p.7).
At the moment of the debate with Schoo, Rudnitzky was appointed to
compose the music for The Cherry Orchard, the premier of which was scheduled
for June 1998, as part of the TMGSM season. As a result of the polemic Rudnitzky
resigned his commission. The theatre critic Ernesto Schoo was at the time director
of the TMGSM. In his column at the newspaper La Nacin, Schoo started asking:
Is it necessary that every play have its own score, as films do?
(...) Does prose theatre need music? The cautious answer is Yes, when
it does need it. (...) Rarely does the audience remember the incidental
music of a play (...) It reveals that, in prose theatre, words and situations
are still fundamental and the music, accessory (Schoo in Cruz and Liut
1998 p.5)[My translation]
Rudnitzkys answer did not take long to come. He pointed out that Schoo
was comparing with a total lack of conceptual rigour, phenomena artistically and
conceptually different, such as theatre, TV and film, with no reference to aesthetic
or staging criteria, in order to conclude that words and situations are crucial to
theatre, to which music is accessory and, moreover, that most of the important
scripts deny music, except in that of the words themselves (Rudnitzky in Cruz and
Liut 1998 p.5) [My translation].
175
When speaking about words on stage, Schoo and Rudnitzky refer to
qualitatively different phenomena. Schoos perception of the word is impregnated
with all the tendencies that consider words as a register resulting from processes
off stage; impregnated from a literary point of view in writing, with the
construction of the character in acting, a directorial approach based in table work
and a semiotic critical analysis.
Schoo inscribes words to the letter, not as phenomena of vocality, strictly
material, the existence of which is restricted to performance, where they directly
interact with all the spheres of theatrical discursiveness, narration and the
audience. Schoos perception of words in theatre inscribes a tendency dominant in
the last decades in Buenos Aires, to which many theatre professionals still now
ascribe. This conceptual position has some responsibility for the current situation
in Buenos Aires in relation to the actors vocality where, despite the local prolific
and solid dramaturgy and strong tradition in actor training, voice work is almost
non-existent in actors training, and vocal performances are frequently frozen in
codings foreign to contemporary theatrical performance.
What disturbs Schoo is not if we need music or not on stage. It is that the
work of these musicians on stage may interfere with all the pseudo-intellectual
operations that people like him are used to making in theatre. Framing words on
stage from the perspective of their sensual experience, music composers working
for theatre may enlighten a sphere overlooked until now in Buenos Aires, hidden
behind a number of procedures that have nothing to do with the actors voice and
speech.
Rudnitzky answers Schoo recalling the place that music historically holds
in theatre production and about the interplay between theatre and film and
television. Rudnitzky mentions Tennessee Williams (extremely careful with
acoustic indications), and the singular aural economy configured in Miller,
Beckett, and Shakespeare among others. In relation to the origins of music in
theatrical performance, he recalls that there are traces of music for theatre since the
Bronze Age, when in China and India theatre performance were accompanied by
music, progressing through the Comedia dellArte and Elizabethan theatre, until
our day,
176
when obviously technology brought its contribution and the
concept of truth changed. Through the ages, theatrical authors have been
making music and sound quotations (...) often responding to a parallel
sound narration, which completes the discourse of the play on stage,
working as a whole with the rest of the aural environment, in which the
word is included (Rudnitzky in Cruz and Liut 1998 p.5) [My
translation].
At last, as Edelstein notices, with reference to this debate that scripts not
only do not reject music, but contain it (Edelstein in Cruz and Liut 1998 p.5).
According to Rudnitzky, this proves that, despite Schoos assertions, theatre did
not take music from film, pointing to the action of the capitalist decoding of the
aural sphere as a whole:
Actually, film took music from theatre, installing it in a mass
circuit. Music in theatre has been loosing power because it has been
impregnated by televisions functionality, this second-rate attitude of
outlining emotion (...) Music has been frequently used to inform in a
soap opera style (However) the function of sound on stage is conceptual,
as is the stage design, or a directors view (Rudnitzky in Weinschelbaun
1998 p.7).
The capacity of music to improve the intensity of a dramatic moment,

altering the notions of time and space on stage, has been more or less applied by
authors and directors. Besides its dramatic role, music in theatrical performance
had also achieved great moments from a strictly musical perspective. With
reference to the memory of audiences in relation to these particular moments,
Rudnitzky recalls: The waltz of The Cherry Orchard [to talk about a play quoted
by Schoo], composed by Gerardo Gandini for its 1983s staging at the TMGSM,
has remained in the audiences memory because of its beauty. (Rudnitzky in Cruz
and Liut 1998 p.5) [My translation].
Consulted in relation to the debate above, Daniel Veronese, director of the
Perifrico de Objetos, also gives his opinion:
Music has a leading role in most of our stagings. Moreover, we
have developed whole scenes which have the music as a starting point. I
would say that music gives the same possibilities as a text to us, they
fulfil similar functions dramatically. Our work has a choreographic level
where we often work with repetition. The actor should follow these lines
of movements and action elements through the acoustic setting
(Veronese in Cruz and Liut 1998 p.5) [My translation].
Part of a cultural project or the fruit of contingencies, Schoos assertions

about the spoken word on stage configure the reaction of a conservative perception
of theatre. Views such as Schoos support vocal performance styles related to what
177
it was defined in the frame of this study as the European coding of the 1950s, in
terms of the actors vocality.
In the period between the wars, recalls Rudnitzky, placing the regarded
phenomenon in a wider frame, so many things happened to change music history.
Sound became a material itself, an acoustic object, and not a reference within the
context of a system anymore, he notices. This new perception of sound changed
also the concept of noise (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I). The Second World
War marks the highest point in the development of sound technology. The
harmonizer4, which now is currently used in studios, was invented then to hide
recorded information under other recordings. Neumann microphones were
developed by Hitlers demands for the good reproduction of his voice. Sirens and
bombs developed levels of sound higher than ever before. The period between the
wars was a highly creative one, probably inspired by the desire not to have
conflicts again. The twentieth century, Rudnitzky points out, is the century of
electricity, marking the crucial shift from the electromechanical to electronics.
Electronic evolution has been so fast that it was impossible to follow its pace
(Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
According to Rudnitzky, this situation determined the radical shift operated
in relation to the voice in contemporary Western music. Melody and lyrics were
overcome by a phonetic and acoustic concept. A whole universe of phonetic
analogies emerged, also patent in concrete poetry, and the evolution of percussion
and the instrumental universe in general. As sound becomes a manageable
material, we gradually stop thinking of it in relation to the traditional structures or
hierarchies, it becomes a bare material notes Rudnitzky (Rudnitzky Interview 13
Appendix I).
This process defined a progressive change of focus in relation to words, the
conception of which as part of a linguistic system related to representation and
interpretation, tends to cede gradually to the perception of their materiality as
sound and their ability to act for themselves.
Systems of sound transposition, which change the voice timbre/tone, are today incorporated
in computer programs.
178
However, since the notion of the acoustic object was configured, Western
thought starts to operate over them, qualifying and classifying these new material
approaches. The traditional evocative/associative quality of sound re-territorializes
its materiality. This process, which is also verifiable in relation to speech, is patent
in the scant influence of Austins speech act theory on the field of voice work for
acting.
Sounds with great referential value, such as a doorbell for example, might
escape the musical universe. Acoustic references in theatre, points out Rudnitzky,
remain in the 1950s, its framing is obsolete. A phone, for example, frequently
sounds as it used to sound then. So, we are placed in the field of the code of the
code (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
In relation to the changes operated in the acoustic contemporary urban
environment, Rudnitzky points to a good example of what Benjamin defined as
apperception, operating over a generation, which has had its perceptive field,
overloaded. Being unable to absorb the fast and vast changes in the acoustic
environment, audiences, mainly in their late 1940s, operate in the ground of the
code of the code.
This is certainly not at work among youth, who may be disconcerted facing
a phone bell they never listened to, being highly territorialise by capitalist
decoding, particularly in relation to speech and the aural sphere in general, which
results in a particular kind of apperception. Operating on this field,
contemporary composers are still like aliens in the local music
medium, and even in a more popular circuit as is theatre (theatre
audiences have no choice, they have to listen to my music anyway). The
first time I wanted to register music for a play that was a huge band of
noise, they refused to catalogue it, because it was not music to them.
Now I am recognised, and the press consider what I do as music
Rudnitzky does not believe in the existence of a theatrical music. To him,

this idea implies the perception of music for theatre and film as younger sisters of
music, which relates to an obsolete map of the arts. It could be possible to add to
his assertion that music for theatre should also not be seen as a younger sister of
theatre (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
Rudnitzky thinks that is not possible to give a single definition to the role
of music in theatre, because it changes from one staging to another. However, I
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am certain that each staging is an aural phenomenon in itself. There is a music of
the word in some authors, you can use it or not, but you should perceive it. We
should work against the gradual closing of our perception, propitiated by the
current urban environment, adds Rudnitzky (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
Sound design is a narration, so a composer should be careful in making
decisions, which are frequently obstructed by theatres physical conditions and
working methodologies:
Lets take the example of a play that occurs on an Italian stage.
The sound boxes are situated in front of the scenic space. I may need to
spatialise sound, to put the boxes on stage, and it may represent a huge
problem for producers and theatre administrators, who cannot
understand this kind of need. However, something like this would ever
happen in relation to the lighting of the stage design (Rudnitzky
Rudnitzky agrees with Szuchmacher in the definition of theatre as an event

originated in the interplay of the visual, aural, and textual spheres. There is a
prejudice that everything is in the script. So all that is needed is to say the script,
no matter how, states Rudnitzky. Such a position, coincident with Schoos,
reveals for Rudnitzky a total lack of awareness in relation to stage practice and
theatre as a whole:
A competent director might spend hours with an actor to
resolve the delivery of a phrase of five words, which is immersed in a
whole universe of sound and music. In the meantime, Schoo, a theatre
critic and [at the time of the interview] director of the San Martn, the
biggest theatre in Latin America, says that music for theatre has been
stolen from film and TV; what is he talking about? Directorial works
such as Fernandezs sound different from everything else (Rudnitzky
Rudnitzky acknowledges that it is not usual to find directors who listen.

However, most of them have a great perception and control of light. In theatre,
people negate technology in sound, but not in lights, he states. However, an
actors attitude on stage is highly affected when exposed to sound technology
Rudnitzky believes in the function of the director, whose capacity of
negotiation among actors and all the professionals working on a play, makes
possible the actors interplay with sound: I cannot work apart from the conceptual
choice of the direction, even when many times, I influence it or even change it.
180
Other times it is Rubn [Szuchmacher] who pushes unexpected ideas out of me
Rudnitzky believes that Fernandez is the kind of theatre director who
approximates more to the idea of the totality of the acoustic environment on stage.
In Fernandezs work, the actors voices are a manifestation within the whole
acoustic event taking place on stage. To Rudnitzky, Rubn Szuchmacher and
Alejandro Tantanin have also a clear search in this direction, states Rudnitzky. It
should be noticed that both of them have a musical background (Rudnitzky
Augusto Fernandez returned from Germany to Buenos Aires, in 1987, to
direct Faust. Rudnitzky rehearsed with him for seven months as a sound
technician. After that period, he also became his composer:
The actors used microphones and their voices were in constant
mutation. A single voice was sometimes female, at other times male,
sometimes mixed, at other times processed in real time, etc. Since then,
() theatre became my first interest (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix
I).
The use of microphones requires a great infrastructure of equipment and

technicians, points out Rudnitzky. The general use of microphones on stage to
barely amplify sound is a mistake to him, who believes that acoustic chambers
serve this end better: they are much closer to our perception of sound, because,
differently from contact microphones, there is air between the voice source and the
microphone, he adds (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
In the present circumstances, a wide spread use of microphones on Buenos
Aires stages seems to be operating an undesired effect, as a result of which,
actors speech is often difficult to hear and/or understand. In relation to this
specific problem, Rudnitzky recalls that to amplify a sound requires a sound source
in the first place, which in the case of the actor is the voice. Besides the evolution
of the technologies of amplification, actors should hold the control over their
speech delivery. First come the emission, and then the processing (Rudnitzky
The actors voice projection has became a complex theme, in Buenos
Aires. Television works against the actors possibilities in voice delivery:
Television has the money... and the microphones, states Rudnitzky. When actors
181
return to theatre, they realise the extent of the problem. They completely lose
grades in timbre, intensity and range. Theatre refurbishment has not contributed to
the actual problems faced by actors on stage in relation to their vocality.
Accomplished according to market needs, but with total disregard of acoustic
principles, theatre renewals have often disabled the acoustic responses of halls
Rudnitzky believes that contemporary society is facing a radical shift in
relation to the spoken word and syntactic structures, as a result of the growth of
technologies of communication. He points to our growing interaction with diverse
kinds of answering machines. It determines a one way experience, with an
informative/instructive profile which, regarding the price of communication, tends
to be as short as possible. Even consequential transactions depend on a
human/machinic interaction. Other ordinary activities, such as shopping in a
supermarket do not require oral interaction at all, while a considerable amount of
codes have been simplified by acoustic signals (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix
I).
We still think that people talk to us, that we say things, but we
listen bip..., and start speaking. People do not see, do not speak to each
other, everything is shortened. So audiences are not used anymore to the
syntax we used to be used to. The phone exists, but immediately it has
an answering machine attached to it. As soon as communications
become easier, comes the interference. At last, the idea is that you do not
ever communicate; if you want it, it is easy to disconnect yourself
The exercise to listen to a subtext has been encouraged by realism in

theatre. Consequently, this tendency does not originate, but is reinforced today by
the contemporary informational imprint. This recent stress on information,
continues Rudnitzky, has contributed to create a new expectation in audiences to
wait always for messages, subtexts, etc. However, he does not connect speech with
intellect, but with sensation, beyond significance affirms Rudnitzky (Rudnitzky
Theatre has not reacted also in relation to the current models of
communication; it has not even updated its aural framework, remaining fifty years
delayed in acoustic terms, recalls Rudnitzky. The crucial question to him is how to
use technology conceptually, declares Rudnitzky, to which he adds: you can omit
or not sound quotations. But if they are there, they are not decoration. Directors
182
and actors have table work first, to make conceptual options. But theatre is not a
written text, it is oral and performative. You always hear; there is a pace, a rhythm,
a melody in speech. Speech is also physical action, he concludes (Rudnitzky
The public is not mature or immature; artists respect them or not,
Rudnitzky states. People do not go to the theatre because they often get rubbish
there. Audiences operate conceptually if they are exposed to such operations.
According to him, revue spectacles, considered as vulgar banalities by many
theatre professionals, are constantly sold out because they give what they promise,
something that does not frequently happen in theatre (Rudnitzky Interview 13
Appendix I).
Theatre practitioners agree, declaring that audiences do not go to the
theatre. In their view, the motivations for this situation reside everywhere apart
from on theatre stages. Market logic, mass media, the lack of ideological
commitment in society, are some of the most recalled phenomena affecting theatre,
in the practitioners view, so prone to fast judgements, of which Surez gave good
examples, such as: Audiences do not go to see good theatre because they like
rubbish [my italics]. Do they? And how can good theatre be defined?
While what can be considered as avant-garde theatre reflects on the origins
of theatre, actors reproduce styles of acting and voice delivery which were
probably meaningful decades ago. Market logic has its own circuits, where there is
no place for ambiguities: people should get what they have paid for. In the mean
time, the world is changing at an extraordinary speed, and theatre practitioners,
who thought theatrical performance as interplaying with society, remain astonished
playing to empty halls. Narcissus cannot see but his own image in the mirror.
When questioned about Alcns performance in Richard III, a staging for
which Rudnitzky composed the music, he answered: Alcn?... Alconeaba! with
reference to his position of reproducing his own crystallised style, adding that he
was also too old for the role (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
Should it take a musician to perceive that Alcns style in the classics,
which used to be extremely effective, has been crystallised in time? Have voice
coaches, who still use Alcn as a referent, remained attached to this pattern as
well? These are some of the questions arising from the discourses here considered.
183
Llus Pasqual recalls that he was surprised to realise that Alcn knew all the poems
he used to recite when he was a child in Barcelona. Later he realised that Catalan
teachers taught both of them. The imprint of these Spanish professionals was not
left in Spain, it is patent in Argentinean theatre, continues Pasqual; of course, they
left Spain without teachers when they moved to work in Buenos Aires. Highly
framed in the European coding of the 1950s, the imprint of teachers such as
Antonio Cunill Cabanellas5 is still in the speech of influent actors still on stage in
Buenos Aires (Rudnitzky Interview 13 Appendix I).
Alcn, who has been extremely active in the 1950s, and performing in the
widest possible range of styles, has not been particularly dedicated to classic
theatre lately. His figure as an irrefutable model of speech on stage says nothing
about Alcn as an actor. It just reveals he has been working in a territory were he
reigns alone. This is probably why he is repeating himself, why he is still cast in
roles for which he is actually too old. Actors reformulate their styles in the
interaction on stage. The problem is not Alcn, but that he seems to have nobody
to interplay with, nobody to bring new questions in this contemporary
environment.
New vocal styles emerge from interaction, from the exploration of the uses
that each society makes of resonators and language, not exclusively from a
patterned reproduction of styles. To find a neutral style for say Lorca, as Surez
proposes, might not be a primary need at the moment. It seems more urgent to
unveil why the main fluxes of vocality on stage are not even perceived by theatre
practitioners.
Musicians working on theatre in Buenos Aires hold a particularly solid
position. Their perspective enlightens places in relation to the actors vocality,
generally disregarded in theatrical practice and training. However, it may be
interesting to notice that the composers working in theatre are not always among
those committed to pushing forward the questions related to the acoustic economy
on stage. A clear differentiation is established between musicians working for
theatre and music composers, such as Gandini and Edelstein, who have made
5
Catalan theatre teacher very influent in Buenos Aires between the 1930s and 1950s. His
name was given to one of the three TMGSMs theatre halls (that are destined to show experimental
theatre), and the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico- ENAD.
184
important contributions to theatre as composers. Edelsteins work, which brings
new questions to the dynamic of voice and speech in performance, will be
particularly considered at the end of Chapter Five of the present study.
In this chapter the main roles in theatrical practice active in Buenos Aires
in the 1990s have been outlined. We will proceed now to explore the places and
non-places of productiveness where theatre professional interact, reproducing,
crystallising, recycling or creating vocal styles in performance. The peculiarities of
the local institutional field in theatrical production and training will be
immediately approached in order to define a macro-map of the economy of voice
in Buenos Aires theatrical performance in the last decade of the twentieth century.
185
Chapter Four
Institutional Mapping: Voice cartographies in Theatre Circuits in Production
Buenos Aires institutional environment in culture reveals an unstable

structure, notably frailer in relation to that operating in Europes public organisations.
This situation is demonstrated by the financial support given to cultural projects and
their continuity. The public resources destined for theatre production and
experimentation in Buenos Aires are transferred to the Teatro Municipal General San
Martn-TMGSM, which leads the circuit of official theatres of Buenos Aires, and the
recently created Instituto Nacional del Teatro-INT, created to apply public funds
destined to independent theatres of the whole country1. Both circuits of production
also encourage a number of mixed combinations in production.
The TMGSM was created in 1943, to encourage the production of Argentinean
theatre. Its seasons have been dedicated to diverse tendencies in Argentinean and
international theatre, with no preference towards a particular period. The current
building was inaugurated in 1960. The TMGSM depends on the Cultural Office of the
City of Buenos Aires, and it comprises a complex of three theatre halls, one cinema
and diverse workshops distributed in a building of 30.000 mts2. Its foyer is considered
the fourth hall, because of the profuse number of performances staged there.
Attached to the TMGSM, is the Centro Cultural, where two more theatre halls
share the space with a number of alternative spaces, the Conservatrio Municipal de
Msica, the Radio de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires among several public cultural
institutions and offices. The TMGSM presents permanent seasons of contemporary
music, ballet, theatre and art cinema. It also has a permanent staff of technicians, a
school of puppeteers and edits the magazine Teatro.
Part of the funds destined for the TMGSM are endowed to support in coproduction a number of independent projects. The given support relates strictly to the
Chapter 4 - Macro-mapping: Theatre Circuits
186
staging of theatre and dance spectacles and the selection process is not public.
Problems in the complex administrative structure of the TMGSM may be felt
occasionally in the staging of the events. This was the case with Lavellis last
production of Pirandello in 1998, during the period in which the Citys Cultural Office
intervened in the administration of the TMGSM, which was three times at the point of
collapse (Cosentino 04/3/1998, Clarn, p.24-Espectculos// Urfeig 18/4/1998, Clarn.
p.71-Cultura).
In 1998 the Ley Nacional del Teatro2 was sanctioned, which demands the
creation of the Instituto Nacional del Teatro, to administer the national government
funds designated to independent theatre production. Independent theatres decided to
organise themselves to supervise the progress of each process, in order to look after
the theatre halls rights. With these objectives the Asociacin Argentina de Teatros
Independientes-ARTEI, the biggest of these associations, was created.
There are twenty-nine independent theatre halls from all over the country
associated to ARTEI. At the moment, the Ley del Teatro de Capital3 has been approved
and a similar process creating the Instituto del Teatro de Capital has been initiated. After
its creation the TMGSM probably would stop managing projects in co-production.
Between 1977 and 1989, the TMGSM was home to companies of
contemporary ballet, puppeteers and theatre. About thirty actors made up the theatre
company, who were constantly performing and rehearsing, with directors appointed
for each event of the season. There were often training or experimental programmes,
in order to keep the group updated. In 1990 the theatre company was dissolved (Staiff
The TMGSM also had young contemporary ballet and theatre groups, made up
of outstanding young artists, graduated from the respective National Schools. In 1995,
these youth companies were dismantled. The atmosphere of administrative chaos was
To have a subsidy of the INT, independent theatres or recognised civil associations with no
profit, must be operating for more than two years, should have less than 300 places and accomplish a
annual theatrical schedule.
2
National Theatre Law [My translation].
3
Buenos Aires Theatre Law [My translation].
187
gradually increasing until 1998, when the contemporary ballet was also dissolved and
TMGSM was subject to intervention by the City Office. In 1999, the puppeteers
company is the only remnant of these corps.
The TMGSM faced several waves of state territorialization, which in the
1990s have imposed a neo-liberal profile to the institution. Recorded voices now give
instructions about how to proceed through their halls, while the TMGSMs profile as a
centre of cultural production, cedes to that of a show house. However, even today it is
not the same to work at the TMGSM as it is to work at a private or an independent
theatre. Actors receive a wage and can use the theatres available infrastructure, while
contracted by the TMGSM. However, after a play has been cast, productions land on
its stages, where they are shown for a period of time, to depart at the end of the
season. Just as in private theatres, and at airports. The tendency to stress the event
have been progressively encouraged at the TMGSM, which progressively abandoned
its original profile of a centre of continuous production.
At the end of 1998, and after a brief period directing the Coln Opera House,
Kive Staiff re-assumed the direction of the TMGSM. Staiff directed the TMGSM for a
highly productive and long period, in which the companies were established. His
support was crucial in this process, to the point that many actors left the theatre
following Staiffs resignation. At the moment, he has plans to implement training
programmes for professional young actors, looking to the future re-installment of the
abolished permanent companies (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Kive Staiff started his professional career in theatre as a critic. For many years,
he has held many crucial duty posts in the official circuit of Buenos Aires theatrical
production, under the rule of diverse national governments. Staiffs profile largely
exceeds the administrative and the artistic management of a theatre. He can be
considered as a crucial cultural negotiator, probably the only one whose authority,
achieved during his vast executive experience in performing arts, has some consensus
in the Buenos Aires map of theatre practice.
Staiff has a number of observations, about the vocality of Buenos Aires
actors. He believes that Spanish theatre professionals resident in Buenos Aires, as a
consequence of the 2nd World War and the Spanish Civil War, exerted a crucial
188
influence in actors training until the 1960s. In this context, Argentinean actors were
well prepared to resolve the vocal challenges arising from the Spanish classic
repertoire (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
He recalls the influence exerted by outstanding actors such as Lola Membrives
and Margarita Xirg, who never taught, but whose performances left a hallmark in
Argentinean theatre, particularly in the theatre performed until the 1950s. They did not
play just Golden Age Spanish theatre. Authors such as Lorca and Benavente were also
in their repertoire. Staiff acknowledges that it was an immense pleasure to listen to
the Spanish theatre, when delivered by those actors (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Professionals such as Osvaldo Bon, Alfredo Alcn or Mara Rosa Gallo, still
active today, were disciples of Antonio Cunill Cabanellas (see Chapter Three p. 184
FN 5), the Catalan master who exerted extraordinary influence in Argentina, between
the 1930s and the 1950s inclusively. Staiff thinks that all the above were good reasons
for the classic theatre to work well in Buenos Aires (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
However, Staiff also believes that something effectively happened during the
1960s that separated Argentinean actors and audiences from the Spanish classic
tradition, when the direction established by teachers such as Cabanellas through his
students, was definitively broken. Since then, points out Staiff, only a restricted group
of actors cultivate this line of work:
Argentinean actors generally tended to associate Spanish theatre,
particularly theatre in verse, with a certain pretentious attitude. It was
believed then that the verse should be delivered in a certain formal style,
with disregard to the meaning, and this attitude was extended to classic
theatre in general (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
However, the vocal style cultivated by these professionals remains mainly as it

used to be. It has been not cultivated by new generations of actors and, despite the
dramatic changes in the socio-historical conditions; it remains as it used to be when it
originated. Loosing its relation to a context, such a style seems to be the manifestation
of the personal characteristics of the above quoted group of actors that still cultivate it.
Staiff agrees with Pasqual about the thematic limitations of Spanish classic
theatre (see Chapter One, p.26). He finds in the Elizabethan repertoire a transgressive
impulse unknown to the Golden Ages plays which, in his view, tend to be extremely
189
formal. This contributes to the constitution of English classic theatre as a reference for
Western culture. However, Staiff notices that thematic interest is not a value intrinsic
to a play. In his view, thematic relevance grows according with the context of
performance. In relation to this matter, Staiff recalls a staging of Lope de Vegas play
El Alcalde de Zalamea in Buenos Aires in 1979. At those times, a military dictatorship
ruled Argentina. Under those conditions, he notices, the play worked as a
revolutionary and heretical text (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Staiff believes that a classic play offers multiple interpretative variables: we
should identify these possibilities and have the courage to rescue what is still relevant
for us in these texts. To produce an adaptation that attends to our interests, while
remaining qualitatively close to the original is a great challenge. Staiff stresses that
the great achievements of Spanish theatre and poetry do not only correspond to the
Golden Age, but also to authors of the twentieth century, such as Valle Incln or
Garca Lorca. According to his reasoning, the thematic interest depends on the
particular treatment given to each play. Consequently, once the relevance of the
Spanish classic repertoire is restored to contemporary audiences, the main task is to
prepare actors to perform this kind of text (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Under Staiffs administration, Shakespeare has been frequently staged at the
TMGSM4. According to Staiff, even considering the recurrence of the Shakespearean
repertoire in Buenos Aires stages, local actors have always had trouble playing it: the
results are often not as good as expected, not only in relation to the voice he notices.
Staiff believes that the pattern of Argentinean theatre in many aspects determines this
situation:
We do not have classics in the French, Italian or English manner.
Looking to the history and structure of Argentinean theatre, I would say that
our theatre has always been a proletarian theatre, close to the problematic of
the socially excluded. According to this imprint, our theatre embraced
naturalism to depict the universe of indigence. We did not theatrically
approach the high bourgeoisies problematic. Consequently, the bourgeoisie
An adaptation of Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice, by the Giorgian director Robert Sturua
and the Argentinean playwright Patricia Zangaro, untitled Shylock (El Mercader de Venecia) has been
staged at the TMGSM during the 1999 season, under the direction of Sturua. King Lear and Richard III
are programmed as part of the 2000 season.
190
do not come to theatre in Argentina. Here, they go to the Opera (Staiff
According to Staiff, the local actors material has been tuned to the themes of
versions of realism produced in Buenos Aires, which has retained them in the sphere
of citys day to day working class life and, consequently, to the correspondent vocal
styles. We Argentineans have not allowed ourselves to fly with poetry in theatre,
declares Staiff, reinforcing an acting style that fits well to the demands of such a
dramaturgy, which later also suited perfectly to the demands of acting for television.
In his view, television restricts acting to the exhibition of a beautiful face that may
raise the ratings, but has affected acting as a whole (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
To be heard and understood is a challenge for actors today, when the new
media of reproduction have established conceptual and physical modifications in
performance styles, he continues. In Staiffs view, an actor should not finish a
performance as fresh as s/he was before it. He believes in a physical effort on stage
(Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
To Staiff, microphones drastically conditioned acting, particularly among
young people who lack a specific training in voice delivery. Containing a scream to
avoid acoustic coupling, calculating the movements to maintain the microphone
properly installed, produce a negative effect on stage acting. The restraint of physical
effort they encourage and its effects on contemporary acting styles has not been
considered yet in theatre studies, training and production. Young actors particular
characteristics fit some of the repertoire demands, remarks Staiff:
Romeo and Juliet, as well as many characters in A Midsummer
Nights Dream or Twelfth Night are young. Even in King Lear, the daughters
are young. Theatre demands young actors capable of overcoming the
challenges of classic repertoire. If our young actors do not resolve certain
problems, we should find out why and find ways to overcome such a
situation (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Our society is a society of gesticulators. Everybody, Italians, Jewish,...

completely different to Northern people, notices Staiff. However, we spend hours in
rehearsal; first searching for the significance of each word, and later, practising to
pronounce it well and make it clearly understood to the audience. As a result of such
a procedure, he concludes, every single word seems to be equally important in
191
performance. It maybe an undesired effect of Stanislavskis influence in Argentina
(Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I). Paradoxically, Staiff feels that English actors, who
are more controlled socially, seem to fly over the text on stage when playing classical
theatre, outlining its values with a huge diversity of tones and paces, in a very
different way in comparison to us (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Staiff believes that theatre in Buenos Aires is grounded in actors. He thinks
that, over all, Argentinean actors are believable: they transmit a great truth. Beyond
all the problems we have, he declares, there really are great actors in Argentina
(Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I). However, local directors do not make, in his view, a
much-needed qualitative change. At the moment, there are no directors here who
appear as stage magicians. There are no stagings that surprise us, that seduce us, that
fascinate us; there is no invention. Directors today do not listen to the sound of the
words, and he adds:
Directors here work fantastically on the table with the actors,
scrutinising scripts, trying to elucidate their hidden significance. But the
complete director, who conceives the spectacle as a whole, where the actor
integrates a phenomenon which exceeds the very actors limits, this director
we do not have (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Theatre directors, according to Staiff, hold a difficult role as negotiators among

the professionals involved in a production, while individually they should overcome
the contradictory feelings that probably assault them facing each new proposal. In the
same situation, critics sit down and opine, Staiff adds. He believes that, more than a
conceptual fault, the main problem of directors in Buenos Aires is their lack of
audacity. In Staiffs view, producers also contribute to this situation, denying the
necessary conditions of work, while asking for stagings that may become a success
with the public. The market is a great determinant today, which official theatre may
not completely elude. However, he declares:
If I have a director who proposes to me a superlative audacity, I
would stand by him. I would like to restore in the TMGSM the space to
experiment, to explore new repertoire, to update knowledge and training, to
reflect about the practice. I would like to restore to our directors the right to
err. This is a public theatre; we have to try new paths, knowing that we
might be wrong. Directors or actors can not make a mistake in a private
theatre because it might signify they might not be appointed again. Here we
should risk, so we might be wrong. Some experimental sectors create
192
conditions for reflection, conditions we should have here (Staiff Interview
16 Appendix I).
Staiffs definition of the role of a public theatre as a place of reflection and

experimental production is remarkably interesting. However, it is clear that in the
frame of a huge institution such as the TMGSM directors are not appointed to
randomly err. If there is no defined lines of research to work on, the seasons
programming should show a direction, an interest in a particular kind of
experimentation. Otherwise, ideals such as Staiffs will remain forever in the field of
intentions. Considering the San Martns activities in the last two years, errors in
stagings occur not from audacious proposals (an idea that Staiff should also define
with care), but in the context of its prudent professional productions.
In relation to the permanent companies, Staiff opines that one of the dangers is
their bureaucratisation. Fixed-term contracts might help to avoid, in Staiffs view, the
fantasy of a life membership, stimulating artists to a continuous updating. To Kive
Staiff, British theatres, which have searched and experimented with diverse formulas,
give good examples about how a permanent company should operate:
The Royal Shakespeare had Peter Brook directing for a period of
time, and at a certain point it had a team of directors who shared the
responsibility for the plays scheduled for each season. A permanent group of
stage directors allows, I imagine, the discussion and unification of essential
concepts. I had a permanent company which did not have a stable stage
director. Where does this repertoire bring us, what would we like to achieve
with this spectacle, are questions that must be formulated in a theatre such as
the TMGSM and, what is more difficult, try to materialise these options on
stage. I was associated with the company in stability. When a director joined
us, he probably felt like an outsider () That was a very difficult situation,
because directors frequently realised that the actors ultimately responded to
me. It was a mistake, but it might be corrected (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix
I).
In relation to the current incidence of a visual/non-textual theatre, Staiff

believes that there are fluxes and re-fluxes that in his view are waves of fashion. At
the moment, this visual fashion might be encouraged by the fact that a non-textual
spectacle has more chances of circulation in international festivals. However, he
concludes that with electronic subtitles, the text is not a problem anymore (Staiff
193
Staiff recalls that, twenty years ago, at the climax of the collective creation,
everybody seemed to abominate texts. The word died, the author died. And there was
a certain logic in this movement, he recalls. Some spectacles seemed to emerge from
the groups collective unconscious, but they gradually disappeared because
playwrights such as Samuel Beckett are not easily replaced. A group of actors and a
director/co-ordinator would hardly achieve the poetry enclosed in Becketts texts,
concludes Staiff (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Differently, phenomena such as De la Guarda, that perform to extensive
audiences, result in Staiffs view, from a process of massification of public spectacles.
Audiences are continually growing, Staiff notices, according to the planets
population, which is growing in geometrical terms. He thinks that this fact must begin
to be considered, as it is, at least at the moment, irreversible: we are constantly more
everywhere. Our streets are each day more crowded. This type of spectacle responds
particularly to this social fact, he adds (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
The phenomenon of the vast output of Buenos Aires playwright of the 1990s
is remarkable, in Staiffs view. Their production represents a radical shift in relation to
the aesthetic established in the Buenos Aires playwright since 1960s. It is related in
Staiff view, to the conformation of Argentinean society, which is used to producing
potent events in unfavourable conditions:
A curious phenomenon takes place in our society. Nothing had
been done from the State to support local culture, to have theatres, to be
organised institutionally; we realise that we actually have done everything to
collapse what we actually have. The omission in relation to our creators is
immense; they have lived without protection, without support. It is
surprising to see how artists still produce, when they are totally lacking any
kind of support (Staiff Interview 16 Appendix I).
Staiff believes that there are not many societies in the world in which culture
remains highly productive in such a situation. Moreover, to him the case of the
Argentinean bourgeoisie is also unusual, as it has produced remarkable personalities
such as Borges, for example. To such a society, he continues, the phenomenon of
the current playwright production it is not strange, it should not surprise us (Staiff
194
We could write a history of Argentinean culture of the last fifty
years regarding which institutions have been created, which museums or
buildings have been constructed, how many theatres or auditoriums have
been raised. The construction of the National Library took thirty years. It
was born old, dont you see? We have constructed nothing. However, artists
keep producing works of unusual quality. It is an exceptional phenomenon
Staiffs definition of the visual/non-textual tendencies in theatre as waves of

fashion can only result from a superficial approach to the question. Moreover, to affirm
that with the electronic subtitles the barriers have been overcome to show textual theatre
all over the world is an assertion too nave to come from Staiff. Particularly considering
that subtitles, instead of aiding, tend to complicate the audiences aural and visual
perception. The re-emergence of playwriting in the 1990s in Buenos Aires seems to be in
Staiffs discourse natural and definitive, with disregard to the contingencies that favour
both its decline in the 1980s and its present revival. Social variables are tangentially and
superficially regarded in Staiffs discourse. He denounces the concrete lack of important
cultural projects in Argentina. How will they come about if the competent authorities do
not perform a responsible diagnosis to set up solid bases for future stable projects?
There are three points of Staiffs exposition that are interesting to underline in
the context of the present work. First, his auto-criticism about the TMGSM
companies, second his perception about the evolution of vocality and the cultural
framing of the new playwright and finally, his acute vision about the micropolitics of
art. In relation to the first point, Staiff refers to the mistake of lacking a permanent
position for a director, as English companies have. It is interesting to notice that the
ballet and the puppeteers companies both always had solid artistic directions, which
have left an unequivocal imprint on the groups production. Both have lasted for many
more years than the permanent theatre casts, and have been linked to schools,
belonging to the TMGSM, where their human resources were trained.
A number of emblematic choreographers, such as Oscar Ariz, Ana Maria
Steckelman and Ana Itelman, have always been responsible for the ballet companies,
which lasted until 1995. The puppeteer company is the only one still in activity,
despite all the liberalisation waves. Its founder, Ariel Bufano directed it for many
years, and when he died, his wife, Adelaida Mangani, undertook the position. The
195
TMGSM is still the most important public centre in the country for contemporary
dance and puppet theatre production. Curiously, its theatre company has been the
weakest of all its permanent projects and its principal promoter has been not a theatre
director, but a critic, during the many years while Staiff was the general director of the
TMGSM.
Why did the theatre company have different conditions? Does it respond to the
lack of emblematic directors in Buenos Aires or vice versa? Or has it to do with Kive
Staiffs peculiar style of administration? These are questions that must be considered
if there is to be any possibility to correct this situation, intrinsically related to the
configuration of new acting styles and the reproduction of traditional ones.
In relation to the evolution of the actors vocality in Buenos Aires, Staiff
acknowledges the strength of the European coding imprinted in voice work and
delivery in Buenos Aires until the 1950s. Interestingly, he relates the rupture operated
in relation to such a style in the1960s not exclusively to the advent of television. The
1960s were the years of the beginnings of television, but its incidence in acting is not
linear, in Staiffs view. Vocal style in acting results for him from a constant
interaction of a local and particular approach to realism in training and production,
and the idiosyncrasy of Buenos Aires playwrights of the 1960s with the new media
Staiff clearly differentiates the local adaptations of Stanislavskis method from
its implementations by Russian tradition. He does not identify realism as a whole as
responsible for the impoverishment of todays vocal delivery on stage, but with these
vernacular versions that fit equally well to television acting and to the local
playwright, which Staiff defines as proletarian.
Local playwrights have rarely found a poetic level which challenges our actors,
continues Staiff, and this situation has been transposed to the sphere of actor training:
voice delivery has not been an issue to the psychological intimacy of vernacular
realism, states Staiff. However, the 1990s playwrights, equally valid in literary and
performatic terms, perform a crucial shift in relation to acting and training. Placing itself
in a territory absolutely other than that occupied by local playwrights until now, the
production of the 1990s works toward a new coding on stage in which words are crucial.
196
In our view, both television and the 1960s playwrights operate according to a
capitalist decoding, actually responsible for the rupture produced in relation to the
traditional European coding in voice work and delivery, hegemonic in Buenos Aires until
the 1950s. In this context, the presence of the 1990s production in playwriting confers a
new place of relevance to the word in performance.
To Staiff, visual theatre results in great part from the establishment of theatre
spectacles to massive audiences, since the late 1980s, which respond to the massification
of the twentieth century society and the geometrical growth of the world population.
However, this phenomenon should be regarded with its counterpart. The proliferation of
small theatre halls and the split of old ones in many smaller theatres have added another
impulse to this tendency in acting. New playwrights in Buenos Aires have definitely
abandoned the proletarian profile, in Staiff words, dominant in local production until
the 1990s. However, they refuse to be identified with any kind of particular styles; their
current hallmark is multiplicity. The radical change of direction they produced on the
Buenos Aires stage of the 1990s, and its particular approaches to the word will certainly
leave a new imprint on Buenos Aires actors vocality.
Staiff, even in a high position of power in Buenos Aires institutional map of
theatrical production, reaffirms Izcovich discourses about the absolute lack of support
given, particularly to theatre, and to the arts in general. However, the differences between
the official and the independent circuits in relation to infrastructure and financial support
are dramatic. Staiff recognises theatre as a territory that can produce reflection, an
activity he cannot locate at the moment in local institutions, such as the university or the
TMGSM. However, he recognises some signs coming from the alternative theatre circuits
and believes that the TMGSM should encourage the production of reflection.
The independent circuit and the institutional circuit, to which the official theatres
belong, design a peculiar machine of production in Buenos Aires contemporary
theatre. Despite the adverse economic circumstances, the independent theatre circuit is
constantly inaugurating its own space in Buenos Aires theatrical map. Independent
practitioners produce theatre in a situation of total lack of support. Izcovich notices that
such a negative situation encourages her to a productive attitude. The poor conditions in
197
terms of infrastructure and financial support are overcome by the production of discourse
of many independent theatre professionals.
On the other hand, official theatres such as the TMGSM, hold a crucial space in
Buenos Aires theatrical map, which is supposed to be a place of enunciation. The lack of
reflection and experimentation in the frame of the official circuit, where the economic
support is relevant in comparison with the independent circuit, transform such a place
into a no-place of enunciation: it holds the infrastructure and the financial resources, but
it is empty in terms of discursiveness. Recalling Knowles, empty spaces tend to be
territorialized by dominant ideologies. In such a situation, official theatres at the moment
in Buenos Aires are stages from the main established fluxes in vocality, identified in the
present work as the European coding and the capitalist decoding.
The machine of production in contemporary theatrical performance operates in
Buenos Aires in a paradoxical way. The official circuit, holding the best material
conditions, constitutes a no-place of enunciation highly territorialized by dominant
ideologies. On the other hand, the very existence of the independent circuit in sustained
by its solid discursiveness. It indicates that in Buenos Aires in the 1990s, enunciation in
theatre grows in opposition to the support coming from the politics of state, configuring a
peripheral territory, an extremely productive border.
This point is particularly relevant to this work because it shows that places of
vocality are not linearly related to a macro-context. Moreover, even in a context of lack,
in empty spaces, occasionally lines of flight are raised, which prove to be productive in
vocality. Once again, the relation of the sphere of vocality within a realm of micropolitics
in the arts and culture may be confirmed. This macro-mapping confirms that the economy
of voice and words establishes a flux of power which, independent of structures and
hierarchical orders, could assume unexpected directions and intensities.
199

The lack of reflection and research in the field of voice work and performance
demands an outline of a horizon of analysis from where a number of questions about
the place of the actors vocality in contemporary theatre can be formulated. To detect
the tendencies in voice work at an institutional level, it was necessary to consider not
just the professionals, but the students point of view. In this particular case, the
macro-mapping of schools, we want to outline the students perceptions and opinions
in relation to their vocal performance and training, from which we expect to attain
some evidence about the profile of the acting students in Buenos Aires in the 1990s,
and the place given to vocal training in such a frame.
To configure a relevant sample of students it was necessary to approach a
significant number of informants. The questionnaire, which allows the consideration
of a wide number of informants in one application, revealed itself to be an appropriate
methodological instrument for this specific purpose. A questionnaire also enables
associations between the students characteristics (such as work conditions, previous
formation and/or acting experience, age, gender, etc.) and their opinions and
perceptions.
I was given unrestricted access to ETBA by its founder director Ral Serrano.
In applying the questionnaires, I also had the support of Fernando Orecchio, who
teaches acting at both ETBA and ENAD and who has been also interviewed during
the fieldwork. Carlos Demartino, whose work is specifically regarded in the context
of the present study, is the only professional voice coach at ETBA. After several
attempts at ENAD, the questionnaires were finally applied by a number of students of
the Research Seminar of the Pedagogy degree, to which I was invited to give a series
of four lectures. There is a whole group of voice coaches, made up of speech
therapists and one singer, teaching voice at ETBA, to whom I was not given access.
The data here considered arises from a random sample of 139 questionnaires,
applied to 30 % of the students of each institution. The collected data has been
organised in Tables, according to a number of previously defined variables. These
Tables make it possible to cross certain variables, providing the information to
configure the Charts. Tables, Charts and a model of the applied Questionnaire,
translated into English are compiled in Appendix II of the present work. The
questionnaires have been proportionally distributed among each year of the courses
Chapter Four - Macro-mapping: Theatre Schools
200
here considered. Regarding the dropout rate occurring through the years in every
education institution, almost 41% of the questionnaires were answered by first year
students, 40% by second year students, and the rest by students in the last year of each
course. The Charts compiled in Appendix II were elaborated based on the information
organised in the seventeen tables also in Appendix II. Charts 1 to 9 relate to the
characterisation of informants, Charts 10 to 19 and Question 8 approach the students
vision in relation to their vocal technique and training, and Charts 20 and 21 relate
specifically to speech training and performance.
A brief outline of the schools studied may be useful to the posterior analysis of
the collected data. The Escuela Teatral de Buenos Aires - ETBA, and the Escuela
Nacional de Arte Dramtico - ENAD have been selected to undertake this inquiry.
ENAD is a full time public school and ETBA, a private part time school. Both have
the greatest student attendance amongst Buenos Aires theatre schools, and have
become extremely influential in local acting training. Regarding these similarities and
differences in profile the above quoted schools appeared to be suitable to the
objective of the present inquiry: to map the main tendencies in voice work and its
perception from the students perspective.
The Schools.
In 1980, Ral Serrano founded ETBA. Since then, he has been its chairman.
Serrano is a prominent theatre director, a graduate in Drama from the University of
Bucharest, author of many works on acting and founder of the chair of Acting
Methodology at ENAD. ETBA has had branches in several Argentinean capital cities,
and still holds one in Mexico where, as well as in Spain, Serranos approach to acting
has many followers.
ETBA offers a course in acting that lasts for three years at the end of which,
an officially recognised certificate is provided. In the first year students are trained in
improvisation, followed by Argentinean, North American and Russian realism in the
second year, and during the last year they work on Molire, Goldoni, Shakespeare and
authors of the Rioplatenses grotesque5, a theatrical genre which main exponent is
5
Thetrical genre developed in Buenos Aires in the first half of the twentieth century, which
combine a potent local imprint with the influence of European inmmigrants. Its more emblematic
201
Armando Discepolo. All the work at ETBA is grounded in Serranos formulation
based on Stanislavskis method of physical actions. Students attend ETBAs acting
classes twice a week. Besides that, there are optional courses in Vocal Technique
(two years) and Theatre History (one year). There are four acting teachers at ETBA,
one teacher for Theatre History, one voice coach and two hundred students on
average. The school has three rehearsal rooms, two offices and a bar.
Founded in 1980, ETBA precedes the boom of private theatre studios in
Buenos Aires, after the end of dictatorship period in 1983; being certainly the most
important of the theatre schools among those established in the 1980s in Buenos
Aires. In contrast, ENADs history goes far beyond the 1980s.
In July, 1924 according to a presidential decree, the Conservatrio Nacional
de Msica y Declamacin was founded, and based on the structure of the Escuela de
Arte Lrico y Escnico of the Teatro Coln, where it was also located in its
beginnings. The music composer Carlos Lpez Buchardo was its first director, the
playwright Enrique Garcia Velloso its co-director, and the critic Ernesto de la Guardia
its academic secretary. In the following four years the Conservatrio appointed
relevant figures of Argentinean culture to join its staff of teachers. Alfonsina Storni
and Antonio Cunill Cabanellas, among a solid group of artists, are good examples of
the relevance of ENADs staff in the 1920s.
In March 1925, Garca Velloso created the first seminar in Scenic Practice,
belonging to the section of Declamacin of the Conservatory. A group of 120 students
attended this seminar, most of which integrated the first promotion of the new course
of Arte Escnico, created in 1939. In 1957, this course became autonomous,
originating the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico, which holds the name of its first
director, Antonio Cunill Cabanellas.
Born in Barcelona in 1864, Cunill Cabanellas considered himself a disciple of
Adri Gual, having studied with him between 1912 and 1915, when he definitively
moves to Buenos Aires. Cunill Cabanellas received Argentinean nationality and
dedicated himself to Buenos Aires in order to direct and teach theatre until his death,
in 1959. After Cunill Cabanellas, many relevant figures of Argentinean theatre
author is Armando Discepolo.
202
practice and studies have directed ENAD, which has been established since its
creation in a nineteenth century mansion.
ENAD is Buenos Aires public full time school in acting at a higher level but
it is not a university course. It offers courses in acting, direction, playwriting and
pedagogy. Students at ENAD attend classes in Theatre History, Corporal and Vocal
Techniques among other disciplines to complement the main areas of study above
quoted. ENAD has many teachers on its staff, integrated to its academic and
administrative hierarchy. Because of the great number of applicants who enter
ENADs courses, students are submitted to an entrance examination.
In December 1996, the Instituto Universitrio de Artes-IUNA was created,
which is made up of by the seven Buenos Aires Superior Institutes of Art, ENAD
being among them. Once the new curricula is approved and staff are appointed
according to university procedures, the IUNA will start to work as a university
institute of arts, and each of the original schools will be integrated into a departmental
organisation.
Characterisation of Informants.
Of the 139 questionnaires applied, only 127 were considered, because 12
informants did not provide information about the institution to which they belong.
The total of 127 informants is configured by 66 ETBAs students and 61 ENADs
students (Chart 1 Appendix II p.3). The answered questionnaires indicate a majority
of female students at both institutions: 60.60% at ETBA and 60.65% at ENAD (Chart
3 Appendix II p.3).
At ETBA, 77% of the students are between 18 and 26 years old, with 42% of
them being between 18 and 21 years old. At ENAD, the students aged between 18 and
26 drops to 50%, while the percentage of students aged over 31 rises considerably.
Being the only public full time school offering a diploma at a higher level, ENAD
gets a great number of applications every year. This situation made it necessary to
establish a selection for entrance among ENADs candidates. This difference in rates
might be related to the demand of applications to enter ENAD, assuming that these
mature students have some previous experience in acting (Chart 18 Appendix II p.10).
It should be considered that, despite the lack of restrictions on age to enter any theatre
school in Buenos Aires, ENAD is the only one among them to request that applicants
203
should have completed secondary education. This restriction establishes a barrier to
the admission of adolescents, which helps to push the average age of students. (Chart
4 Appendix II p.3).
A high percentage of the students considered (72.27% at ETBA and 77.04% at
ENAD) develop other studies in parallel to the acting courses. These are very high
rates, considering the demands of these institutions. Moreover, ENAD, despite its full
time regime, shows the highest rate of students without a full time dedication to the
course. There is a minor percentage of students who have graduated from a university
course (07.80% at ETBA and 04.25% at ENAD). In comparison, the rates of students
with an incomplete university or superior degree are considerable, achieving a total of
25,48% at ETBA and a 27.65% at ENAD. However, Chart 6 shows the biggest group
(41.17% at ETBA and 36.17% at ENAD) is that of the students that attend other
private courses in the arts in parallel. This Chart points to the great demand of other
courses in the arts. This data might indicate a weakness in training which students
search to overcome in other training environments (Chart 6 Appendix II p.4).
Most of the students considered in this sample are also at work (71.21% at
ETBA and 73.77% at ENAD). However, there are significant differences in terms of
the kind of work they undertake. At ETBA, 30.30% of them work under regular
contracts, in non-artistic activities. In contrast, at ENAD, most of them (22.95%)
work offering artistic services as freelancers. This data seem to indicate that ENADs
students circulate in the professional market while they are at school, participating in
castings, performances, theatrical events, etc. Until 1995, the TMGSM supported
among its companies, the Comedia Juvenil, a theatre company made up of ENADs
graduates who achieve the best marks during the course. All this might suggest a
more professional profile in terms of theatrical performance among ENADs students
(Charts 7 and 8 Appendix II pp.4-5).
Considering the whole sample of students without distinction of school
constant below in Chart 10, the data indicates that less than 25% of them have a full
time dedication to the training provided in their schools. With regards to previous
experience in acting, the percentage rises to 78.41% among those who had some
experience or training before entering a theatre school. This might indicate that acting
is regarded as an activity with a low professional profile, in the frame of which
training has a secondary role.
204
Chart 9 - (Appendix II p.5)

Total of Students Who Work, Who have Other Studies, Who have Previous
Experience in Acting.
Other Studies
Work
Previous
Experience
Yes
107 (76.97%)
102 (73.38%)
109 (78.41%)
Partial Percentage
(Average)
76.25%
No
030(21.58%)
037 (26.61%)
030 (21.58%)
23.25%
Not Answered
002(01.43%)
(-)
(-)
01.43%
Totals
139
139
139
*This total percentage average cannot be calculated because the unanswered questions appear
under the item Other Studies.
Mapping Vocal Training.

When asked about the origin of their acting abilities and weakness, the rate of
abstentions was extremely high: 62.12% at ETBA and 50.81% at ENAD (Chart 10:
Appendix II, p.5). The Chart also shows that students often mistake both their
weaknesses and abilities in acting, by positive or negative characteristics of
personality or physical conditions, such as Energy, Sincerity, Insecurity, etc.
These results may illustrate the recurrent confusion between the performer and the
individual subject, characteristic of disciplines such as acting, dance and singing. In
this particular field, the performers body assumes a first plane, evolving from the
sphere of the individual subject being the material object of study itself.
In Chart 11, this situation becomes more explicit. The same students who
considered the acquirement of techniques a positive but not decisive factor, do not
regard as a negative determinant the lack of techniques, considering only lack of
talent and negative characteristic of personality or unfavourable circumstances as the
most relevant categories to define themselves as actors. Considering the importance
they confer to their personal aptness, the results seem to indicate that they are
uncertain in relation to their professional possibilities as actors: 30.30 % at ETBA and
27.86 % at ENAD think they have no aptitude for acting.
205
At a first reading, the results attained indicate that students do not have a clear
idea of their weaknesses and abilities as actors. According to this, they would not be
able to foresee their needs. Being unable to determine their needs they lack a project
in training, which explains the vague role attributed to the techniques in their
formative process. These results might indicate a serious weakness in training that
deserves further exploration.
Students Perception about the Origin of their Acting Skills, According to the
Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Acquired Techniques
05 (07.57%)
10 (16.39%)
15
B- Artistic gifts
04 (06.06%)
09 (14.75%)
13
C- Positive Characteristics
of Personality
D- Other Positive Circumstances
16 (24.24%)
11 (18.03%)
27
(-)
(-)
(-)
E- Not Answered
41 (62.12%)
31 (50.81%)
72
Totals
66
61
127

Students Perception about the Origin of their Acting Weaknesses, According
to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Lack of Artistic Gifts
20 (30.30%)
17 (27.86%)
037
B-
Negative Characteristics
of Personality
C- Other Negative Circumstances
08 (12.12%)
15 (24.59%)
023
04 (06.06%)
01 (01.63%)
005
D- Not Answered
34 (51.51%)
28 (45.89%)
062
Totals
66
61
127
Focusing more precisely on the data above, some peculiarities in relation to

the students perception of their own corporal and vocal training and performance,
have come into view. Corporal and vocal training are occasional and optional courses
206
at ETBA, which should be paid for in addition to the acting course. As a result, they
have a restricted attendance among ETBAs students. At ENAD, corporal and vocal
training are curricular subjects, organised in four yearly levels. However, a
considerable rate of students indicated that they do not receive vocal or corporal
training at school. The main reason for this is that since the incorporation of ENAD to
the university system, students register for individual subjects, not for yearly courses
constituted by a number of subjects, as it used to be under the previous regime.
Most ENAD students characterise the corporal training at school as average, a
perception that tends to get more positive at ETBA. However, if we consider that
about 20% of students did not answer the question related to vocal and corporal
training, regarding also the rates achieved by the students negative appreciation of
these subjects (bad/very bad) and the group of those who declare that they do not get
training at all, the situation changes considerably.
In terms of corporal training, while at ETBA, 34.84% of students find it
Good
and
Good,
and 18.18% find it
Average,
06.06% find it
Very Bad
Very
and 40.90% do not
get training or do not answer this particular question. At ENAD, 21.27% find the
school corporal training Very Good and Good, 26.22% find it Average, 11.46% Bad and Very
Bad,
and 40.98% do not get training or do not answer this particular question. In
relation to the vocal training, the collected data outlines a panorama similar to the one
above detailed (Chart 14 Appendix II p.7). What is dominant in both cases is the
grade of omission of students in relation to a crucial question about the corporal and
vocal training they undertake.

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the Corporal Training Provided in Each
Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
207
A- Very Good
10 (15.15%)
07 (11.47%)
017
B- Good
13 (19.69%)
06 (09.83%)
019
C- Average
12 (18.18%)
16 (26.22%)
028
D- Bad
(-)
06 (09.83%)
006
E- Very bad
04 (06.06%)
01 (01.63%)
005
D- Not Available
14 (21.21%)
12 (19.67%)
026
F- Not Answered
13 (19.69%)
13 (21.31%)
026
Total
66
61
127

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the Vocal Training Provided in Each
Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Very Good
09 (13.63%)
04 (06.55%)
013
B- Good
13 (19.69%)
03 (04.91%)
016
C- Average
09 (13.63%)
16 (26.22%)
025
D- Bad
01 (01.51%)
10 (16.39%)
011
E- Very bad
06 (09.09%)
02 (03.27%)
008
D- Not Available
16 (24.24%)
16 (26.22%)
032
F- Not Answered
12 (18.18%)
10 (16.39%)
022
Totals
66
61
127
In relation to their corporal performance, the degree of omission decreases

significantly, while students declare themselves satisfied both at ETBA and at ENAD.
This contrast between the data about the grade of satisfaction with corporal training
and the data about performance, verifiable in both institutions, might indicate the
above pointed tendency to underestimate training and over-emphasise the individual
conditions.

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the their Own Corporal Performance,
According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
208
A- Highly satisfactory
01 (01.51%)
01 (01.63%)
002
B- Satisfactory
29 (43.93%)
21 (34.42%)
050
C- Average
13 (19.69%)
06 (09.83%)
019
D- Unsatisfactory
18 (27.27%)
13 (21.32%)
031
E- Very Unsatisfactory
01 (01.51%)
(-)
001
F- Not Answered
04 (06.06%)
11 (18.03%)
015
G- Not Available
(-)
09 (14.75%)
009
Totals
66
61
127
However, the results displayed in Chart 15 about the students perception in

relation to their own vocal performance brings new data to the outlined situation. In
this specific case, the grade of omission remains low, while the students opinions in
relation to their satisfaction dramatically splits. At ETBA, 37.87% of the students
declare themselves to be satisfied and 34.84%, unsatisfied about their vocal
performance, while at ENAD, 27.86% are satisfied and 29.50% unsatisfied.
Students Grade of Satisfaction with the their Own Vocal Performance,
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
(-)
01 (01.63%)
001
B- Satisfactory
25 (37.87%)
17 (27.86%)
042
C- Average
14 (21.21%)
07 (11.47%)
021
D- Unsatisfactory
23 (34.84%)
18 (29.50%)
041
01 (01.51%)
01 (01.63%)
002
F- Not Answered
03 (04.54%)
08 (13.11%)
011
G- Not Available
(-)
09 (14.75%)
009
Totals
66
61
127
Chart 16 (Appendix II p.8)

General Grade of Satisfaction of Students in Relation to their Vocal
Performance.
Totals
209
01 (0.71%)
001
B- Satisfactory
46 (33.09%)
046
C- Average
23 (16.54%)
023
D- Unsatisfactory
47 (33.81%)
047
02 (01.43%)
002
F- Not Answered
11 (07.91%)
011
G- Not Available
09 (06.47%)
009
Totals
139
139
This contradictory result may indicate an incipient need for vocal training.
While corporal training might be compensated by other kind of activities, in or out of
schools, such as dance, clown, mime, acrobatic, sports, etc., vocal training seems to
have no similar compensation.
Focusing with more detail on the question of the students vocal performance,
43.16% of them declare themselves to be satisfied, while 38.12% are unhappy in
relation to their speech delivery. The level of discontentment raises to 43.88% in
relation to their singing voice production, while 31.65% of the students declare
themselves to be satisfied with their singing abilities. In singing, the need for
technical support appears as a more evident need. Considering the scant technical
development in voice work for actors, dominated in Buenos Aires by a therapeutic
profile, the results about the students singing performance may come to stress the
previously outlined need for vocal training.

General Grade of Satisfaction of Students in Relation to their Speech Delivery
and their Singing Performance.
Speech Delivery
Singing Performance
A- Satisfied
60 (43.16%)
44 (31.65%)
B- Not very satisfied
21 (15.10%)
25 (17.98%)
210
C- Unsatisfied
53 (38.12%)
61 (43.88%)
D- Very unsatisfied
01 (0.71%)
04 (02.87%)
E- Not Answered
04 (02.87%)
05 (03.59%)
Totals
139
139
The students revealed that they detect vocal improvements through time.
Considering their positions about technique and their declared unhappiness with their
vocal training and performance, it could be thought that such a progress might be a
result of their professional practice and experience.

Students Perception of the Incidence of Vocal Training in their Own Vocal
Evolution, According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A-Positive Changes
29 (43.94%)
30 (49.18%)
059
B-Neg. Changes
05 (07.58%)
10 (16.39%)
015
C- No Changes
18 (27.27%)
05 (08.20%)
023
D- Not Answered
14 (21.21%)
16 (26.23%)
030
Totals
66 (100% )
18 (100%)
127
Chart 19 confirms the tendency exposed in the previous section in terms of the
students age. According to this, the highest percentage of students at ETBA comes
out among students between 18 and 21 years old, while at ENAD, the highest
concentration takes place among mature students. It could be thought that older actors
or acting students who do not have a solid training support would be in the worst
vocal condition. However, 60% of mature students do not notice changes nor harm to
their voices. Young students reveal a perception of vocal problems in a higher
percentage than mature students. This data indicates an actor profile professionally
defined by the time s/he has been on stage.
211
Evolution, According to their Age and Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- 18 to
A-Positive Changes
13 (46.42%)
10 (55.55%)
023
21 years old
B-Neg. Changes
02 (07.14%)
03 (16.66%)
005
C- No Changes
06 (21.42%)
02 (11.11%)
008
D- Not Answered
07 (25.00%)
03 (16.66%)
010
Partial Totals and
Percentages
28 (42.42% )
18 (29.51%)
B- 22 to
A-Positive Changes
10 (43.47%)
05 (38.46%)
015
25 years old
B-Neg. Changes
02 (08.69%)
01 (07.69%)
003
C- No Changes
07 (30.43%)
02 (15.38%)
009
D- Not Answered
04 (17.39%)
05 (38.46%)
009
Partial Totals and
Percentages
23 (15.17%)
13 (21.31%)
C- 26 to
A-Positive Changes
04 (40.00%)
06 (54.54%)
010
29 years old
B-Neg. Changes
01 (10.00%)
02 (18.18%)
003
C- No Changes
02 (20.00%)
01 (09.09%)
003
D- Not Answered
03 (30.00%)
02 (18.18%)
005
Partial Totals and
Percentages
10 (34.84%)
11 (18.03%)
D- more than
A-Positive Changes
02 (40.00)%
09 (47.36%)
011
30 years old
B-Neg. Changes
(-)
04 (21.05%)
004
C- No Changes
03 (60.00%)
(-)
003
D- Not Answered
(-)
06 (31.57%)
006
Percentages
05 (07.57%)
19 (31.15%)
66
61
Partial Totals and

Totals
127
The students perception of their vocal evolution as improving, or at least not

deteriorating through time might be related in the first place to theatrical practice and
maturity in general, which appeared in the interviews as an important argument in
relation to voice work in Buenos Aires. As Caramelli noticed in Chapter 3 of this
study, speech therapists would certainly not damage a voice, but at the same time,
they cannot develop any relevant work as voice coaches. The results attained might be
related to the predominance of speech therapists in voice work at these schools. In
this case, they confirm Caramellis perception in relation to this situation.
212
Historically speaking, it should be noticed that theatre schools were
established simultaneously in Buenos Aires and England. When they were created,
the dominance of speech therapists in voice work was total. At those times, and
considering scientific developments, speech therapists certainly represented what was
most innovative in the field. Since then, specific degree courses for voice coaches
were instituted, and a space for publishing was developed in England. However, in
Buenos Aires, in terms of voice work, the situation has remained the same since the
1920s. Returning to the question of the students vocal evolution, according to Chart
20, men seem to be more optimistic than women in both institutions are.

Students Perception of their Vocal Evolution, According to Gender and
Institution.
Women
ETBA
men
ENAD
ETBA
Totals
ENAD
A- + changes
17 (42.50%) 17 (45.94%) 12 (46.15%) 12 (52.17%)
058
B- - changes
04 (10.00%) 09 (24.32%) 01 (03.84%) 01 (04.34%)
015
C- No changes
11 (27.50%) 03 (08.10%) 07 (26.92%) 02 (08.69%)
023
D- Not Answered
08 (20.00%) 08 (21.62%) 06 (23.07%) 08 (34.78%)
030
Totals
40
126
37
26
23
As part of this inquiry, students were asked to characterise their voices. Their
answers show an extremely high level of casualness in their perception of their own
vocal material. It was not possible to codify these answers and, moreover, for the
purposes of the present study, it was considered useful to fully transcribe them, to
better illustrate the vague and erratic nature of the students perception of their own
voices. To the question 8- How would you characterise your voice physically, in
terms of timbre, intensity, extension and ductility?, the students answered:
good, but it needs work

low, potent, more or less ductile
thick, with presence
nasal voice, according to my allergies
alt/mezzo a bit raucous
sharp -a bit high - not very ductile - octave and a half
it is strong, low, deep, has projection
high intensity, variable extension, medium ductility, thick timbre
it is hard for me to place it, I do not use it much
213
solid, strong, low
intense
I am heard and understood, I still should work
it has body but I do not know how to use it well
ductile, with more work I may achieve more quality
good, low
not worked, thick
ample
good
I lack low tones, I have good intensity but problems with extension
high timbre, strong, understandable, not very ductile
strong, quite modulated
I do not know
quiet, fearful, not low nor high
everything
good
intense
very good
intense, extended, ductile
a bit out of pitch
little intensity, high
satisfactory
I have ductility
it is poor, particularly in extension and intensity
good
quite low, with not much extension, quite intense
agile, ductile, big, skilled
soft, normal
strong intensity, optimum ductility, low extension
I am a soprano, I am working on my intensity
soft, normal
I can not answer this question
sharp
ample register, clear and healthy voice
very rich in every sense
I lack ductility and extension
with problems of inhibition, low
lacking grades in tone, lower than I think it is
I believe I have a very good voice, I do not know how to characterise it
soprano, clear, medium intensity, little extension
lacking grades in tone, it has good intensity
intense, with good extension, very ductile
is potent, but weak
low and strong
it is a bit sharp, with little extension
with a deep intensity
low baritone
between low and high
I do not know
mezzo soprano, of medium intensity, clear, with good diction
good
potent
it is not low nor high, I have good timbre, diction and ductility
my voice is very high and hoarse with air loss but with a lot of expression
clear voice and good diction
low voice of little extension
it acquires more body in acting
creaky tone, lack of volume
high timbre, strong intensity, good extension
214
I have no idea
a bit hoarse, high
problems with the breathing, good shine, good timbre, soprano
it has impoverished because of a lack of exercise
I do not know
it feels strange to me
good
childish
it is low and strong
a bit strong, I manage it well
I do not know
high timbre, high intensity, medium extension, medium ductility
I do not know
I have a creaky voice and speak fast
I do not have enough tools to achieve changes
not clear
it is normal, but occasionally its volume is intense
I do not know
I have breathing problems
good
baritone
average
average
good
strong
variable, intense and ductile
high, soft, long
strong
good
of little intensity, normal timbre
I do not know how to use it, I believe it is low
quite high and with force
good
potent and strong
very good
rough and raucous voice
I do not understand the question
potent, it may be very low or very high
I do not know
nasal and low
low and strong
fine
good
a bit low
little ductility
with quite enough intensity and low
average
good
occasionally ductile, low, good intensity, good extension
I can manage the intensity
high timbre, low intensity, good ductility
I do not know
tenor, high
high
good
dark, a bit opaque
oscillating
affected voice
intensity
215
tenor, all the rest is relative
6
The widely random auto-definition of their own voices is patent in the

scarcely defined adjectives in the answers above (such as good, fine, low, high,
etc.); in the recurrence of answers such as I do not know, I dont understand the
question, etc. These answers also indicate the lack of reflection of the students in
relation to their vocal material. The very naturalisation of the actors voice regarded
as a gift, may be responsible for such a level of apperception in relation to the actors
voices. This apperception should be particularly considered as an starting point to
define strategies in voice work, as it may be regarded as a main factor to the vocal
anxiety defined in the Introduction of this study (see also Chapter Two p.179-80).
In relation to speech delivery, realism is considered at ETBA the style that
students resolve the best and, surprisingly, the worst in performance (39.39 % and
30.30 % respectively). A reason for such an apparently contradictory result may be
that realism is the dominant style at ETBA, where only in the last year, do students
work with other styles. At ENAD, where students work with diverse styles, the best
vocal performance in the view of the inquired students, is achieved with realism
(29.50%), and the worst (27.86%) with classical theatre. The total lack of work on
styles associated with Music Hall, Caf Concert and Comedy in both institutions,
patent in the following Charts 21 and 22 might be related to the above pointed deficit
in speech, singing and corporal training. Classic and contemporary styles share
second place, while the
Not Answered
option attains identical rates in both schools
(18.18% at ETBA and 16.39% at ENAD). The high rate of students that did not
answer the question about their best and worst style in textual performance (see above
FN 6), and which style they need to work with, seems to show a deep disorientation
about their vocal needs and moreover, of a lack of strategy to overcome deficiencies
in voice production.
ETBA Students Perception of their Own Performances, According to

6
Eleven students did not answered this question.
216
the Repertoire Style.
Best Performance
Worst
Performance
Style to work with
A- Realism
26 (39.39%)
20 (30.30%)
04 (06.06%)
B- Classic
04 (06.06%)
11 (16.66%)
12 (18.18%)
C- Contemporary
05 (07.57%)
03 (04.54%)
12 (18.18%)
D- Rioplatense
(-)
02 (03.03%)
(-)
E- C. Concert/ M. Hall
(-)
(-)
(-)
F- Comedy
(-)
(-)
06 (09.09%)
G- ABC
06 (09.09%)
05 (07.57%)
02 (03.03%)
H- All styles
05 (07.57%)
04 (06.06%)
09 (13.63%)
I- Any style
02 (03.03%)
02 (03.03%)
07 (10.60%)
J- Not Answered
18 (27.27%)
19 (28.78%)
14 (21.21%)
Totals
66
66
66
ENAD Students Perception of their Own Performances, According to

Best Performance
Best Performance
Style to work with
A- Realism
18 (29.50%)
10 (16.39%)
05 (08.19%)
B- Classic
08 (13.11%)
17 (27.86%)
10 (16.39%)
C- Contemporary
08 (13.11%)
06 (09.83%)
10 (16.39%)
D- Rioplatense
01 (01.63%)
(-)
03 (04.91%)
217
E- C. Concert/M. Hall
(-)
01 (01.63%)
(-)
F- Comedy
(-)
01 (01.63%)
02 (03.27%)
G- ABC
10 (16.39%)
03 (04.91%)
03 (04.91%)
H- All styles
01 (01.63%)
04 (06.55%)
07 (11.47%)
I- Any style
03 (04.91%)
02 (03.27%)
05 (08.19%)
J- Not Answered
12 (19.67%()
17 (27.86%)
16 (26.22%)
Totals
61
61
61
This macro-mapping of institutions and professional roles in theatre training

and production shows relevant data in relation to voice work and performance in
Buenos Aires of the 1990s. Circuits of theatrical production appear to be clearly
defined. Many successful actors floating in diverse circuits come from the schools
here considered. Others, come from the Escuela Municipal de Arte DramticoEMAD, from other private theatre studios, or become actors grounded on their stage
experience.
Actors trained decades ago declare they had a good experience at ENAD and
EMAD. Actors trained since the 1970s at these schools, who have a strong realistic
technique, also declare themselves to be happy with their formation. Those who have
fractured such a background though other approaches in acting, such as clowning or
dance theatre, for example, tend to have a critical approach to their original
formation; however, they appreciate it as a solid ground, which later must be
disrupted. There are other groups of actors that were able to sustain themselves in
parallel to their training, a constant practice in experimental/underground theatre; and
a last group constituted by those who totally avoided formal training (Interviews 1, 6,
9, 17 Appendix I).
The tendencies in vocal training in Buenos Aires are today highly determined
by the dominance of speech therapists who, despite having trained to work with voice
and speech pathologies, operate as voice coaches in the context of actors training. It
is interesting to recall the key presence of speech therapists in the origins of voice
work in England, and the rapid shift in focus to the problematic of the actors vocality
in performance. In Buenos Aires, however, speech therapists have gradually entered
the field of voice work, which originally was the responsibility of poets, directors,
actors and singers (see Chapter One pp.30-1).
218
Speech therapists are trained to intervene in voice and speech pathologies, but
they lack an approach to the actors styles in delivery. Their hegemonic presence in
actors training may therefore be considered as a main factor in the situation of the
actors vocality in the Buenos Aires stage of the 1990s, highly territoritorialised by
what we defined as the European overcoding and the capitalist decoding in
performance.
Cabanellas, an authority in Buenos Aires theatre production and training of
the 1950s, who also founded ENAD, should not be considered as a minor influence.
The approach to voice work of Cabanellas generation established a local paradigm in
actors vocal delivery, which has not been totally overcome until today. Moreover, it
has been captured in what has been defined in the frame of this study as the European
multicoding, a vocal overcoded style in performance, highly related to an acting
pattern in the 1950s of the classic repertoire of Spanish theatre, from the Golden Age
to Lorca. This may explain why directors in Buenos Aires feel a greater freedom to
adapt and stage the repertoire of foreign authors, and thus produce more original
acting styles in performance. In addition, they rarely chose to work with the Spanish
repertoire, and when this kind of plays are staged, the oral style tends to respond
accordingly to the traditional canons.
On the other hand, some dominant approaches in actor training in Buenos
Aires, grounded in singular views of Stanislavskis method, as well as the acting
styles encouraged by television and by some popular Buenos Aires playwright since
the 1960s, have contributed to operate a decoding in the actors vocality. In Chapter
Five of this study, Guillermo Angelelli provides clear references about the results in
the actors body of the interventions of speech therapists and of some territorializations
of Realism dominant in actors training Buenos Aires.
The collected data also indicates that the actors body often appears as a place
of confusion between the performers and the personal fields, the latter being
dominant in the actors profile in Buenos Aires. This might indicate a low level of
professional formation in acting, which tends to be nourished by individual gifts and
talents, and is also patent in the scant need for training shown by the students.
Despite the lack of reflection in the specific field, British vocal work for actors
has defined clear strategies in training to approach historical theatrical styles, such as
the Elizabethan or Restoration repertoire. Buenos Aires formal training in acting is
219
not explicitly designed to reproduce vocal styles. However, there are some codes for
vocal production and speech delivery at work in Buenos Aires theatre schools and
production, which imply an a-systematic reproduction of vocal styles.
Space for actors training or for a methodical experimental practice are
infrequent in both the official and independent theatre circuits and studios. The place
dedicated to theatre studies and research in an academic environment is limited and
has not a substantial incidence in actor training or professional practice, and voice
work has been configured in Buenos Aires as a clinically orientated area. In this
situation, the actors vocality in Buenos Aires tends to reproduce captured
overcodings as the European multicoding previously defined in this thesis, while it is
constantly decoded by the mass-media action and by local implementations of
Stanislavskis method.
This machine of vocal codes has a substantial incidence in Buenos Aires
acting. Operating in the sphere of the code of the code, voice training and
performance remain in superficially approached in acting. The lack of clear strategies
in training and of a positive discourse in the field of voice work in theatre studies,
actors training and professional practice results in a low academic and professional
framework. In such a situation, the lack of resistance to the capitalist decoding in
performance becomes evident.
At work with this formal machine in training, there is an ideological machine
operating in Buenos Aires playwriting. Both of them might be considered as
important determinants to the actors performance in Buenos Aires of the 1990s,
particularly in relation to the actors vocality. In Chapter Five, we will focus
particularly on the main shift operated in the ideological machine on the Buenos
Aires stage of the 1990s, through the recent playwriting output. We will also focus
on two particular experiences in which the actors voice production and textual
delivery assumes a peculiar and relevant role, despite the established machines at
work in contemporary theatrical practice and training. Constructed more or less
within the institutional borders of Buenos Aires culture, these extraordinarily
productive experiences, may establish new territories for voice and speech
performance on stage. These vocal machines, founding highly productive places of
vocality, indicate new directions in the field.
221
Chapter Five
The Micro - Mapping.
In Chapters Three and Four, the macro cartographies of Buenos Aires
theatrical performance and training in the 1990s have been unfolded, from the
perspective of the institutional circuits of production and training. The institutional
environment in theatre production constituted a capital place of productiveness in
Buenos Aires culture since the 1920s. Official schools and theatres summoned
foremost professionals, and were organised in a pattern comparable with the most
productive international cultural institutions operating during these times.
Since the late 1960s this potent place in theatrical performance, in which the
actors vocality held a defined profile, started to suffer a process of erosion,
culminating in the dissolution of the permanent companies in the 1990s, and the
expansion of independent theatre. The professional roles in theatrical practice
gradually changed their profile. In the cracks in the macro-organisation, new micromodes of association were configured, which characterise the map of the actors
vocality in the theatrical performance produced in the last half of the twentieth
century in Buenos Aires.
The relation acting/script/speech acquires in Barts a performative pattern,
crucial in the effectiveness of the rupture he proposes in relation to Buenos Aires
versions of realism in acting, dominant until the 1980s. The leading work of Rafael
Spregelburd is particularly considered in this Chapter, as representative of the new
playwright. Guillermo Angelelli, recycling diverse tendencies in actors training,
configures a particularly productive territory of vocality. Besides his consistent
production of music for theatre, Edelsteins singular production explores new
territories for contemporary performance. His approach to the word on stage, its
framing in a technological environment, and its disregard for the traditional artistic
boundaries, bring new questions and daring achievements in relation to voice and
speech in performance. The works here considered prove that the actors vocality is
not a question of archaeological interest, but a territory of symbolic and micropolitical exchange and infinite becomings.
Barts acts in theatre and cinema, but his imprint on Buenos Aires theatre is
the product of his directorial work. Spregelburd acts, writes and directs his own plays.
Chapter 5 - The Micro-Mapping: Dominant Machines.
222
However, his imprint is defined through his writing. In Angelelli, the performers role
dominates over the directors and the authors roles. Edelstein, clearly defined as a
music composer, operates in a singular territory where the voice and the spoken word
settle on a ground common to music and theatre. The interface voice/technology has
in Edelsteins work a highly creative development. His audacious hypothesis of work
propitiates original results on stage and enlightens a huge path to new territories in
vocal performance and training.
Barts as a director, Angelelli as a performer, Spregelburd as a playwright, and
Edelstein as a music composer, proceed into new territories of vocality in
performance. These artists operate in diverse cultural environments. However, it
should be noticed that all of them teach, an activity through which they multiply their
own approaches.
The singularisation of these new aesthetic profiles, designs vectors of
subjectivity, which might determine borders of resistance to the vocality de/codings
established in the local cultural environment. Considering its fluidity and swiftness
and its sudden changes in flux, the as an object of study refuses its association to
fixed macro-orders. This micro-mapping of the economy of voice and speech in the
frame of a number of singular experiences on the Buenos Aires stage of the 1990s,
intends to unveil its micropolitical territory, beyond the omnipresence of the visual in
contemporary culture.
Playwriting and training are highly territorialising areas in theatrical
performance. The first, because of the imprint of authorship and the second, because
of its incidence in the production and reproduction of acting styles. Both spheres
directly and potently affect actors vocality. These machines perform fluxes of
territorialization and deterritorialization, which outline the cartographies of voice and
speech on stage.
The idea of the formal machine operating in theatrical training in Buenos
Aires was introduced in former sections. The European multicoding and the capitalist
decoding, at work in the last half of the twentieth century in Buenos Aires, and a
number of procedures originated in realistic acting techniques shaped and reproduced
a local vocal style in performance. A number of technical procedures, detached from
their original practice, started to be regularly reproduced.
223
Buenos Aires playwrights grounded in a porteos1 working class use of
voice and speech, left an unequivocal imprint on Buenos Aires stages. Playwrights
production and their diverse modes of organisation clearly outline a map of the place
for voice and speech today in Buenos Aires. There are some antecedents in the 1970s
of independent organisations of playwrights, and their crucial participation in mass
movements, such as Teatro Abierto. However, it is in the 1990s when these attempts
acquire a singular and intense dynamic.
Playwrights Power Machine.

On 22nd of December 1990, and after two years of negotiations, the
Fundacin Carlos Somigliana - SOMI was created, the main purpose of which is to
aid, support and encourage the work of Argentinean playwrights. At its beginning, it
was made up of a group of ten playwrights: Roberto Cossa, Bernardo Carey, Carlos
Pais, Eduardo Rovner, Marta Degracia, Osvaldo Dragn, Roberto Perinelli, Mauricio
Kartn, Adriana Genta and Patricia Zangaro.
Inspired by a similar experience implemented in Canada, SOMI inaugurated at
the Teatro Municipal General San Martn the cycles of Teatro Semimontado2, a
modality of production very popular today in Buenos Aires. They also promoted
diverse types of playwriting workshops until 1995, when SOMI took over the artistic
direction of the Teatro del Pueblo, an emblematic venue related to the origins of
Buenos Aires independent theatre.
They were appointed by the Instituto Movilizador de Fondos Cooperativos;
however, SOMI first had to raise funds to refurbish the theatre. SOMI endowed about
40% of the funds for the refurbishment, which surpassed the sum of US$ 300.000.
The original hall of the Teatro del Pueblo become a two space complex with updated
stage resources: one with an Italian stage and 184 seats, and another alternative space
for an audience up to one hundred people.
The Teatro del Pueblo was re-inaugurated on 19th August 1996. Since then,
have been premiered, a range of works including: Tratala con Cario, by Oscar
Viale; Cocinando con Elisa, by Luca Laraggione; Dibujo en un Vidrio Empaado, by
1
2
Natural from Buenos Aires.

Rehearsed reading.
224
Pedro Sedlinsky; Paula Doc, by Nora Rodriguez; Venecia, by Jorge Accame;
Homero, by Bernardo Carey; La Cena, by Roberto Perinelli; Maderas de Oriente, by
Carlos Pais; De Profesin Maternal, by Griselda Gambaro; Romancito, by Cecilia
Propato and 1500 mts. Sobre el Nivel de Jack, by Federico Len.
SOMIs playwrights share a defined ideological profile. Most of them are in
their sixties, and the political life of the last five decades in Argentina left an
unequivocal imprint on their production and their modes of organisation. Most of
them took part of co-operative groups of production and many of them had a leading
role in national movements, such as the two cycles of Teatro Abierto.
Roberto Cossa is probably the most emblematic of SOMIs playwrights. A
fervent follower of the Cuban revolution, he worked in Buenos Aires as a
correspondent for Prensa Latina and other journalist media. Cossa wrote his first play
in 1958, and until 1976, when he wrote La Nona, probably the most successful of his
plays, his work as a playwright was discontinued because of the political
contingencies which led him to exile. However, since the 1980s, with the premier of
Gris de Ausencia in the frame of the first cycle of Teatro Abierto, Cossa has been
premiering on average one or two plays every year. The prevalence of his work in
Argentinas theatrical seasons, has been progressing until the late 1990s. Between
1997 and 1999 three of his titles were simultaneously performed while one of his
plays, Yepeto, was adapted for the cinema, and was an award winner at the Festival de
La Havana in 1999.
As indicated above, Cossas style in writing reflects the ordinary uses of
language and voice of Buenos Aires working class. Such a style has captured the
actors vocality in Buenos Aires to a degree, that it is frequently mistaken as a
realistic style of delivery. However, the implicit didacticism and the clear political
commitment in Cossas plays also attest to the strong influence of Brechtian theatre in
Argentina. SOMIs playwrights share this aesthetic and ideological profile, associated
with left wing and national movements. However, if the 1980s were the decade of the
consolidation of the playwright of the 1980s in Buenos Aires theatrical production, it
is generally defined as the decade of the groups. The restitution of democracy
encouraged group projects, which arose in a situation highly territorialized not so
much by the local playwrights, but by a domesticated practice, captured in the
225
procedures of the formal machine in training. A number of these groups have been
active through the 1990s, assuming diverse lines of work.
El Perifrico de Objetos working, with puppets and objects, in the lack of (the
actors) presence, Los Macocos, with its clown imprint, or Pista 4, with its particular
approach to the acoustic sphere, are productive remnants from the 1980s boom of
theatre groups. De la Guarda, a group that continues with a street work mainly
directed to large audiences, was founded in the 1990s by a number of performers that
integrated La Organizacin Negra, an emblematic group of the 1980s, dissolved in the
1990s, which had clear influences of the Catalan Group La Fura dels Bauss.
The circulation of a number of these groups on the circuit of international
festivals, the great success of some of them with the local public, or the proposals of
others directed to thousands of spectators, left an imprint in Buenos Aires cultural
environment, which inspired the idea of a dominance of visual theatre. Beyond the
action of the groups, a key movement took place in the 1990s, in the field of the local
production in playwriting. The Caraja-J case illustrates this crucial shift.
Caraja-J - The Dissolution, or The Deterritorializing Outburst of the Recent

Playwrights.
Until 1995, the TMGSM was home to the Comdia Juvenil, a company of
young actors among those graduated at ENAD who achieved the best marks during
the course. The company was directed by Roberto Perinelli, who invited a group of
eight young playwrights to participate in a workshop co-ordinated by Roberto Cossa
and Bernardo Carey, also appointed by Perinelli, being the three of them SOMIs
members. The group was made up of Alejandro Tantanin, Javier Daulte, Igncio
Polo, Alejandro Zingman, Carmen Arrieta, Alejandro Rovino, Jorge Leyes and Rafael
Spregelburd. This workshop, which lasted for two months of weekly meetings, until it
was interrupted because of the aesthetic and ideological disagreements between the
group and the co-ordinators. This rupture actualised a great shift in the Argentinean
playwriting of the 1990s. It should be noticed that 1995 is also the year in which the
Comdia Juvenil and other companies were finally cancelled at the TMGSM.
The implicit assumption was that the group of young playwrights was natural
disciples of Cossa and Carey, disregarding the fact that there is a whole generation
between them, which was smashed by the dictatorship that ruled the country between
226
1976 and 1983. Kartn, Laura Yushem, Rubn Szuchmacher, Ricardo Barts and
Daniel Veronese are remnant of the above referred intermediate generation, today in
their late forties (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
The disruption operated in Argentinean playwriting during the dictatorship
may be considered as a crucial factor in relation to the solid and homogeneous
organisation of the playwrights of SOMIs generation. The political situation helped
to consolidate playwriting as a closed system of power. Not identified with local
production, young actors in the 1980s felt free to experiment with the script and
speech on stage, moreover, with theatrical language as a whole. The initial disruption
became then as a productive place. Five years later, Cossa himself declares, regarding
this particular arrangement:
What I see is a whole generation of young playwrights, whose
work is very close to the stage. They act or direct their own plays.
Rafael Spregelburd, Alejandro Tantanin, Javier Daulte, Federico Len,
Ignacio Apolo, conceive their writing in direct relation with the
theatrical event. They are taking over something that I understand as the
essence of theatre. Molire or Shakespeare had such a practice, which
gradually overtook the role of the literary writer working for theatre:
Ibsen, Chekhov, ONeill or Pirandello. These creators were
extraordinary artists who wrote for the stage in solitude, as novel
writers. Their plays where staged as they were conceived, as music
scores. Such an approach was dominant until the 1950s. It was followed
by an anti-literary wave. Then, there were authors and forms that
disappeared and playwrights that merged with other forms. I see myself
among this last group (Cossa in Fernndez 1999 p.32). [My translation]
The recent generation of playwrights in Buenos Aires is characterised by their

eclecticism. Even among those who integrated Caraja-J the profiles were, and still
are, completely diverse. Their singularity as authors is explicit not just in style, but in
themes, concerns, and ideology. Since 1995, they have been profusely published and
staged, awarded and required by the media and alternative venues, such as the theatre
Payr and the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas - UBA. Across the whole country, and
independently of the results, it became fashionable to stage Caraja-Js plays.
However, people were frequently not able to distinguish a Caraja-J play from any
other Argentinean play of the last half of the twentieth century, notices Spregelburd.
In fact, adds Spregelburd, Caraja-Js profile was so eclectic that it also included
authors who believed in the popular didactic play: there were no great differences
between the plays of some of Caraja-Js authors and a play of Gorostiza:
The discussions internal to the group were really interesting,
because we were able to discuss keeping the debate out of the personal
227
sphere: it is your aesthetic, I will try to argue regarding your point of
view to see if what I say can be useful for the both of us. This is our
idea of a workshop: to avoid hegemonic positions (Spregelburd
Despite their aesthetic multiplicity, the crucial role of the word is a common
characteristic of these late playwrights. In a literary or concrete style, or supporting a
particular approach to acting, the vocality of the actor is a key point to the definition
of characters in the theatrical production of the 1990s in Buenos Aires. It defines
further new borders of theatrical performance through the words and their vocal
performance. They definitely broke a dominant style in acting in which the
importance lay in what was said, rather than how it was said; to give place to a
multiplicity in styles closer to the multiple possibilities of speech in flux.
According to Spregelburd, Caraja-Js dissolution was a healthy sign. They
decided to dissolve the group, he continues, when it started to hold a defined place of
power, a position they considered dangerous. Spregelburd thinks that problems arise
when an aesthetic is located in a place of power. Such a place could take the form of
an independent group, which was the case of Caraja-J; a cultural Ghetto, as with
Barts mode of production in his theatre/studio; or an institution, official or private,
such as SOMI (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Like Barts, Spregelburd sustains that power, a clear concern in Buenos Aires
playwriting, resides in circulation. In terms of power, it could be said that while
SOMI is organised as a co-operative group, ideologically and aesthetically
homogeneous; the so called cultural Ghettos in Buenos Aires, concentrate power in
a singular proposal to avoid or disrupt a dominant machine. The new playwrights
pattern of power is fluid and multiple; in other words, it resides in their capacity for
circulation. Time will tell how far this new attitude is nourishing lines of flight of the
power machine or updating its procedures.
In 1996, Patricia Zangaro, Adriana Genta and Mauricio Kartn, the younger
playwrights in the group, resigned their SOMIs membership. There are various
versions of the reason for this resignation, but all agree that it resulted from
disagreements about the seasons programming of the Teatro del Pueblo. It is difficult
to consider this recent disarray independently of the 1995s rupture between the
playwrights of SOMI and Caraja-J. What is certain is that only then was the power
machine resettled into its current order, the results of which in terms of the actors
228
vocality on stage are evident in 1999. This was the epilogue to the intense struggle in
the field of Buenos Aires playwrights in the 1990s.
Dominant Machines in Buenos Aires Theatrical Performance of the 1990s.

In the late 1950s, the solid formation installed in actor training in Buenos
Aires started to show its first synthoms of alteration. The techniques belonging to a
formation in realism and in recitation started to formally reproduce themselves and
their procedures, gradually loosing their link to the needs of the evolution of Buenos
Aires theatrical production. The number of technical procedures, codings and decodings, gradually framed a pragmatic profile in acting into a formal mechanism. This
formal machine is still at work in actors training and performance in Buenos Aires. A
vocal style, based in models of identity and a certain didacticism, has been so
hegemonic in Buenos Aires, that actors frequently mistake the use of voice of realism
in general with the vocal style resulting from these dominant machines in Buenos
Aires stages (Interviews 5, 7, 14, 16 Appendix I).
Cossa, Barts and Spregelburd are crucial figures in Buenos Aires
contemporary theatre. Their output outlines totally diverse territories in performance.
However, their approaches to voice and speech have left unequivocal imprints in
Buenos Aires acting. Despite their ideological divergences, the three of them hold
potent places of power in theatrical local practice. Moreover, they can be considered
as points of articulation of the same power machine. Barts, disrupting the mode of
organisation established in theatre practice since the 1960s, has been a crucial figure
in opening the field for the outburst in the 1990s of a whole generation of theatre
professionals. Playwriting and the diverse textual approaches experienced since the
1960s on Buenos Aires stages have defined the production of theatre professionals
since Cossa to Spregelburd, who aligns with Barts in what we defined in the present
study as the power machine.
Barts outlined a particular territory, from where he systematically intends to
disrupt this dominance. Barts rupture is operated from the acting procedures and the
textual investigation he undertakes. He is not alone in this resistance. However, he is
the one who exerts more influence through his studio over young actors.
Despite their multiplicity in styles, the new authors show some basic
coincidences. Their work tends to avoid explanations, stressing the textual from a
229
poetic and musical perspective. In their productions, the visual tends to be austere, or
even ignored, while the music assumes a constituent role, being the text performance
regarded mainly by its acoustic materiality. How a text sounds when performed seems
to be more important to many of these new playwrights, than to understand the
characteristics and the objectives of the characters through table work. This is maybe
why they often direct and/or act in their own plays.
These authors abandoned a personalised and antagonistic style in politics.
Their refusal to stage a depiction of a local problematic has been often qualified as
foreign, and their eclecticism as encouraging confusion. However, what they show
may be a new style in politics. They configure more a circuit than a place in the map
of Buenos Aires theatrical performance of the 1990s. The power they hold would be
proportional to the fluidity in circulation they achieve. As we stated above, new
playwrights established a wave of deterritorialization in Buenos Aires playwriting.
Their search to define particular aesthetics/poetics involves the risk to crystallise the
original burst in a net of circulation of power, a molar eruption in their fluid original
pattern.
A favourable environment to approach the as a performatic sphere in itself,
avoiding the reproduction of styles, requires the constant movement of creation, not
the crystallisation of a vocal/acting style matched with a defined poetic. The
definition of a poetic tends to reproduce a formula. Differently, the dynamics of
creation itself tends to overcome defined limits. The actors vocality prospers in the
micropolitical space opened by creation in performance. As long as authors, actors
and directors avoid being captured in given aesthetic or ideological positions, the
formal machine might become a machine of work, and the power machine, a machine
of war.
Technical procedures, training approaches and aesthetic profiles, as well as the
questions of power and politics, are interrelated in the problematic of the actors
vocality. Buenos Aires new playwriting opened a place where the actors vocality
may become reinstalled in theatrical performance. Such a goal will depend on their
sensitiveness to progress in the direction of restoring the link between textual
production, the acting it intends to produce, and its related technical procedures.
230
Barts Performative Machine.
As was observed above, the generation of theatre professionals today in their
late forties has been restricted to a number of influential names. This situation may be
understood as a consequence of the political history of Argentina since the 1970s.
Among them, we can identify independent playwrights, such as Mauricio Kartn and
independent women playwrights, such as Susana Torres Molina, and directors such as
Laura Yushem.
Rubn Szuchmacher is a professional director who also belongs to this
generation, who occasionally works as an actor. Lacking a defined aesthetic profile,
he floats indistinctly in the official and the independent circuits, and also directs opera
on a regular basis at the Centro Experimental de Opera y Ballet del Teatro Coln.
Szuchmacher has a strong institutional slant. He has been director of the Centro
Cultural Ricardo Rojas, a key position in the map of local cultural politics. Today he
remains the director of the Rojas Theatre Festival and is also artistic advisor at the
TMGSM. He has strong links with important Foundations in Buenos Aires cultural
map, such as the Goethe Institut and the Fundacin Antorchas.
Daniel Veronese is one of the most prolific and influential contemporary
playwrights, who also leads the group El Perifrico de Objetos, which together with
De la Guarda, can be considered the most well known Argentinean theatre groups in
the international arts circuit. Veronese was a member of the San Martns company of
puppeteers before the foundation of El Perifrico de Objetos, which is made up of the
other playwright and director, Alejandro Tantanin, the puppeteer Garca Wehbi and
Ana Alvarado, who comes from the field of fine arts. The group explores a theatre of
objects, focusing on the lack of presence of the actors body on stage. Grounded in
the visual, the text, when it is present as part of the acoustic environment, tends to be
objectified through diverse processes of reproduction and representation (Veronese
Among the professionals of this intermediate generation, Ricardo Barts is
certainly the one who exerts most influence among the recent generations of theatre
professionals and students. He has a singular position in Buenos Aires theatrical
map. The diverse and effective approaches to the text he proposes, which are
performed by his actors with great solvency, are enough reasons to consider Barts in
the frame of the present study. At his Studio/Theatre, the Sportivo Teatral, Barts
231
teaches and produces theatre independently. He does not claim a genealogy in his
acting background. He asserts that his actual work has been shaped according to the
needs imposed on him through his creative process (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Like Veronese, Barts presents an independent profile. However, if it is true
that they have not held any permanent positions in the institutional circuit, both of
them circulate in it, maintaining diverse styles. Integrating committees of selections
of festivals and prizes, receiving official awards or subsidies or staging their works in
the heart of the official theatrical circuit, they frequently obtain important official
support for their work. However, this circulation in the market and the institutional
sphere does not capture productions such as Veroneses and Barts in their established
patterns; it allows these professionals to produce theatre in a sustained and solid
professional format.
Barts owns a prestigious studio, attended by trained people, with partial
experiences in acting. There is not a selection to enter his studio, so students at the
Sportivo Teatral have diverse levels of efficacy in acting. In Barts view, people that
come to his studio come mainly to fracture structures in acting that have become
senseless to them, or that have blocked their creative process. Barts also states that
professional actors come to him who, as a result of their acting practice, are
emotionally broken, or who do not find pleasure or grow in acting anymore, because
acting has become an exercise with no danger for them (Barts Interview 2 Appendix
I).
Barts distrusts classic pedagogic situations, and any systemic or conceptual
approach to training, because to him they involve high chances of capture. Barts
perceives a common characteristic among people who come to him: their acting is
grounded more in feeling than in effectively being. They show a very
representative style and lots of information about acting; they tend to clearly (and
navely) show that they are acting, adds Barts. He estimates this situation as a result
of the local implementation of Realism in acting. Intending to overcome caricatured
representation, realism appeals to the emotional, settling the discussion in a wrong,
senseless place. Barts calls his approach to theatre theatre of states, and explain that
the states are a way to overcome the sketch and the evidently formal modalities of
acting (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
232
Barts relevance in the map of Buenos Aires theatrical training and
production resides in great part, in his systematic position of rupture in relation to this
kind of conceptual grid, which belongs to a determined ideological frame, related to
Realism in theatre. Vocally speaking, the results of the local versions of the Method
have been not satisfactory. To Barts, the great growth of introspective techniques
during the dictatorship it is not casual:
The dictatorship made us believe in the idea of a protective
inside. The outside was the skin pierced by torture, the territory of
death. Having obstructed the channels of expression, we re-invented
them. Theatre classes were a refuge to think in liberty, collectively. The
surface was the tragedy and the horror tremendously mobilising, while
we were concerned to unveil the fundamental questions of Tennessee
Williams literature. Politic and ideological factors have drawn this
attitude (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Barts acknowledges a boom of theatre schools at the end of the dictatorship

period. However, he defines it as a boom of a totally domesticated, captured theatre,
with no reflection about procedures (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Barts thinks that actors today do not have a stable, clear frame of
construction, and that only very instinctive actors overcome this situation. Actors do
not know clearly why they act. They generally have a great concern about
composition, and forget what is crucial: the state of acting, defines Barts. He
believes that a kind of monastic behaviour imposed by certain set of widely accepted
techniques, on the one hand, and the need to organise and accumulate information
which allow repetition, on the other, vanish the place of playfulness, of the multiple
and devastating effects of pleasure in acting. Barts intends to install a discussion
about theatrical language centred on the actor, beyond the moral limits of the
dominant imprint of realism. He positions himself against the formal machine in
acting, that installs a territory of control over performative instincts, repressing the
cunning intelligence which produce a potent actors vocality (Barts Interview 2
Appendix I).
In relation to training, Barts acknowledges that he teaches for living. As a
teacher, he tries to be true to some principles and criteria in training, recognising the
limits of working four hours, once a week with each group. In the Sportivo Teatral,
the students output is mainly determined by what they can produce, and not by what
Barts would like to see, he believes. There, people work exclusively with him.
During the year, invited professionals teach occasional optional seminars in diverse
233
disciplines. With some actors Barts works for three or four years consecutively.
Almost all of Barts actors were trained at his studio, but he also works with invited
actors (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Barts theatrical production considers the text in a relevant place. His use of
speech is not naturalistic. The good results in terms of script construction and the
actors vocal performance points to an approach to the word, at work in training and
rehearsal. He encourages diverse operations in vocal delivery, in relation to speeds,
rhythms and accents, which requires a good vocal performance from his actors. They
have a basic approach to breathing in order to project speech, in order to generate a
dilated or concentrated dramatic field, to manipulate the timing, not just of movement,
but of the text delivery, he declares. (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
A dramatic text precedes its directorial reading, which results in its scenic
approach. Actors exposed to a script assume the role of a representative-interpreter of
the directorial reading and staging. To Barts, actors in the twentieth century have not
been considered as enunciators, they have been in a position of submission; they have
occupied the weakest place in theatre production: they have been strictly associated
with action, while the poetic and creative word resides in the univocal dominance of
the directorial perspective (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
To Barts, there is a struggle in contemporary theatre, in which the actor
claims to be recognised as the one who produces the most singular event, situated in
the link actor-audience. It is this link which allows the actor to alter time and space
through a high accumulation of energy. In Barts approach, the actors existence as a
scenic work of art has nothing to do with the psychological sphere, but with the
production of a materiality through which s/he constructs a new reality: the actor
does not represent a thing, s/he presents, he concludes, and explain as follows his
idea of a theatre of states:
The actor narrates the story of the instant, which constantly
points to another story. The idea of becoming is not an abstraction in
acting; it is a concrete notion. The actor is always a character in state of
being another, which is not necessarily a psychological character, but
pure scenic, theatrical becoming. It is not necessary to be somebody
else, but to lose all these psychological notions of the real. The actor
performs in a border zone, a territory of flight, of the human as multiple,
escaping the trap of identity, which is just another form of power to
exercise control (Interview: Appendix I).
234
Barts intends to think out of the traditional forms of human representation.
His idea of the instant in acting places his proposal closer to a performative
approach. Together with his search for a more instinctive acting which should be
centred in the actors body, Barts ideas recall Brooks definition of Berrys work, as
a search for the actors instinct of the instant (Brook in Berry 1993 p.3).
To Barts, the characters of composition are minor characters. In his view, a
character is all the scenic elements which determine a territory, a state. Everything
that allows the development of thought and personal emotional activity is potent in
theatre, continues Barts: The biographic or the behaviourist are not necessary paths
to the character, moreover, these options have produced so much harm in Buenos
Aires. The notion of acting as a territory in itself, as a complete affirmation of human
possibilities, as a state of freedom, conflicts with the notions of acting in the frame of
the spectacular, which intends to domesticate and give a legal, legible and clear
feature to the character, says Barts (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Barts has been working on stage with all kind of texts, including poetry. A
sharp text may raise productive intellectual questions about its possible scenic
translations, and still remain as an extra-scenic element. A theatrical text becomes
scenic when it integrates, when it is contained in a mechanism, of which it is not the
agent, concludes Barts. We are orphans of a textual production which promotes
avant-garde scenic procedures. We should propose readings that do not proceed
exclusively from a perverse logic of sense. We should distrust the only idea of a given
sense, states Barts. This assertion can be considered as a fundamental impulse for
the recent shift operated in Buenos Aires playwriting (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Any conceptual or technical interrogation which does not formulate questions
about power is nave to Barts. In his view, theatre produces a conservative thought,
in comparison to that produced by other arts, because it accumulates tradition
indiscriminately. Moreover, he notices that the production of thought in relation to
theatre is currently very poor. Theatrical conventions are exhausted today and there
are no clear signs that might lead to overcome this situation. Theatre is an art with a
high possibility of being captured, he concludes (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
235
Barts interest in the local social problematic has been patent since Postales
Argentinas3, probably the most emblematic of his early works. This attitude remains
vigorous in his latest work: El Pecado que no se Puede Nombrar4, a work based on
texts by Roberto Arlt5. This determination to consider local concerns within his work
does not fade when Barts approaches Hamlet, a work in which he revealed a local
contemporary vision, while respecting Shakespeares original text.
Barts acknowledges that he does not work with the theatrical script in
rehearsal. Actors improvise until a moment in which the text appears as a need, in
order to appropriate the text themselves. He has been working with all kinds of
dramatic scripts and with adaptations of literary texts. The group works on a number
of themes, multiplying them, to produce associations and bonds with thematic links.
This procedure, resistant to the analytic/hermeneutic, intends to unveil a meaning,
behind and over the script. Once this material unfolds, the actors select tones or
intensities that might work as a reference of sense or language for them. Such a
procedure avoids the reproduction of vocal styles.
However, different texts demand different approaches, notices Barts. Talking
about his version of Shakespeares Hamlet, Barts acknowledges that he was
interested in the idea of representation that circulates in the play, also patent in the
identification of Hamlet with the role of the actor: To be or not to be is a double
question: existential and technical. In acting, somebodys existence is more intense, in
the consciousness that the actor is not exclusively what s/he is acting. In theatre, the
character tends to erase the persona. In performance, the persona tends to weaken the
character. In Barts approach, this simultaneity of the actor becoming other, confers
to acting a peculiar intensity, strengthening both character and persona (Barts
Since 1990, the decade of the presidency of Carlos Menem in Argentina,
Barts believes that acting has largely increased in Argentinas public life. This
Argentinean Postcards [My translation].
The Unspeakable Sin [My translation] is the latest of Barts works, which has been shown
in his theatre studio Sportivo Teatral in 1998-9. It is an adaptation of a number of texts by Roberto
Arlt (particularly Los Siete Locos and El Lanzallamas). It was selected, together with four other
theatre works for the 1999 Avignon Theatre Festival.
5
Emblematic Argentinean novelist and playwright (1900-1942).
236
situation allowed a discussion about existence between contemporary cultural models
and academic approaches to Hamlets to be or not to be. We are not English, we do
not have a Shakespearean tradition, consequently we had no pretension in relation to
it. We searched in the resonances of the text to discover what it imposed on us, adds
Barts (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Hamlet has a great thematic attraction for Barts. There is a formal narration
about the manipulation of power, about Mafia conspiracies, which recalls to him the
political sphere in Argentina of the 1990s. However, Barts reveals that he was
particularly interested in the question about what somebody is. He approached a
number of English versions and some Spanish translations of the play. The text was
modified just in a few points, to tune it with our reading. Once defined, the script
remained intact until the last performance, as always happens in Barts work (Barts
The script, as well as the stage movement, is an unchanging element in Barts
spectacles; both are absolutely marked. This approach relates to the idea of a
performance machine which should work at its best. There is freedom to act in the
limits of this machine, which does not mean to add text or movement to what was
opportunely accorded, states Barts (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
To Barts, a text is a classic when, coming from the past, it talks to the
future. A classic does not correspond to a linear temporality. The verse, in his view,
conveys the danger of referring itself to a modern idea of conventions, which
complicates the reception of the script. To Barts, there is a contemporary inclination
to observe material in its archaeology. He thinks that Shakespeares translations
liberate non-English speaking actors of the verse, something that Argentinean actors
can not avoid in the Spanish classic repertoire. To him, theatre in verse is the
paradigm of convention (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Barts acknowledges himself as part of a hinge generation, which abandoned
the traditional approach to theatre, testing other procedures when, in his view, this
kind of attitude was not as approved as it is today. Alternative theatre today has a
high legality, states Barts. Everybody now thinks that it is not just normal, but
refined, to circulate in the alternative circuit. In Buenos Aires theatrical map Barts
places himself in relation to a certain search:
237
I do not believe I am part of a cultural band or a particular
sector. By closeness or affinity, the people who share this territory with
me are those with whom I discuss the most. I have nothing to do with
the rest; I have no idea of them. I am a kind of Martian (as all the others
are Martians). I work in a ghetto, which is my thoughts sphere. I endure
an age in a specific city, centred in my own production; my thought
bureaucratised by the sensation of ghetto and isolation. It is hard for me
to think beyond the huge limits of my own experience, which has a
minimum incidence in the local cultural universe (Barts Interview 2
Appendix I).
In relation to the visual theatre cultivated by some groups in Buenos Aires,

Barts declares that it was a boom which lasted no longer than a lily as, in his view,
it happens with every local conceptual fashion. From the group wave remain the
discussions about time, which enabled a discussion about the acoustic and the spatial
poles in theatre. These discussions set up the basis for the appearance of the acrobatic
theatre, the image theatre, etc. on one side, while the textual theatre remains on the
other. This placement of the conceptual discussion, notices Barts, reflects an idea,
erroneous to him, of divisible independent areas, when many arts (architecture, visual
arts, music and literature) converge in theatre, without being constitutive of it. To
Barts, what is constitutive in theatre is the actor: S/he determines the scenic time and
space; the most curious procedures about time and space are operated on the actors
body (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
Barts agrees with the idea, manifested in previous sections of this study, of
the shrinking of oral language. To him, this is a two way phenomena resulting from
a social system which, represses communication, represses thought and the human
poetic capacity as a whole, and vice-versa: the thoughts frame has shrunk, resulting
in the oral languages shrinking. In such a situation, words loose their effectiveness to
explain reality, starting to circulate in their own alienated circuit, he concludes (Barts
To Barts, music has always had great importance, as a constitutive element
with a punctual presence on stage. Carlos Villavicencio worked as a music composer
in collaboration with Barts on his theatrical works until El Pecado que No Se Puede
Nombrar, (which Carmen Baliero composed the music for). She also trained the
actors to play a number of non-conventional string instruments on stage (Barts
El Pecado que no se Puede Nombrar has a musical epilogue, which gives to
music a place of construction in the play, theatrically orchestral, resulting from the
238
needs of its narrative development, states Barts. Music appears occasionally in El
Pecado, he continues, but these moments are very potent, as links or articulations
in the scenic grammar. Its presence allows lines of flight that might result in spatial
procedures, corporal or scenic, legitimated by a kind of non pure, undetermined
sound produced by actors (Barts Interview 2 Appendix I).
The acoustic material as a departure point for theatrical construct in theatre is
clearly defined in Barts discourse and work, and it is also patent in the good and
original achievements of his actors on stage. Despite the lack of specific technical
work, Barts actors achieve excellent results in works that demand a lot from their
vocality. These results may be a consequence of Barts tangential/anti-analytic
approach to the script, and of its process of textual appropriation. His performative
approach to theatre and his multiple approach of the actor/persona may contribute
also to the good vocal results of his actors.
Spregelburds Language Machine.

Spregelburd is a leading figure in the territory of playwriting of the 1990s in
Buenos Aires, an area that he shares with figures as diverse as Daulte, Leyes,
Tantanin and Len. The production of these authors exceeds the limits of the present
work. Consequently, we focus on one of the most relevant cases of the 1990s
generation, to illustrate new creative approaches to the actors' vocality in theatrical
performance today in Buenos Aires.
There is a particular focus on the mechanics of language in Spregelburds
work. This concern is patent from the macro to the micro structure of his texts, in the
prevalent role of the actors vocality in performance, in his total disregard to the
visual in performance, in the central role that he confers to music in his plays, in their
approach to direction and to the actors training. Because of the place of relevance
that he confers to the text in performance, and the originality of his approach
Spregelburd is an unavoidable presence in the frame of this study.
Spregelburd started to train as an actor. He failed to enter the ENAD;
therefore, he trained privately with Daniel Marcove, who came from a background in
Stanislavskian training. One year later, he started to study dramaturgy with Mauricio
Kartn for five years. After one year with Kartn, he started to train in acting and
direction with Barts for five years (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
239
During the 1980s, which were the years of transition to democracy, the strong
phenomena of the Parakultural6 was still alive in a number of studios, recalls
Spregelburd. Notable actors such as Alejandro Urdapilleta and Pompeyo Audivert,
belong to this heritage, and were in Spregelburds view, the intellectuals of the local
theatrical movement. At that time, comments Spregelburd, schools such as ENAD
and ETBA reproduced an academic emptied training. I think now the situation is
more mixed, he notices. People now go to conservatories knowing that the training
they may get there wont work by itself. It will work as a ground in which they will
intervene later (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Spregelburds technical background was primarily based in the procedures of
realism. Even considering that he was not exposed strictly to the academic
environment, the most alienated of the formal machine in Buenos Aires training, he
experienced its undesired effects. Spregelburd recalls that when he started to train
with Barts he had a technique, but it was dissociated from the personal: I did not
know what to say, I was also very young and a bit lost:
With Barts, we were working, first of all, to produce our own
place, to generate our own discourse as actors, our poetic axis. If our
work could become singular, we could become irreplaceable. We could
choose what to do. This attitude pushes you to generate a personal
discursive field, to define your aesthetic. In a city like Buenos Aires, we
have to create our own space; we can not wait for it (Spregelburd
In those times, Barts studio became a place of resistance and of enormous

reflection, not just about theatre, but about the association of technique and the
political life of the country, points out Spregelburd. As was described above, the
disruption operated by Barts in the mechanism implemented by both the dominants
formal and power machines in Buenos Aires theatre propitiated the development of
new discursive and productive attitudes in performance. In Barts approach, acting
and directing are deeply mixed up. He insists on a kind of observation through which
the actor might auto-direct him/herself. This path from acting to directing is not a
point of conflict for Spregelburd; moreover, he thinks it is a healthy approach
(Interview: Appendix I).
Venue dedicated to performance and punk art.
240
Spregelburd reveals that he soon got tired of seeing that the stagings of his
own plays had nothing to do with his initial ideas. He declares that he never discussed
the directors stagings of his plays. However, he felt that he should start to direct
them,
otherwise I would lose focus, and a situation of permanent
discontent would take me over, as happens with many authors who
remain exclusively authors. In such a situation, the fault is always the
others. I wanted to defend with my body the plays I had written. I think
it was a good decision. I think I am the best possible director of my
plays (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Enlightening the relevant place given to the actors vocality in Buenos Aires
theatre, Spregelburd acknowledges a tradition to make plays which deviate from the
classic order: somebody writes a text/somebody stages it. Sometimes texts are
adapted to the needs of their stagings, regarding all the multiplication of sense that
might arise from their performance: When you copy the text to register it, you realise
that it does not have a literary value, it attains value, when you listen to its words
delivered in a particular manner, notices Spregelburd. The words of a script have a
performative, not a literary value (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Spregelburd is working on a theatrical Heptalogy, in the pattern of that of
Hieronymus Boschs based on The Wheel of the Capital Sins. Until 1999, he had
produced and staged three plays from this series: La Inapetencia, La Extravagancia,
and La Modestia7. Spregelburds Heptalogy intends to establish a parallel between
Boschs times and the present day, being both periods of transition from a closed to
an open order. What happen when the axis, when the centre which confers sense to a
social construction is lost? In the case of Bosch what changes is the idea of God, now
what we have lost seems to be the idea of modernity, notices Spregelburd
(Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
La Modestia, is written in the style of a bad translation, notices Spregelburd.
In the script there are words with no significance: -Traje unas cnepas exquisitas.-
say one character, and another answers -Que ricas! Que son?-, and it is never
The Lack of Appetite, The Extravagance, The Modesty [My translation].
241
explained what is a cnepa8. The performance situation transforms these deceptive
words into something believable:
I like to move language to a place alien to itself, a place of
complete observation. I need actors prone to play such a game. Actors
formed in the method, who are used to table work tend to resist this
kind of work. Table work does not exist for me (Spregelburd Interview
15 Appendix I).
Spregelburd directs his plays in order to achieve the results imagined when he
was writing, which are generally not fulfilled when somebody else directs them. It
shows that his writing is orientated by a clear idea of how the script should sound in
performance.
Spregelburds
characters
refuse
identitary
and
psychological
determination, presenting a characteristic quality in speech, which stresses its acoustic

materiality (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
When the text is ready, Spregelburd declares that he imagines performance
situations, in which actors may operate against the expected course of the text. When
in performance, noticing that one of his plays was staged literally, Spregelburd feels
that the director did not accomplish her/his work. In these cases, the performances to
him become a rigid model of what has been written. Directors, notices Spregelburd,
tend to work exhaustively analysing the written text; they do not hybridise it with
their own ideas (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Spregelburd says that he would be pleased to see a staging of one of his plays
where the script does not become 100% of the staging. He reveals that it excites him
to find, when he directs, portions of the script that he has not a previous idea about
how to resolve, in other words, about how he would like them to sound. In these
cases, he tries several options for each word with the actors until they agree in one
way to perform them. Even the parts of the texts that respond to a previous clear idea
of how they should sound, may be modified after being listened to in rehearsal.
However, the actors vocal performance is never shaped in Spregelburd by a previous
idea of the script. In Spregelburds work, the actors vocal-oral style in performance
is more important than the script (Interview: Appendix I).
-Ive brought some delicious cnepas.- -How tasty! What are they?- Cnepa is an
invented word, which echoes the word canap, a word that changes its significance according to the
context (it may means sofa or cocktail snack) [My translation].
242
He admits that he does not direct actors as to where their characters come
from, where they go to, and according to which objective. He just directs them guided
by a musical and rhythmic need. Once they achieve the right speed, he is concerned
about how the actor can appropriate her/his characters speech. Spregelburd
acknowledges that when directing he operate word by word, in an absolutely musical
way. He does not care if actors change some words, as long as they achieve a desired
result in performance, I am not a words guard, he declares (Spregelburd Interview
15 Appendix I).
In my plays the spoken style is unusual. Sometimes actors get
to appropriate it, sometimes not. If an actor can not, I can cut a speech,
but if s/he says it, it must sound as I imagined it would. I can not explain
why, in my head something else unfolds when s/he delivers a speech as I
ask her/him to say it (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Music has been always extremely important in Spregelburds stagings. He

understands music as a constitutive element in theatrical performance. Since his first
stagings, and up until La Modestia, Spregelburd worked with Federico Zipse, a
musician defined by Spregelburd as a post-industrial composer (Spregelburd
Spregelburd constantly works with the composers during the rehearsal
process. He proposes, more or less concretely, what he needs in acoustic terms, which
differs drastically from one play to another. Raspando la Cruz9 required concrete
sound effects: bombs, a plane, etc. It is a play that formally progresses until a point in
which it starts to move backwards. Once incorporated into the process, Zipse
contributed in an unexpected manner, notices Spregelburd. Zipse did very interesting
work; it was great music, clearly linked with the formal side of the work.
Spregelburd recalls that at the end of the play a music was heard, tonal, but very
strange. Reflecting the formal structure of the play, Zipse recorded the International,
and reproduced it backwards. (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Szuchmacher staged Spregelburds La Extravagancia together with a
Veronese monologue. Szuchmacher wanted to separate both works, because of their
different profiles. Zipse composed a kind of collage, worked out of fragments of
recorded street manifestations by retired people, which functioned as an independent
musical interlude, recalls Spregelburd. These diverse procedures illustrate the role of
9
Scraping the Cross [My translation].
243
music as a structural element in theatre performance in Buenos Aires in the 1990s
In La Modestia, music frequently assumed an incidental function, in a classic
cinema style. For La Modestia, Spregelburd specifically asked Varchauski to do
something recalling Yugoslavian folklore. Songs in La Modestia are in Esperanto, to
provoke a kind of immediate estrangement in relation to language (Spregelburd
Spregelburd acknowledges that he confers great importance to the music in his
work. At the same time, he completely disregards the visual:
I dont know if I am wrong or not. Some of my plays are
repugnant visually; you just get used to it. It is my fault, but when I
listen to a costume designer I get sick. I think it is better to dress in
whatever you find. I personally think it is a mistake and a huge
arrogance of mine that has to do with this old discussion about the text
and its visual performance. The textual territory I want to explore is still
immense, so I am not interested in dedicating any time to the visual side
of the performances of my plays. I have ideas in the visual, but ideas to
neutralise it (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Spregelburds La Modestia was staged at the San Martn in 1998. That was the
first time he worked with a stage designer. He recalls he had a vague idea about the
visual part of the staging that, in his words, fortunately was worked out by somebody
else:
If I have to decide about the visual we are dead people,
because everything is the same to me. It is a problem, but a problem
over which I build up my own discursiveness. We are so saturated with
the visual that it may be good not to care so much about it (Interview:
Appendix I).
Only in a few of Spregelburds plays, such as Remanente de Invierno10, does

the visual attain some importance. However, the acoustic function remains more
important. Remanente the Invierno the stage was full of industrial waste. There was a
pile of broken TVs, pieces of machines which were motors fabricated by Zipse that
once at work, made the music, recalls Spregelburd. Where to put each object?
there was a choice which involved the message: -All you will see is not nice at all, it
is kind of trash.- I believe in that (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
In the early 1990s, Spregelburd and Andrea Garrote created El Patrn
Vazques, their two person group-work. This is not a close scheme, as they always
10
Winters Remnant [My translation].
244
invite people to work with them, depending on each spectacle. Spregelburd declares
that he would like to work with people such as Federico Len, for example.
Spregelburd reveals curiosity to see what he could produce together with other
people, which share his main concerns about theatre, even working in different
aesthetic territories. This disposition to avoid the idea of cultural ghettos is implicit in
the project of El Patrn Vazques. He notices that there is only one kind of exchange
in relation to which authors should be aware, it is the partnership with the official
circuit, when it may become an entity which appropriates the discourse of the play,
concludes Spregelburd (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
There are actors with a solid realistic formation that come to work with
Spregelburd, and end perfectly adapting their style to the demands of his plays. Some
of them are also highly professional actors, working on a regular basis for TV and
cinema. Curiously, Spregelburd sometimes finds more disposition in these actors,
than in many others belonging to his generation (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix
I). To Spregelburd, it is not a problem to work with actors trained in the procedures of
realism. In his view, the obstacles arise from more egoistic questions, particularly
when people feel in a situation of inferiority in terms of power; not because a given
actor can not possibly do a particular thing, notices Spregelburd. It indicates that
realism in training is not definitive in the actors current ineffectiveness in the vocal
sphere in performance (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Actors get to work with Spregelburd when they are prone to work against their
nature: to manifest such a desire is a first step, which puts everybody in an excellent
position to face the work itself. Their language may have nothing to do with mine at
the beginning, but we can always negotiate these differences (Spregelburd Interview
15 Appendix I). From a technical point of view, Spregelburd thinks that, for many
reasons, actors may not respond to the musical demands of the speech delivery
required in his plays. The most frequent obstacle relates to a psychologist/biographic
approach in acting. These actors have a need to understand what they say to be able
to say it, something that is totally irrelevant to him, notices Spregelburd. He searches
to generate a water movement, a determined material effect, through the actors
speech delivery:
When actors insist with psychological questions I say: shut up
and say it like this. At that point, I can not explain why a particular
245
speed is imperative. I just know it is needed. I am an obsessive of
language in microscopic scale (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Spregelburd acknowledges that the final work on the text considers what is
performed, I do not have an image in my head, to which the actor should adapt
her/his work. Moreover, a text or a stage mark does not ever work the same for two
different actors, he concludes. He perceives his unique ability as a director is to see
what actors produce and guide, suggest, direct them from that place, to where I want
them to be. I wont ever ask them to transform themselves into something else.
Spregelburd refuses the phenomenological idea that theatre gains in specificity
once it becomes the most crafted possible, avoiding technology. Audiences recognise
that theatre configures an experience different from that produced through the media.
Theatre can not achieve a close up, so it uses silence or repetition to guide the
audiences attention, notices Spregelburd. What it is important to him is that
technology, particularly TV that is more massive than cinema, has incidence in our
forms of perception: now we perceive in zapping. Cinema incorporates assemblage,
and today in theatre we do not need explanations to link diverse meanings or scenes
Today, audiences do not tolerate plays lasting three hours, which in other
times used to be normal. They are not used anymore to a rhythm and a speed that
once was perceived as average or natural. Todays audiences are used to accepting
sequences of scenes not linked with a linear logic. Remote control pushes this
forward: besides accepting or not a determinate logic chain of independent scenes,
linked just by a line of assemblage, somebody can decide to sequence them, building
up her/his own chains, her/his own assemblage, among the available material, notices
Spregelburd (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Raspando la Cruz, progressing to a moment in which the play evolves
backwards or La Modestia, which tells two stories articulated through zapping, offer
good examples of how todays technologies of communication affect not only
contemporary perception, but our pattern of thought, expressed in this case, in
writing. The only thing an artist can do is to testify to her/his own times, continues
Spregelburd. If Artaud would know that he is the theme of discussion at the cafes at
246
the Alianza Francesa11, he would die again, he concludes. I am not interested in
utopian projections of old times, of values that I dont know if we share today,
concludes Spregelburd (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
Creation has no sense to me if I do not search to create something new,
states Spregelburd. To believe that everything is recycled, that the new does not exists
is completely contra-revolutionary. Such a repugnantly conservative position
emanates to Spregelburd from determined place of power, which works to maintain
everything eternally in the same position. Quoting Baudrillard, Spregelburd ponders
that Evil would reside in the un-distinctiveness between the opposition good/bad: I
think this is what has happened now; probably we project a vision over history and
evil has been always in this indifference. I would feel embarrassed to manifest that the
new can not happen. (Spregelburd Interview 15 Appendix I).
The creative profile of Spregelburd is defined by his use of words in all levels
from the script to performance. His rejection to recycling is coherent with such a
profile. However, recycling is not always opposed to creation. The work of Guillermo
Angelelli, which will be immediately examined, is an example of recycling as a
productive tool in training and performance. While Spregelburd explores the
mechanics of language, Angelelli deconstructs the traditional technical procedures in
acting, creating performances territories in which voice and speech achieve
unexpected results. In the next section of this study, the work of Oscar Edelstein will
be also considered. Among other relevant conceptual and aesthetic contributions to
the field, Edelstein opens a unique and little explored universe in relation to the voice
in performance: that of the interplay of the voice with technologies.
If the tendency of the formal machine in training has been to crystallise vocal
styles, the power machine is revealed to be potent in relation to the actors vocality in
theatrical production. The central place given to the actors voice and speech in
Buenos Aires stages and the richness of styles and approaches to the word in
performance show the productiveness of the oral/aural. Despite their diverse positions
in the map of Buenos Aires theatrical performance of the 1990s, the works here
considered coincide in restoring the potential of the as a place of the constantly new.
11
International School of French language.
248
Machines of Vocal Diversion and Creation.

A formal machine in training and a power machine in playwriting have
territorialized Buenos Aires theatrical performance. A singular shift produced by the
new playwrights, and by a number of remarkable performances in the field of actors
vocality, has overcome the dominance of these abstract machines. In this section we
focus on the production of two artists, whose works introduce new approaches to
voice and speech on stage. The limits imposed by the present study impede
considering these proposals in a more extensive manner. However, their relevance in
the field of voice training and performance justify the following summary exposition,
focusing on their approaches to the script and the actors vocality.
Recycling Machines in Training and Performance.

In the beginning I was not conscious at all of the importance of
the voice in acting, I did not care about it. It was like something implicit;
it was not something to work on. I love singing, and so I cared a bit
more about my singing voice, but not about speech, it was important.
The same happened to me in relation to my body. I like dancing but I
did not see it as something that could shape my acting style (Angelelli
When Guillermo Angelelli started to define his current profile as a performer,

he had already a solid training and a good experience in acting and dance. His
systematic deconstruction over his previous technical background, his particular blend
of tendencies, methods and technical means in acting and training, and his creative
attitude to work in his performance territory, where everything acquires particular
sense and voice and speech achieve unusual results, put Angelellis work in a relevant
place in the frame of the present study.
Angelelli trained in acting at ENAD at a very peculiar time, between 1979 and
198312. He did not have any previous training. Angelelli relates the above situation to
his formation at ENAD, which he qualifies as highly schizophrenic, because of the
dissociation among disciplines, and its detachment from the needs of theatrical
production. He recalls that the approach there was absolutely naturalist, and the
search was constantly through relaxation, systematically washing out every trace of
12
Between 1976 and 1983 Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship.
Chapter 5 - The Micro-Mapping: Machines of Diversion and Creation.
249
expressiveness. I do not mean that that was what teachers meant to teach us, notices
Angelelli, but that was what we understood and we gradually became kind of
amoebas (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
The sessions of speech therapy and diction were seen by Angelelli as being
equally boring; there were terrifying people at those times at ENAD, he recalls. The
training focused on the diverse pathologies that the teachers presumably detected in
the students diction: You were praying to him not to analyse your performance,
because it was from there to the psychoanalysts divan defines Angelelli (Angelelli
However, even in such a situation, there was space for flight. Angelelli had
some experience on a course of corporal techniques at ENAD, through which he
approached for the first time the text from the perspective of the body. Facing the text
from other point of view, he intuitively experimented with the voice in the same way
that he experimented with the body: The body was at work in an extra-ordinary
manner, and the same started to happen with the voice (Angelelli Interview 1
Appendix I).
Once he finished ENAD, Angelelli studied for two years with Gandolfo, a
well known director and teacher, who works with a realistic approach: those were
years of relaxation in the chair, of a very passive approach. I was passionate with
corporal work, so I started to study dance, disregarding my body in acting. During
the years at Gandolfos studio, Angelelli trained in ballet and Graham technique every
day, with important teachers. Despite his major training in acting, he was recognised
first as a dancer (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
After his second year with Gandolfo, Angelelli started to train with a disciple
of Jacques Lecoq, specifically in tragedy and clown. The vocal results where
satisfactory and he recalls the training as surprisingly pleasant: it had to do with
games I used to play, however, I did not feel they could be to do with theatre before.
ENAD brought me to such a solemnisation of theatre, that I stopped perceiving any
link between acting and playfulness, recalls Angelelli:
To construct a character, I had to set down, to have everything
professionally organised, to know the objectives, the motivations, the
circumstances, and with all this baggage of mental information, to step
on stage. So, I was an apparatus on stage. I would not say there was no
pleasure, but it passed by a strange side, it was a kind of intellectual
fruition, related to the observation of myself on stage. I did not feel I
was acting (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
250
Clown training produced great changes in Angelellis work. He became part
of a popular underground group, El Cl del Clown, which lasted for seven years.
Their constant reference to the audience demolished the fourth wall, and proved to
Angelelli that it was perfectly possible to actually play on stage, even with voices.
In 1986, Iven Nagel arrived in Buenos Aires with Farfa, a group of her own
within the Odn. Angelelli, still working with El Cl del Clown, witnessed Nagels
seminar at the Escuela Municipal de Arte Dramtico-EMAD13 off-stage, quite by
mistake (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
If Angelelli acknowledges he came upon games of his childhood through the
clown work, the laboratory work he developed with Iben Nagel, encouraging him to
create and organise signs from diverse sources, brought him back to his previous
work in corporal techniques at ENAD:
I saw how her pleasure for teaching, her total dedication to it,
helped the students learning process. Through her work I realised I
could play with the voice, I started to feel all my body alert, and the
voice as a result of an action. I discovered I had a huge voice, when I
always thought it was small and limited. I realised that I could cry as a
newspaper seller. I discovered a vocal strength to be heard at a 100 mts.,
and a whole game of resources I could play with (Angelelli Interview 1
Appendix I).
Iben Nagels work relates to the research of anthropologic theatre.

Technically, her voice work is grounded in Grotowskis five basic resonators: that
constituted by the cavities of the mouth and the larynx (which produce the blend of
ordinary voice), the breast, the low abdomen, the upper head, and the back head
resonators. To this basically exploratory work, she adds her own ideas about action,
acknowledges Angelelli.
Chanting and vocal expressions that have to do with work originate in action,
such as the Blues, Angelelli noticed that to observe and reproduce sounds such as
those produced by a gaucho14 to collect the cows, a voice asking for help, a voice
singing a lullaby, puts at work a whole imaginary and physic attitude. It means to
work technically from a place where the performer is more complete as an actor does.
Voice has to do with the actors sensitivity and emotions, but all serving a form.
13
The EMAD is a school in the pattern of ENAD, but at intermediate level. There is a process
of selection to enter it, but the students do not require a complete secondary level.
14
A native from Argentinean countryside.
251
(Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I). In 1987, Iben Nagel returned to Argentina with
Csar Brie to give a seminar and perform a street work in a tour through the country,
and invited Angelelli to accompany them.
Through this work I realised the huge amount of restrictions

imposed by the current models in acting. To discover my own vocal
universe is a key point in acting. It was highly interesting for me to
search about my own voice, my speech, my style of singing, about
which things I enjoyed and which I was able to play with. [However,] if
you want to push forward the limits, it is equally important to have
where to leave from and a reference to return to as well. I realise this
now, talking with you (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Angelelli recognises that, when he was a student, his model for singing was
that of Argentinean rock, which at those times, was mostly sung in falsetto. He was
unconsciously prone to imitate, so he would reproduce a song the same way he heard
it sung. Through Ibens work, Angelelli explored how to sing the same songs from
other places, different to that proposed by the media. To realise that he could choose
how to sing a songs was a huge discovery (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Angelelli continued to work with the clown group until 1990, when Iben
returned to Buenos Aires and supervised his training. Since then, Iben has been
promoting encounters, once or twice a year, with her disciples from diverse places in
the world. Since 1995, this group has been invited to present Iben Nagels laboratory
training at international meetings and conferences (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
In 1991 Angelelli started to teach his first group in Buenos Aires, integrated by
people trained in clown. He introduced some elements of his laboratory work to warm
up, tune, and liberate the voice and the body. The group became interested in these
specific exercises and asked him to go further in this specific work. That was the
origin of El Primognito, a group that is still together (Angelelli Interview 1
Appendix I).
A normative model for voice work, grounded in how to avoid pathologies and,
moreover, defining pathologies according a Western model for voice production,
framed in the idea of an indisputable healthy emission, does not leave a place for
cultural exploration. On the contrary, such a model reveals itself to be highly
logocentric. As a result, cultural exploration in voice and speech production
disregards the Western model. The lack of interaction between these two positions in
contemporary voice work does not encourage new proposals in the field. Nagels
252
blend of Grotowskis exploration and her own approach to physical actions
configures a rare and efficient recycling tool in performance training. The conceptual
tendencies at work in anthropological theatre were analysed in Chapter 1 of the
present study. Having this in mind, we may affirm that more than a rupture, Nagels
approach points to the deconstruction of established patterns of performance and
training.
To approach the actors body intending deconstruction and recycling it is
necessary to depart from a solid ground. In Angelelli, the clown techniques and the
training with Iben Nagel deterritorialised the formal machine at work in his original
acting, voice and body training. He achieved great results breaking his prior
formation, the procedures of which were formally reproducing themselves, detached
from their final objectives in performance (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Angelelli constructed Asterin on his own. After a number of performances he
brought it to Denmark, where Iben supervised it. Asterin is his latest work presented
in Buenos Aires, which illustrates his mechanics of production. His first idea was to
work with the myth of Narcissi, but he did not managed to develop it: I became also
trapped in the mirror!, he states. Later, Angelelli started to work on a Borges story
about Asterin, a Minotaur with a very narcissistic profile, who remains in the
labyrinth believing he is unique, that just he and the sun exist. Asterin spends his
days imagining that other Asterin would come to visit him. That monster can take
me away from the idea of a Platonic beauty that blocked me in relation to Narcissus.
Moreover, Asterin has not to do with a mirror, but with a virtual other: the same, but
other. (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Angelelli linked diverse moments of the tale with other stories. At the
beginning of the performance he describes a laboratory experience with rats about
super-population. While most of the rats kill each other because of the lack of space
and food, there were a few of them, which seemed to be very lucid, very intelligent,
that remain in their own place, constantly cleaning themselves. Once placed in a
labyrinth to search for food in order to check their intelligence, these rats remained
where they were, until they died. Scientists concluded then that these rats were not as
intelligent as they seemed to be. These beautiful rats, continuously cleaning
themselves up, guided Angelelli to Narcissus, and the rat in the labyrinth, to the
253
Minotaur: I saw in this report the synthesis of both myths (Angelelli Interview 1
Appendix I).
This revealed the myth from a more interesting side: the
monster of Narcissus, the problem of nationalism, this modern notion of
the man as measure for everything, which make us infer that a rat is not
intelligent because it does not search for food All this refers to the
theme of associations: all these rats in their place, but they grow and
have to conquer the others food, to eat the others. We are together
means then we are equal against the others. The myth became flesh; it
came to earth (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Under this form, Angelelli thought he was able to enlighten a possible way
implicit in the original myth, that of the rats that do not need anymore to go for
nothing, seeming to say: -I am; this is enough for me-. At that point Angelelli
connected his story with another Borges text, The Gods Writing from Aleph
(Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
To Angelelli, these states of harmony in which someone can become in
affinity with the universe, out of oneself, these kind of communion acts, have to do
with Borges Asterin. There, Teseo says to Ariadna: would you believe it Ariadna?
The Minotaur did not resist. The Minotaur gave up the possibility of killing Teseo,
and leave the labyrinth following the water line of Ariadna; he opted to stay.
Angelelli recalls that in a Cortzars tale, the Minotaur interestingly asks: Why go to
another prison? (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
All these texts worked as vectors in relation to Borges Asterin, articulated
by diverse kind of songs, which was the nuclear point of the performance account. In
Angelellis view, these vectors were necessary to process Borges power in narration,
which retains strength in the word, from a literary point of view, to a performative
mode: I felt than in performance, his words would become too strong, I needed texts
with another kind of poetry. These textual shifts also changed the actions rhythm.
Angelelli was experimenting simultaneously with the texts and the scenic elements.
He tried with bags, little balls, with soil, and finally chose to work with the elements
that constantly appeared, discarding the rest of them. At last, the work assumed a very
organic form (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Angelelli did not work a lot with repetition and he did not follow strict stage
marks. To Angelelli, Asterins challenge resides in its form and in the fusion of the
clowns work and the work he developed under Ibens supervision, a fluid blend that
also characterises his approach to training: The laboratory training points to a
254
virtuosic work; the clowns work is the opposite, it works over the mistake, over what
was wrong. Asterin grows up on this edge (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Later, with Iben in Denmark, Angelelli concentrated in securing the work, in
defining the actions, in other words, in composing it. He thought of Asterin as a
malleable material, susceptible of being supervised and changed, I wanted this
encounter. Iben did not make changes in the work, she worked in relation to my
clichs as an actor. She did not interfere in the work itself, but in the resulting
performance, remarks Angelelli (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
In realism, composition tends to precede the performance construction, and it
is centred in the construction of the character. In approaches such as Nagels and
Angelellis, the performance composition takes place at the end of the process of
rehearsal. Actors assume a creative role, acquiring proximity with the materials in
order to finally compose mainly from actions, instead of stressing the characters
construction.
Angelelli considers each of the elements on stage, including the actors speech
and the script, as functional. The signs produced by each of these elements are strong
enough in themselves. Diachronic or synchronically, they acquire one or more
functions or significances in performance. If the text assumes a direction, I try to
place it out of context to enhance its other possible ways, to make it flow in other
directions. This is what Angelelli understands by text work, a tendency that has
been also acknowledged by Spregelburd and many of the professionals interviewed
during the fieldwork related to the present study. Each element may resonate in
diverse directions, Angelelli exemplifies:
The apron I wear in Asterin, for example, relates to an
orphanage or to a mental hospital. It refers to some kind of confinement,
but at the same time it is a school apron, in this context, school might be
also perceived as a place of confinement It also relates to the
labyrinth in which the Minotaur is hidden. The small balls might be seen
as a universe on the floor, as imploded cities, or as bombs (Angelelli
However, any of these instances work as a fixed reference in Angelellis work.

Not even the actor and the character remain the same, as Asterin keeps shifting from
the rat to the Minotaur. This fluidity of significance, this lack of identitary patterns, is
a continuum in Angelellis work. In this sense, it may be defined, regarding its
performatic openness, as a work grounded in an amplified concept of theatre.
255
To Angelelli, classic theatre is grounded in a synthesis of traditions: there is
something in classic theatre that is highly essential, he notices. A contemporary work
such as Asterin belongs to a stream of tradition to which also belongs to classic
theatre, he continues. There is a flow behind Balinese or vaguala15 singing which
relates to both of them, and to classic theatre as well, that should be restored to
achieve effectiveness in performance. To Angelelli, the problem with occidental
classic theatre is the formal stress in reproducing a style instead of connecting,
recycling, synthesising it within the flow of tradition, the academic approach
disguises it behind masks that have nothing to do with its essence concludes
Angelelli (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Asterin has to do with recycling. Texts such as Millers, are re-signified once
removed form their original context: [the texts] remain alive because its essence
remains alive adds Angelelli. The text of the war between two cities can not be
recognised by an Argentinean audience as an informative report of a Russian
newspaper, so everybody mistook it as a Boris Bians text, because of its absurdity.
Once broken from its original link, a text may be placed anywhere else, Angelelli
notices. Asterin itself refers to the idea of taking a form without being captured by it,
avoiding reproducing it (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
The formal machine in actors training captures acting in a number of
procedures. However, if recycling in training certainly propitiates the deconstruction
of such a disturbed mechanism, it does not ensure a connection with an essential flow
behind the form. As was noticed in Chapter 1 of this study, the very existence of such
a universal cultural stream may be questioned (see Chapter 1 pp.46-54).
Realism in acting, as it is implemented in Buenos Aires today, may be
generally defined in the light of these new approaches to theatrical performance, and
training, as grounded in a particular thoughts hierarchy, which privileges the
biographical composition of the character. It configures a constructive closed system,
structured early in the process of rehearsal. Grounded in identitary and psychological
patterns, it makes a particular use of metaphors and contemplates the possibility of the
reproduction of its products. In contrast, recycling machines such as Angelellis, work
by contiguity, by metonym and association, organising open structures through the
15
Traditional folk chanting from the North West of Argentina.
256
process of rehearsal. Training, rehearsal and performance are constantly nourishing
each other in this kind of proposals. Stressing the ephemeral quality of theatrical
performance, such a procedures work through deconstruction, tending to avoid
reproduction.
Angelellis vocality is peculiar in the universe of Buenos Aires independent
theatre. Even having not much contact with other tendencies in performance, he
declares himself feeling closer to people that have a defined search, mainly groups
such as El Perifrico de Objetos, El Descueve, De la Guarda, among others. In the
map of Buenos Aires theatre training and production, Angelelli acknowledges a
number of people working in the line of anthropologic theatre. He also declares
himself a follower of Barbas work, which he defines as remarkable in all aspects.
Besides her personal conceptual and methodological elaboration, Iben Nagels
formation is closely related to the Odn and Barba. However, to Angelelli it is very
important to distinguish that he is Iben Nagels disciple. Beyond theoretical patterns,
apprenticeship is to Angelelli something absolutely personal that has to do mainly
with what a singular person is capable of transmitting to another. When you find a
master, precises Angelelli, each of her words works like a fan, pointing you in
thousands of diverse directions. A master should know where to throw the arrow,
where to touch you for this fan to unfold (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Probably, what Iben shared with or took from Eugenio might be similar to
what I share with her. However, our aesthetics are connected in other places,
comments Angelelli, who is the only Argentinean actor that has worked, and still
remains working with Nagel. However, he notices that if there were other people
working with her, they would probably take different ways in performance (Angelelli
Angelellis approach to training and performance emerges from a fluid blend
of the two tendencies in which his own formation is grounded: the clown and the
laboratory works. Training in clowning encourages the actor to work from the
beginning with the rest of the group as audience, it is a work totally addressed to the
audience: it allows you to transit through the most stupid thing, through frivolities,
through ridicule, through mistakes (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Differently, Ibens training searches to expand limits, to find possibilities in
other fields, diverse from those that actors usually contact. She works a lot with
257
repetition in a systematic and closed laboratory mode, where the actor does not work
to an audience in training, defines Angelelli. At the beginning, he recalls, while
searching for a synthesis, the enigmas to him were: Why these two poles? How to
combine them? How to avoid being pushed by each of these tendencies that appear to
be incompatible? (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Progressively, in Angelellis continuous attempts to associate these two
approaches, elements of each of them started to appear in the courses dedicated to the
other. However, Angelelli declares himself loyal to both. If they combine, it happens
through the work itself, not because of a predisposition. I can not imagine a seminar
in clown training. I wouldnt be able to do such a mixture, which is so frequent
today. Angelelli works with groups, every day for three hours, during long periods in
the same space where he shows his performances, El Primognito, also the name of
his first group (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Asterin came as one possible result of such an approach. There, the
audiences presence is crucial. As in Borges narration, for me the public is that
other Asterin, that comes to visit me, remarks Angelelli. Audience is so important
to this work, that it changes a lot from one performance to another. Without changing
a word from the script, nor the actions lines in the voice or body, the feeling changes
completely each night notices Angelelli (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
Angelelli affirms that people with a less specialised profile remain more open
to absorb such an eclectic kind of training. Angelelli admits that it is tremendously
difficult to displace an opera singer, for example, from her/his territorialized model,
which he defines as the music of the spheres:
When you have heard a thousand times: not in the throat, just
to think in the possibility of such a sound terrifies you. To release breast
and shoulders, or to move the hips is very difficult to people coming
from ballet. Their bodies are shaped to a particular type of projection,
from a peculiar place. Actors trained in certain schools may find it
difficult to understand what is an action. They use their bodies always in
the same way, with the same weight If you have a tendency to the
ground and to heaviness, you work well with this energy, but to shift to
the opposite, puts you in a short circuit. However, if you face something
unknown, you can learn through it (Angelelli Interview 1 Appendix I).
A search such as Angelellis does not belong exclusively to the

anthropological theatre. Other actors in Buenos Aires operate on the basis of action
and desire, more or less between Barts will to act and Angelellis will on actions.
However, it should be noticed that such a will requires, to be fulfilled, the body of a
258
trained actor, capable to follow it to its ultimate consequences. The differences
between Angelellis and Serranos approach of physical actions are obvious. Serrano
proposes the mechanism of a machine of capture which, losing contact with
production, keeps reproducing styles with no correspondence to the reality in which
they should be grounded. Angelelli proposed a creative alternative to overcome
captured forms in training and performance, and the alienation it produces.
Machines of Flight and Creation: The Human and the Non Human in
Edelsteins vocal territories.
Oscar Edelstein is an outstanding Argentinean music composer, whose vast
production has been continually pushing the limits of artistic languages. In 1986, he
founded the Centro de Investigaciones Musicales de la Universidad de Buenos AiresCIM. Since, 1995, he has been professor of Composition at the Universidad Nacional
de Quilmes. In 1992, Edelstein was the youngest artist in Argentina to obtain the
support of the prestigious Fundacin Antorchas to compose his first opera, El
Telescpio. His talent to write for chorus was by then highly developed, and his
concerns about voice and speech on stage and about the acoustic space acquired a
central position in his work.
The relevance of his hypothesis about the acoustic space, as well as the
singular territory occupied in his production by voice and speech and its interplay
with technological means, justify the inclusion of his complex work within the
framework of this study. Edelstein explores a circuit little developed for production in
the arts in Buenos Aires: the university, which allows a distance from the market
logic in an institutional environment that assures a good level of independence in
production and creation. Edelstein often shows his works in the off-Corrientes
theatrical circuit, not traditionally associated with music.
Composed in 1986, Viril Occidente16 I, an electronic work, and Viril
Occidente II, an electro-acoustic work (which became the overture to his first opera,
El Telescpio), may be considered as a clear precedent to Edelsteins hypothesis
about the acoustic space, and to his latest approach to voice and speech on stage. The
design of the quadraphonic system used in Viril Occidente, observes for the first time
16
Virile Western I and II [My translation].
259
the implementation of Edelsteins spatial thought, which has been developed and
materialised since then as his artistic output.
In 1997, Edelstein created the Ensamble Nacional del Sur-ENS as it is usually
called. This group of musicians working in research and production, recently based at
the Universidad de Quilmes, came about in order to bring about part of his creative
project. Klange Uruta is Edelsteins first work with the ENS, and the only one in
which he shares the authorship of the texts. The peculiar role given to voice and
speech in Klange Uruta is crucial in performance. The chorus is on stage, assuming
a clear performative function. The final section of this work consists in the
reproduction of the recorded voice of Fogwill, a notable Argentinean writer, reciting
in off a futurist poem by Fernando Pessoa: Oda Mquina. However, it was in El
Hecho when voice and speech in performance acquired particular relevance in
Edelsteins work.
In July 1998 the ENS performed for the first time, in La Trastienda, a venue
dedicated to contemporary theatre and international popular music, El Hecho - Drama
Musical en Seis Estratos Construidos en Espiral. Inspirado en los Seis Eventos de
Juan Carlos Paz17, by Oscar Edelstein. The critics agreed in acknowledging the
importance of El Hecho in the context of the Argentinean music of the late 1990s.
However, the possibilities opened by El Hecho in the field of theatrical performance
are huge and remain little explored. The territory of experimentation, research and
production in the arts opened by Edelsteins production, permit the formulation of a
number of hypotheses that in El Hecho have materialised in conceptual and
methodological results.
In El Hecho, Edelstein places the discussion on a ground that it rarely
occupies: that of the artistic creation itself. This highly referential discourse about and
from artistic praxis may also be understood as performative. The scenic and the
musical mixed unfold a new territory of subjectivity from where Edelstein exposes his
own discourse. Words in El Hecho drift towards questions intrinsically related to the
problematic of contemporary creation, while texts are created and thought from the
music.
17
The Fact Musical Drama in Six Strata Constructed in Spiral. Inspired in The Six Events
of Juan Carlos Paz [My translation]. The composer Juan Carlos Paz is considered the prime mover of
Argentinean contemporary music.
260
The musical possibilities of voice and speech are widely explored in El
Hecho; moreover, they define the very existence of two fields of words where roles
slide one into another, determined by their characteristic vocal style. In El Hecho,
music and performance share the same territory; the story itself is musical. After eight
years without composing and shortly before his death, Paz presented a highly random
work, which supposes a radical break with his preceding output. Edelstein creates a
performance based on Pazs performative gesture, re-inaugurating its original sense of
rupture in relation to a number of conceptual attitudes in the arts. He justifies as
follows the need for words in El Hecho:
I realised that in this situation the story had great relevance, and
this story may only be defined precisely in a text () some things must
be said with great accuracy today. I can not think of El Hecho today as a
musical work exclusively. () My relation with the text was
unavoidable in this case (Edelstein Interview 8 Appendix I)
The form assumed by this discourse in performance inaugurates a place of

pertinence to a conceptual discussion, systematically delayed. The oral style and the
material treatment of the voice in El Hecho encourage also a whole series of questions
in relation to the place of voice and words on stage today, and its interfaces with
technology.
As it was pointed out in Chapter 2 of the present study, Benjamin noticed in
the 1930s a process through which technology impregnates reality to a point that,
omitting the alien body of the machine, we perceive as pure reality what is just a
result of a technical procedure. This naturalisation of technology, in his analysis,
corresponds to a society not mature enough to adopt as its own tools the technological
devises its produces (see Chapter 2 pp 82-7).
Twentieth century theatre generally reflects this social attitude about
technology. If the technological development of this century has largely affected
contemporary uses of the body and thought production, the naturalisation of the new
means (or their denial) has determined the little regard given to these questions in the
scenic field. Theatrical performance seldom appropriates technological means to put
them at work towards enunciation.
Edelstein considers the voice on stage from its material aspects, not as a
medium. Its presence in the space defines the scenic moment. The spacialisation of
the Voz de Paz in El Hecho confers to the voice in performance a new theatricality.
261
According to the performance development, the voice, received by a microphone and
amplified, is emitted by one speaker at a time, designing spatial voice trajectories.
Edelsteins thinking in relation to the acoustic space sets out the principle that
the human perception of space becomes inconsistent when lacking fixed points of
reference, and it gets to inhabit the territory of imaginary notions. Without structure,
there is no space in the constructive, architectural sense, defines Edelstein.
Otherwise, space in its abstraction, as it is generally approached in the field of
contemporary music, tends to be perceived as confused and disordered movement, to
which he adds:
If we dedicate ourselves to the fulfilment of new spaces, and
study the forms they might assume in their totality and as developments
of a-normal mathematics, geometries or architectures, we may attain
interesting schemes from the constructive or technical point of view,
however distant from the sensorial development of these notions. If we
are in the abysm, the abysm is our space; we feel into it (Edelstein
Spatialisations which are approached as abstractions, as they are generally

considered in electronic music, have no possibilities of producing the sensible
commotion by the audience attained by the mixture of fixed positioned and mobile
acoustic sources. The work with spatial structures developed by Edelstein allows the
configuration and control in performance of mobile vectors of sound, which alter the
audiences perception of the space. His work, grounded in a constructive and material
conception of the space, does not just happen in space. The acoustic space, in
Edelsteins view, is theatrical. Moreover, it is the acoustic setting that determines the
space in perception and not the opposite (Edelstein Interview 8 Appendix I).
The space as structure is implemented according to our human perception. The
circulation of sound is implemented in relation to fixed points, creating new places,
and concrete relations and positions. The relation between fixed and mobile sources
of sound is conceived and implemented as an interval, producing scale principles
which progressively allow the expansion of the degree of control of these dimensions.
As was observed above, Edelstein considers the musical space as theatrical or
positional, where trajectories are determined starting from points, places, regions,
tracks, windows, structures, multi-structures, stages. In these previously defined
spatial micro-theatres, areas or points of stable reference may be located, from or to
where sound moves. Having this in mind, Edelstein designs and controls diverse
262
acoustic tracks generating music circulation through differentiated spaces,
establishing diverse dimensions into the formal/physic space. Once the referential
rational procedures are defined, they operate according to a poetic/intuitive function
(Edelstein 1996).
The investigation of spatial conditions has antecedents in music history.
Edelstein considers the knowledge historically accumulated in this matter, registered
in a number of notable works. This particular idea of acoustic movement and space
could also be explored in relation to theatre history, to tragedy, to the instrumental
distribution in the history of music, just to quote some of the spheres in which this
problematic manifests itself. However, pointing to the difference between movement
and spatiality he enters into a differentiated field in contemporary art.
In Edelsteins proposal, the acoustic space, defined as theatrical, acquires a
leading role in relation to all the other parameters. It represents a phenomenon
analogous to the use of timbre in the music of the twentieth century, which diluting
the tonal order, brought important political consequences in the field of contemporary
music. Edelsteins idea of a circular extended space multiplies the centres, weakening
the idea of a hegemonic centre of attention. Recovering the back and up spaces,
extremely relevant in thinking about voice and speech beyond the territorialization of
the letter and the eye, Edelsteins proposal of the acoustic space configures a highly
political notion. From Edelsteins point of view, the classic notion of the physic space
as an acoustic determinant is inverted, as it is the sound, in its parameters and
magnitudes that defines the performance space, and not the opposite.
This conceptual inversion is crucial in the field of voice work, where voice
production has been always thought of as determined by the space in which it should
be performed. Edelstein outlines this conception with electronic media, but the same
hypothesis may be tested in other acoustic conditions. Some of these concepts of
spatiality have been applied in El Hecho: in the magnetic tapes, in the distribution of
actions and musicians on stage, and in some interventions of the Voz de Paz, for
which Pablo Di Liscia, lecturer on the course of Music Composition with Electronic
Media at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, designed specific software.
Voice work considers one acoustic source (the actors voice), in a limited
stage place. From this point of view, the actors vocal production is always
determined according to the space in which it is being performed (Berry 1993 pp.260-
263
5). What happens when the sound produced moves in relation to fixed acoustic
references, defining new territories through its trajectories, whether electronically
determined or not? According to Edelsteins hypothesis, to experiment with this
question may bring results, in which the voice would determine the audiences
perception of space, abandoning the limited idea of the space as a determinant to
voice production. Edelsteins conception of the acoustic space is revolutionary, not
just in the field of contemporary music. As was noticed above, it develops a
conceptual frame to approach sound, voice and speech production, a contrast to the
classic notions of the space implicit in the diverse approaches to voice training.
The acoustic places or regions are not a random product of the performance
event. They are carefully considered and designed in Edelsteins process of
composition. His music is conceived from the pattern of aural perception; it is not
thought from the score (which belongs to the writing/reading sphere); in other words,
the written (or recorded) comes from the consideration of the aural space, where the
acoustic behaviours happen in a tri-dimensional range of 360o (Edelstein 1996). The
colonisation of the acoustic by the written in Western culture is also reversed in
Edelsteins proposal.
The use of electronic media applied to the voice in Edelsteins production
does not come to palliate the performers vocal deficiencies. The voice, affected by
the media, establishes a multidirectional movement in performance, and multiplies its
possibilities of production, indicating a range of new vocal styles in performance. The
dynamic of this process restarts each time the voice makes contact with the media.
In the sphere of voice and speech, other relevant contributions of Edelsteins
work to contemporary performance have to do with the definition of the characters
through the text. It is not possible to talk about character in the classic sense in El
Hecho. We could talk about two regions of words, that of the Enigmlogo and that of
the Voz de Paz, where a sequence of roles continuously slide. The precision of the
words makes possible the becoming of these roles in a unique discursive flux, where
changes are determined by a number of vocal attitudes assumed by the performers.
With its interventions on stage, the Enigmlogo assumes the attitudes of the
local artistic elite. Prone to show a kind of erudition associated with European
rationalist positions, the Enigmlogo oscillates from a parody of the rhetoric of power
to the scientific clich. The Enigmlogo discourses, with no precise references of
264
place and time. Its discourse, despite appearing as solidly structured, continuously
slips to regions of non-sense; it breaks unexpectedly, repeats stereotyped formulas
automatically and out of context.
Differently, the Voz de Paz narrates from a defined time and occasionally
suggests a place. In El Hecho, its first appearance on stage is situated in 1940, and the
following appearances in 1958, 1960 to 1972, the year of Pazs decease. The creators
vision of the world, patent in the Voz de Paz, move on vertiginously to the final
moment. Its progression intensifies the tension generated between both fields of
words, once the Enigmlogo stands still on the same time and discursiveness all
through the play.
The Voz de Paz and the Enigmlogo are what they say; in other words, they
are inasmuch as they say. At the present times, when words on stage frequently
become an obstacle to overcome in performance, the oral-verbal style constitutes in
El Hecho an unavoidable instance of individuation. This definition of styles outlines,
from the actors vocality, two types of knowledge. The Voz de Paz avoids
explanations or psychological framings: its material is the experience. It achieves a
magnitude we can not find in the Enigmlogo, which parodying an a-temporal
academic discourse, tends to circumscribe events and classify information.
The Voz de Paz moves in a zone of short memory, contingent, and mobile,
impregnated with forgetting. It moves, more precisely, in the field of the human
voice. It unfolds a flux of unrestrained desire, which generates tension in relation to
the territorialising desire of the Enigmlogo. The Enigmlogo, instead, occurs in the
field of a long memory, of the fixed, of the letter: in the sphere of the hegemonic
discourses, systematically mined by the punctual, micropolitical action of the Voz de
Paz.
In this mode of role circulation, the word on stage works as a continuum,
where the resonance of vocal rhythms, wordings, uses of language, fuse in the
wholeness of the acoustic environment. The intensity of the performance occurs in El
Hecho as a result of the resistance between these two great fields of words.
In El Hecho, Edelstein actualises the moment of Pazs death, restoring it as an
exemplary feature. Only in the moment of the imminence of death, the spectre of Paz,
a role who comes to watch the performance from the beginning, stops watching, to
assume the authority given by his wisdom and experience. It confronts and kills the
265
nightmare of a totalizing thought, restated by the Enigmlogo. Pazs spectre
actualises this liberating spell, in Benjamins sense, placing the audience in
complicity with this liberated individual subject. The problematic of voice in Western
culture is expressed in the speech below delivered by Voz de Paz in this particular
moment, which also closes the performance:
I have been and stop being at the same time in which I have lost
the voice in the letter [] Entrances, intensities, frequencies in the
passive number of the page which points to nothing, which knows
nothing, which shows nothing. Alone, without body, it knows nothing, it
has nothing. It waits, waits, waits for an answer of The isolated Fact, a
voice, another voice, some voice which might unfasten itself from the
cipher, somebody who might clear up this map of ink, who closes the
wound of the knowledge confined to the memory, who acts, without
passion, without moral, without truths, with the body lost in the war of
pointless symbols [] (Edelstein 1998).
Edelstein opens El Hecho with his recorded voice in off which inscribes
Pazs gesture in the existential territory of contemporary Argentinean society, giving
to his own aesthetic act a clear ethic dimension:
Juan Carlos Paz designed the meta-score of the Seis Eventos in
1972. In a composer like him, so close to the European tradition of
rationalisation and control, this arbitrary option, hazardous and final,
surprises in eternal. However, we may think that the non rational option
in musical writing is a very Argentinean way. The voice appearing
loose, the ciphers of haphazardness and memory, the graves without
bodies are also part of an Argentinean tradition.
It had been said that Juan Carlos Paz died in 1972 after
writing the Seis Eventos, it is also known that he never listened to a
version of this project (Edelstein 1998).
As a creator, Edelstein achieves a subjective consistency dissociated from the

figurative principle of identity which, in his words, has resulted in Argentina in so
many different nationalisms a la Hungarian (Edelstein 1998). The process of
cultural degradation suffered in Argentina in the last twenty years, recalls Edelstein,
produced a dismemberment. It resulted in the lost of the heritage of Argentinean
creators such as Paz, but also in the devaluation of the European tradition, dominant
in the local cultural environment. This constant concern about European avant-garde
movements is finally disrupted, fissured declares Edelstein, regarding what he defines
as a new attitude of forgetfulness in relation to Europe as a privileged moment in
Buenos Aires culture (Edelstein Interview 8 Appendix I).

El Hecho installs itself in a territory where technology and art fuse, resulting
in unusually potent musical and dramatic situations, which do not correspond to the
traditional styles in musical nor theatrical performance. It comes to prove that the
266
popular and the erudite in the arts are today just labels referring to market logic. As
epistemic categories to consider contemporary production in the arts, they have no
significance. To frame El Hecho among the traditional styles, defining it as musical
drama or musical theatre, involves the risk of disregarding what exists in this work
of the most revolutionary. The will to get rid of accumulated conventions and the
attitude of grounding this work in between languages to explore the specific case of
the music materialises in performatic gestures. The title of the work itself affirms this
character, as also happened, years ago, with Pazs Eventos.
Edelsteins last work, El Tiempo-La Condena18, pushes forward all the boundaries
explored in El Hecho, in terms of voice and performance. The interplay
voice/technology-human/non-human is highlighted in this work, presented for the

first time with the subtitle Apunte 1, to define it as a work in progress, in November
1999 at the TMGSM. El Tiempo-La Condena was conceived as a broadcast play, for a
female singer/actor and tapes. In this work for only one performer on stage, the
characters alternation is constant during the approximate hour of the performance. In
El Tiempo-La Condena Edelstein is not only responsible for the music and the
authorship of the text, he also assumed the direction of the performances staging.
There are basically two main fields of performance in El Tiempo-La Condena,
where the four characters presented on stage progress: the fields of the Narrator and
of Lul. The four characters are The Narrator and three actualisations of Lul, the
emblematic figure of Wedekind: the old, the young and the mature. This last Lul
also accomplishes a series of performative becomings in a particular sung scene for a
voice alone, to which we will refer below. Besides the characters on stage, there are
a number of voices recorded by the actor on stage, and other female voices, which
through processed recordings configure a sea of words on stage. The two main
characters on stage appear also multiplied in a Super 8 film and a number of audio
records.
As in El Hecho, these characters are determined by their vocality, remaining
away of neither identitary nor psychological frames. However, there are performative
differences among the roles of these two remarkable works. In El Hecho, the Voz de
Paz and the Enigmlogo constituted two partial actualisations of Pazs figure. Paz is
18
The Time - The Blame [My translation].
267
present in performance as his own spectre. Their alternate entrances on stage
highlight their occasional and punctual scenic interaction, which contributes to raise
the performances tension.
In El Tiempo-La Condena the Narrator and Lul appear as independent roles,
closer to a character definition. There is no human/human interaction on stage in this
work, apart from one short scene in which Lul has a knife duel with a younger
actress, representing the young Lul. The scenic interaction among characters is
actualised in the human/non human relation, for example when the Narrator watches
Luls image on the film. There are actually a radio, two tape recorders and a Super 8
projector and screen on stage, as part of the scenic interplay. The filmed scenes,
which interact with the scene on stage with multiplying results, are also a tribute to
Bergs Lul.
The Narrator has the appearance of an old-fashioned nave academic, who
discourses philosophically about time. Lul holds the narration differently as a local
version of Wedekind/Bergs character. While this dynamic progresses, they start to
loose their pattern, their organisation, their command. Their progressive fusion is
patent in the changes in their speech delivery styles, as we will see below. As in El
Hecho, one character (the Narrator) holds a discursive position and the other, narrates
her experiences. El Tiempo-La Condena also maintain a referential line, highly
developed in El Hecho through the figure of Paz. This time the references are centred
in Lul, an emblematic character in contemporary music and theatre, and in the
media.
The performer interacting with a radio, a super 8 projector and two tape
recorders establishes a human/non-human relation, the interplay of which on stage
equally affects both fields, visually and aurally. Visually, the Super 8 film multiplies a
given scene, repeating it in another context, establishing an interaction between two
characters or surpassing the scene to crucial points of the performance narration.
Particularly in the field of the performers vocality, the acoustic interaction is even
wider.
As soon as the Narrator starts to perform her first speech, simultaneously with
a sound track where a series of recorded phonemes can be heard, she shows signs of
being affected by the recorded sound. Suddenly, she starts to deliver just the first
phonemes of each word of her script lines. The recorded phonemes seem to erupt on
268
her speech. She reassumes control over her speech delivery, but soon she starts to sing
her speech over the notes of a musical series. Concerned with such a lack of control
over her own speech production, she searches to overcome the situation and, unable
to speak from a position of balance, she delivers the next phrase in a great operatic
style. In a late attempt to reach the end of her speech, The Narrator opts to say the last
section as fast as humanly possible, but suddenly the speed is also altered,
progressively slowing her delivery to the end.
The disorder is established by a machinic pattern invading the Narrators
vocal production. In the attempt to re-install the original order, she is captured in
diverse crystallised styles. In El Tiempo-La Condena, the machinic has not the
function to reproduce the human voice; it deterritorializes voice from rigid styles and
from biographical patterns of identity. However, these are not the only kind of
machinic interventions in El Tiempo-La Condena.
Two singing scenes give the name to this Edelsteins work: the bolero La
Condena, and El Tiempo, or the scene for a voice alone. Lul operates the tape
recorder and starts to remember La Condena, as she used to sing it at her cabaret.
Once she finally actualises her singing on stage, her voice is reproduced in a double
quadraphonic system, while her movements on stage recall old theatrical photographs.
Afterwards, Lul becomes the old Lul, who listens to La Condena sung by her on
the radio, and now reproduced in a monophonic system.
This spatial placement of the voice on stage approaches, on the one hand, the
question of the limits of register in terms of memory and technologies of
communication. What Lul listens to on the radio is less than a resemblance of what
she remembers, which will not ever be the thing itself. On the other hand, the vocal
spacialisation differentiates the space of performance from the space of the theatre
hall. The voice in movement designs this new space: the conceptual antithesis to all
that has been said in the field of voice work. At this point, it becomes clear how far
the performers vocality can go when working with todays technological means.
Following the boleros scene, Lul operates the tape recorders again and, as
she is dominated by the sound waves, sings El Tiempo, a piece thought of by
Edelstein as a Bilitis song. This piece may correspond to the pattern of an operatic
aria accompanied, however, by exceptional characteristics. The performer sings over
a recorded texture, mainly of female voices, similar in timbre to the performers
269
voice. The profusion of notes in El Tiempos non-textual vocal line highlights vocal
excess, which in the Lacanian view, characterises the female operatic aria (see
Chapter 1 pp.59-61).
The lack of vibrato, the profuse repetition of rhythmic patterns, a quite
percussive articulation, and timbre mutations in the long notes, configure a vocal style
for which it would be very hard to find a precedent. The result is a vocality oscillating
among diverse patterns of human and non-human sound production. Such a sound,
delivering a line saturated of undulations and notes, actualises a kind of siren song.
The singer/mermaid/woman/animal/machinic non-textual voice, multiplied in the
space in unexpected directions, overexposes its excess, its vocal becoming woman,
becoming animal, becoming machine over a smooth sound texture. Multiplying its
already exceeded line in the theatrical space, through a process of spacialisation, the
voice becomes twice theatrical and detaches, again, its own space from the physical
space of the theatre.
El Tiempo-La Condena presents saturation in vocal styles of performance.
Styles here are deliberately displayed, and their limits overcome. The eruptions of a
huge range of singing patterns, from the operatic, to the pop, pass through the
machinic and the high condensation of styles in El Tiempo described above. The
diverse modes of speech, and the characters definition by their vocality, allow in El
Tiempo-La Condena a total redefinition of contemporary voice and speech in
performance.
Memory, the limits of the diverse kind of register/recordings, and the
inexorable progressive disorder, are some of the thematic approaches to the central
question: time. Once again, the themes are addressed in the modes of speech
production and the construction of the script. Lul presents the old Lul, telling her
story to the audience. Later, she presents again the same text, but with its phrases
truncated and disordered, but keeping the original intonation. The result is a text
performed as consequence of a machinic assemblage. Close to the end of the play, the
Narrator performs a speech, half of its lines belonging to Luls speeches, including
lines of La Condena, sung in a Narrators style. These two scenes exemplify how a
number of concerns about time are referred in El Tiempo-La Condena. Highlighting
the material aspect of speech, the theme of the progressive disorder, as a material
evidence of time is actualised, in the sense defined in the last speech of the Narrator:
270
The sense of time is clear in day to day life: it is easy to feel
how time progresses, and it is also clear how, systematically, from the
stars to the beetles, everything degrades and dies (even the universe,
which seems to have its end granted at long term). It is assured by that
hateful institution called the Second Law of Thermodynamics, according
to which, in the Universe, as far as we know, every process take place
always in the sense of the increasing of entropy, a magnitude which,
generally speaking, measures the disorder of systems. Progressively, the
world disorganises, and all the energy (and all the matter) becomes heat,
and this certainly is an irreversible process: any phenomenon is possible
if it violates the Second Law. Macroscopically, the Second Law
determines an inexorable arrow of time and at its mercy we are
(Edelstein 1999) [My translation]
The saturation in styles, and the interface between the human and the machinic
production of voice requires a performer experienced in the diverse singing and acting
styles, able among everything to maintain the body ready and flexible in performance.
In other words, to perform a work with such a saturation of styles requires of the
performer a diversified experience in training and performance, to overcome the
boundaries of patterned modes of voice and speech production.
In the late 1950s, a musician and a dancer were responsible for what some
people consider today a foundational performative gesture. The rupture operated by
Cage in the field of arts was certainly conceived in relation to a particular historical
contingency. The performative value of his gesture was clearly exposed by the
disruptions he operated in music, often exposing its overloading in conventions
through silence. The excesses of the formal machine were then exposed through lack.
Cages resulting music configured a pattern in which silence is the protagonist.
Cages followers in Buenos Aires tend today to reproduce this aesthetic, now
crystallised, instead to recall the efficacy of his original gesture.
Edelsteins constructive profile has an imprint in the saturation of sound, of
style, of discursiveness, of planes, of spaces, in which silence has a punctual role.
Diverse in production, Edelsteins work may be placed in the opposite side of the arch
in relation to the production of Cage followers in Buenos Aires. However, in
conceptual rupture and performative potency, in its commitment with the social
contingency to which it belongs, Edelsteins work aligns with works such as Cages.
Resulting from a remarkable technical mastery (from the classics to the most updated
procedures), and a defined creative profile, Edelsteins work projects new directions
in multiple senses in the field of vocality in performance, from the twentieth century
to the future.
272
Conclusions:
The notion of vocality, which involves the uses of a voice in a given sociohistorical contingency, has been appropriate for this research in order to determine the
present extended ground for actors voice and speech. Human vocality comprises a
micropolitical region with a highly tactical and transgressive potential. It deceives the
strategies of hegemonical discourses, such as the philosophical, the literary, and the
discursiveness of the media, that intend to capture its fluid, protean and transgressive
qualities.
The implementation of the normative body of rhetoric and the evolution of the
technologies of the letter in culture, have been here examined as historical factors of
capture still active in contemporary Western vocality. To define the human voice in
excess, not only allow us to proceed beyond the conceptual limits imposed by these
systems of social control; it explains why the human voice has historically been a
target of diverse modes of social domestication. The voice is not only the means for a
tactical, cunning intelligence, deceiving discursive strategies of control. It is the
enjoyable substance: a flux of desire.
Voice work as a particular field in theatrical performance has always been
regarded as lacking a substantial conceptual frame. The present study has attempted to
extend the ground by which actors vocality can be conceptually approached, and thus
exceed the classic technical/instrumental approach. It was necessary to define or redefine a number of key questions, in order to be able to proceed with the proposed
mapping of the actors voice and speech in contemporary theatrical performance. In
voice work, voice production is totally grounded in a logocentric approach to
physiology. Despite the limits of such a view, voice production has been always
considered the conceptual sphere in voice training. In the frame of this study, voice
production became an extended category. Considering research studies that approach
voice production in cultural environments away from the Western, it has been
possible to challenge the logocentric imprint.
In order to refine voice and speech as objects of study, they were also
investigated in relation to reproduction and representation. Through reproduction, the
incidence of the evolution of technologies of communication in Western vocality, a
perspective totally disregarded until now, has been largely explored in the present
study. Through representation, voice and speech were examined with the conceptual
Vocal Cartographies in Theatrical Performance - Conclusions.
273
frame of selected contemporary theories. Deleuze and Guattaris pragmatics,
reviewing Austins theory of speech act, defined the actual ground to our object of
study: actors voice and speech in performance and training.
Changing the focus to contemporary theatre, it has been examined how the
phenomenological approach to theatrical performance, dominant in contemporary
experimental theatre, has contributed to concealing the performative and material
quality of actors vocality. In the first place, because the idea of a universal anatomy
and essence was shown to be foreign to the highly contingent dynamics of vocality.
Secondly, because from the phenomenological perspective, theatrical performance is
defined by the actors non-mediated presence, an option that also had important
consequences in the perception of the actors voice in performance. Such a position
has placed the actors body apart from the technologies produced in its own time and
space. Disassociated from its socio-historical contingencies, this approach to the
actors body encouraged an aesthetic that defines theatre as a handcrafted activity.
This attitude aligns with the vision of voice in contemporary theatre, related to ancient
traditions such as storytelling and folk and ritual chanting. In such a frame, voice
today can only be regarded as a matter of archaeological interest.
As a counterpart to the tendencies in theatre grounded in presence, stand these
based in the lack of presence. Substituting the actors body on stage with the use of
puppets and other objects, these proposals portray the non-human in diverse forms.
Generally eluding the script, when the actors voice is considered in this kind of
theatrical performance, it tends to appear recorded and in off. In other words, the
voice becomes objectified and disembodied.
Synthesising, the antithesis presence/absence, which traverses contemporary
theatrical performance, has left the voice and the body and its productive interplay
with technologies, completely out of frame. Contemporary experimental theatre
seems to oscillate in focus from the essential human, to the non- human, leaving
completely out of frame the productive interplay between both domains. The present
micro-mapping of Buenos Aires theatrical performance revealed that it is from the
very interplay body/machine - human/non-human that the most productive questions
in relation to actors vocality arise for the future. The essentialist vision sustained by
the phenomenological approach, anchored in the notion of Being, has been challenged
in the present study from a constructional point of view, which is grounded in
processes of Becoming.
274
The relation human/non-human assumes a paradoxical form in the field of
voice work. Depending on the different authors, physiological, psychological and
social variables were considered as affecting the actors voice, defined as a human
instrument. This idea of a performing instrumental voice corresponds to the idea
that actors reside somewhere out of their bodies, which they use according to their
designs. Moreover, the prevalent idea of the voice as a human instrument not only
encourages the binary map body-instinct-emotions/head-intellect-voice, dominant in
voice work. It also neutralises every possibility of interplay human/non-human, which
consideration in the present study has been highly productive.
In the frame of the present work, the actors voice has been defined with a
non-instrumental, material and performative profile. Such an approach not only resists
the instrumental view. It constitutes an alternative to the hierarchical binary order,
implicit in the definitions of voice and speech belonging to the classic semiotic and
linguistic perspectives, and also adopted in voice work. In our formulation no distance
is acknowledged between voice, body, speech and action, while voice is considered as
the most nomadic and performative among the corporeal productions. According to
this, we affirm that we do not use voice; it does not imitate nor reproduce the world: it
inhabits language. At the same time, speech is not here regarded as a code, but as a
matter through which individuals intervene affecting each other.
The analysis of the debate between leading voice coaches for theatre in
English and some scholars who lately became interested in the actors voice, indicates
that it is not possible to open a conceptual field in voice work away from the practice.
Moreover, practice itself contains a conceptual frame, and also the possibilities to
update its current restricted framework towards a declared pragmatic, performative
approach. However, the definition of voice work as pure practice away of a further
reflection, characterised by publishing only works in the field restricted to training
and rehearsal procedures, is not only unproductive, but reinforces the current abysm
between theory and practice. Considering so, this study proposes that the binary
opposition theory/practice, dominant in contemporary voice work, should be
overcome to create the conditions to approach the actors vocality in an extended
context.
This is a thesis about practice, about artistic practice in an extended mode,
which does not exclude the theoretical, the physical, the aesthetic, or the intellectual
activity in the field. From this perspective, the contribution of Benjamin not only open
275
diverse lines of thought in the field; it also serves as evidence of the disruption
operated in the discussion about the interplay art and technology in the first half of the
twentieth century. Such a debate has been reintroduced in the last decades,
particularly in some singular areas of the visual arts and music. However, the
interplay with technologies remains insufficiently considered in contemporary stages.
In music and theatre, voice and speech have been certainly the areas less considered
in relation to this matter, a situation that assign a particular urgency to this debate.
The information related to Buenos Aires produced during the fieldwork
provided new data to go beyond the theoretical research. What I defined in the
Introduction of this work as vocal anxiety, detected among theatre students in
Braslia, was here considered as primary empirical data, pointing to a disregard for
actors vocal training and performance, paradoxically considered as a key area in
acting.
understood
this
situation
as
symptom
of
the
relation
invisibility/obviousness/naturalisation, installed in contemporary Western culture, in

relation to contemporary actors vocality. The information coming from the
interviews with theatre professionals and teachers, and the questionnaires applied with
theatre students, provided enough data to verify the same symptoms in Buenos Aires.
The methodological tools designed to approach this specific matter offer a starting
point for further research in the field, where there is no register of a previous
systematic research.
Actors training was institutionalised in Buenos Aires in the 1920s. Then,
public theatre schools brought together outstanding professionals and considered
voice work as a crucial area in training. Voice training for theatre was also configured
as a specific field in the 1920s in England. As in Buenos Aires, the approach to voice
training was then dominated by speech therapists, and the delivery styles were clearly
patterned. However, the present study shows that since then the course of history has
taken diverse turns in each country.
The institutional circuits in training, which were places of productiveness in
relation to the actors vocality, have been gradually emptied in Buenos Aires. The
approach to voice training is still dominated by speech therapists and there has been
no publishing in the field. In this situation, patterns of vocal delivery effective until
the 1950s, started to reproduce themselves, with not much regard for the needs of
contemporary performance. Actors vocality, affected by this dynamic in Buenos
Aires in the 1990s, referred to in the present work as the European multicoding, also
276
bears the permanent action of the medias models, referred to as capitalist decoding.
Buenos Aires theatre professionals show a polyvalent profile, which has been clearly
emphasised in recent decades.
The 1990s were crucial in the history of the institutional environment for
theatre training and production in Buenos Aires. The remaining public theatre
companies were closed and the schools gradually have become no-places in terms of
productivity. The immediate consequence of the gradual and sustained process of
erosion of the institutional circuits in production and training was the weakening of
the specialised professional profile and the exposure of the main mechanics operating
in the field.
Lacking the resistance operated by the fixity of an institutionalised
environment, diverse fluxes of territorialization and de-territorialization take place in
Buenos Aires stages through the implementation of the formal machine in training,
and the action of playwrights power machine. The mechanisms encouraging
unrestrained reproduction of the technical procedures coming from realism has been
referred to in the present study as the formal machine in training. The vocal vacuum
generated by the action of the formal machine in training, in addition to a field of
voice work clinically orientated, converted actors vocality in Buenos Aires in the late
1990s into a no-place for voice productiveness, where fluxes of vocal overcoding and
decoding operate indiscriminately. In addition, the omnipresence of the visual in
contemporary culture has been manifested in a non-textual theatre production, related
in Buenos Aires to the groups approach.
Despite and beyond this situation, places of huge vocal productiveness were
detected through the fieldwork in Buenos Aires. From the cracks in the institutional
structure, new mechanics in theatrical production and training are now nourishing the
performativeness of voice, reinstalling it in new territories. Recent playwriting has
inaugurated a completely new territory on Buenos Aires stages in the 1990s, which
since the 1960s did not experience such a political and aesthetic shift. The multiplying
effect this late playwriting over the original dominant mechanics may constitute in the
future new vocal lines of flight.
Over the primary map configured by the above described major mechanics,
also operate what I defined as the recycling and the creation machines. Through
singular proposals such as that of Angelellis, diverse ways to overcome capture in
vocal training and performance are indicated. The little explored interplay
277
human/non-human is approached in the work of Edelstein through the interplay
voice/technology, pointing to a completely new vocal universe. Challenging the idea
of human vocal production as a handcrafted means of communication, Edelsteins
work also contests the classic idea of the space, dominant in voice work, as a
determinant to voice production.
A total lack of diagnosis and, of course, of leading projects in the field was
also detected through this research. In such a situation, everything depends on the
individual creativeness and will, which fortunately are abundant in Buenos Aires.
However, solid projects elaborated considering relevant data would improve the
effectiveness in the production of human resources with such remarkable
characteristics. An accurate diagnosis of such a peculiar situation is a primary and
unavoidable stage in the design and posterior implementation of effective politics. In
that sense, the present study has contributed with data, methodologies and reflection
to inform a much necessary projection.
These cartographies of voice and speech in Buenos Aires theatrical
performance of the 1990s are not grounded in rational measurements. Like the maps
of medieval wanderers, this map has been designed according to the data provided by
the experience of theatre practitioners. Buenos Aires voice cartographies are located
beyond East and West, the dominant directions in contemporary European and
American theatrical performance. They are established beyond the maps that might be
outlined from a European or American point of view.
Actors vocality regarded as an extended conceptual field, through a pragmatic
approach has been unfolded in the present voice cartographies in theatrical
performance. New instances to reformulate the power relations established today in
theatrical practice and in its relation with the community in which it is produced, have
been detected in this work, emerging from the fissures operated in institutionalised
sites for actors training and theatrical production. These singular proposals encourage
highly productive zones of vocal resistance to the strategies of the hegemonic
discourses. However, the vast territory it inaugurates to vocal experimentation and
production, has not yet been explored. I hope that the reflection and information
introduced by this research may encourage new enquires in the field.
278
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I-1
Appendix I.
General Sample of Theatre Professionals Interviewed.
Alezzo, Agustn: in Buenos Aires, 30th June, 1999.
Angelelli, Guillermo: in Buenos Aires, 22nd May 1998.
Banegas, Cristina: in Buenos Aires, 7th May, 1998.
Barts, Ricardo: in Buenos Aires, 4th May, 1999.
Belloso, Carlos: in Buenos Aires, 31st March, 1998.
Bentati, Gerardo: in Buenos Aires, 24th February, 1998.
Berdaxagar, Alicia: in Buenos Aires, 3rd May 1998.
Berry, Cicely: in London, 5th November, 1997.
Blasetti, Claudia: in Buenos Aires, 2nd June, 1998.
Caramelli, Leticia: in Buenos Aires, 9th May, 1998.
Cartolano, Ana Mara: in Buenos Aires, 20th March, 1998.
Casablanca, Daniel: in Buenos Aires, 16th June, 1999.
Chves, Julio: in Buenos Aires, 20th January, 1998.
Correa, Gabriel: in Buenos Aires, 16th June, 1998.
Cossa, Roberto: in Buenos Aires, 3rd June, 1998.
Demartino, Carlos: in Buenos Aires, 23rd March, 1998.
Edelstein, Oscar: in Buenos Aires, 6th July, 1998.
Gen, Juan Carlos: in Buenos Aires, 20th July, 1999.
Goldenberg, Berta: in Buenos Aires, 17th April, 1998.
Goldenberg, Jorge: in Buenos Aires, 23rd April, 1998.
Guerberoff, Miguel: in Buenos Aires, 4th April, 1998.
Izcovich, Gabriela: in Buenos Aires, 2nd June 1999.
Lavelli, Jorge: in Buenos Aires, 23rd April, 1998.
Len, Federico: in Buenos Aires, 14th December, 1998.
Lombardi, Viviana: in Buenos Aires, 8th April, 1998.
Lovero, Onofre: in Buenos Aires, 20th April, 1998.
Misrahi, Federico: in Buenos Aires, 11th November, 1998.
Muscari, Jos Mara: in Buenos Aires, 16th December, 1998.
Orecchio, Fernando: in Buenos Aires, 17th March, 1998.
Pasqual, Llus: in Paris, in 15th November, 1996.
Pavelick, Eduardo: in Buenos Aires, 8th May, 1998.
Pavlovsky, Eduardo: in Buenos Aires, 22nd June, 1998.
Perinelli, Roberto: in Buenos Aires, 11th June, 1998.
Prince, Dora: in Buenos Aires, 10th April, 1998.
Puppo, Juan Carlos: in Buenos Aires, 22nd May, 1998.
Quinteros, Lorenzo: in Buenos Aires, 24th June 1998.
Ramrez, Facundo: in Buenos Aires, 24th March, 1998.
Rudnitzky, Edgardo: in Buenos Aires, 18th May, 1998.
Serrano, Ral: in Buenos Aires, 2nd and 6th April, 1998.
Serrato, Laura: in Buenos Aires, 20th March, 1998.
Spregelburd, Rafael: in Buenos Aires, 22nd and 29th June, 1999.
Staiff, Deborah: in Buenos Aires, 22nd June, 1998.
Staiff, Kive: in Buenos Aires, 30th December 1998.
Surez, Jorge: in Buenos Aires, 7th May, 1998.
Szuchmacher, Rubn: in Buenos Aires, 12th May, 1998.
Toker, Miriam: in Buenos Aires, 15th March, 1998.
Veronese, Daniel: in Buenos Aires, 24th November 1998.
I-2
Sample of Key Informants.

1.Angelelli, Guillermo: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, in 22/05/98 (tape I)
2.Barts, Ricardo: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, in 04/05/99 (tape I and tape II)
3.Berry, Cicely: Interviewed in London, in 05/11/97 (tape I)
4.Caramelli, Leticia: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, in 09/05/98 (tapes I and II)
5.Cossa, Roberto: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, in 03/06/98 (tape I)
6.Chves, Julio: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, in 20/01/98 (tape I)
7.Demartino, Carlos: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 23/03/98 (tape I)
8.Edelstein, Oscar: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 06/07/98 (tape I)
9.Izcovich, Gabriela: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 02/06/99 (tape I)
10.Lavelli, Jorge: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 23/4/98 (tape I)
11.Pasqual, Llus: Interviewed in Paris, on 15/12/96 (tapes I and II)
12.Pavlovsky, Eduardo: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 22/6/98 (tape I)
13.Rudnitzky, Edgardo: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 18/5/98 (tapes I and II)
14.Serrano, Ral: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 16/4-18/5/98 (tapes I and II)
15.Spregelburd, Rafael: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 22-29/6/99 (tapes I and II)
16.Staiff, Kive: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 30/12/98 (tapes I and II)
17.Surez, Jorge: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 07/5/98 (tapes I and II)
18.Szuchmacher; Rubn: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 12-26/5/98 (tapes I and II)
19.Veronese, Daniel: Interviewed in Buenos Aires, on 24/11/98 (tape I)
Tapes have been deposited at the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary
and Westfield College, University of London.
I-3
1- Angelelli, Guillermo.
Argentinean performer, born in 1962 (?) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 1983, Angelelli graduated in acting from the Escuela Nacional de Arte
Dramtico. Once he finished the ENAD, Angelelli studied for two years with Carlos
Gandolfo. During the years at Gandolfos studio, Angelelli trained in ballet and
Graham technique with Freddie Romero and Liliana Cepeda. Despite his solid
training in acting, he was recognised first as a dancer.
After his second year with Gandolfo, Angelelli started to train with a Lecoqs
disciple in tragedy and clown specifically. Then he formed an underground group of
theatre, El Cl del Clown, which lasted for seven years.
In 1987, the Odn Theatre actor Iben Nagel invited Angelelli to accompany
her touring through the country with a piece of street theatre. Since then, Angelelli
became her only direct disciple in Argentina.
Angelelli continued to work with the clown group until 1990, when Iben
returned to Buenos Aires and supervised his training. Since then, Iben Nagel has been
promoting periodical encounters, with her group disciples who come from diverse
places in the world. In 1995, this international group, of which Angelelli is part, has
been invited for the first time to present Iben Nagels laboratory training at
international meetings and conferences.
In 1991, Angelelli started to work with his first training group in Buenos
Aires. It was a group formed by people trained in clowning, in which Angelelli
introduced some elements of his laboratory work. That was the origin of El
Primognito, first a training and now a performance group, which is still at work.
Angelelli directs and produces in his studio, also called El Primognito, and
his work remains grounded in this particular blend of tendencies: the clown and the
laboratory training. This peculiar profile of Angelellis work is imprinted in Asterin,
the last of his solo performance works, which got highly positive reviews.
Angelelli also trains his groups at El Primognito, on a daily basis and during
long periods. Occasionally, he also offers intensive monthly seminaries.
Angelelli integrated the contemporary dance group Nucleodanza, with which
he filmed Solanas El Exlio de Gardel. He has participated in films such as Doa
Brbara, and starred Moebius, a film produced and directed by a group of the
I-4
Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. Angelelli has been nominated for several
prizes for his performance in Moebius.
I-5
2- Barts, Ricardo.
Senior Argentinean leading actor, theatre director and teacher, born in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
Barts does not acknowledge a particular influence in his training as an actor
or director. However, his vigorous imprint is evident in the theatre produced in
Buenos Aires in the last decades. In 1981, Barts founded his theatre/studio El
Sportivo Teatral de Buenos Aires, which he defines as his particular cultural Ghetto.
Despite his lack of declared roots in acting, many of the most influent performers,
playwrights and directors recall their passage through the Sportivo as highly
motivating and productive.
Since 1978, Barts has performed in several theatre plays: Alicia en el Pas de
las Maravillas, Memorias del Subsuelo and Pablo by Eduardo Pavlovsky are some of
his well known works. Since 1980, Barts has participated in a number of films, such
as El Viaje directed by Fernando Solanas, and Invierno - Mala Vida directed by
Gregorio Kramer. Barts has directed many plays since 1985, among them can be
quoted Pavlovskys Telaraas, and Postales Argentinas, El Corte and El Pecado que
No se Puede Nombrar, all of them written or adapted by Barts himself. His theatrical
works have been staged in many international festivals since 1984.
Barts has attained the prize Juana Sujo for the best foreign spectacle of the
theatrical season 1988-1989 in Caracas-Venezuela, the Premio Mara Guerrero for the
best theatre spectacle, in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1990. He also got the Premio
Lenidas Barleta for the best director in Buenos Aires, Argentina during 1991. In
1999, his play El Pecado que No se Puede Nombrar, adapted from a number of texts
of the emblematic Argentinean author, Roberto Arlt, was awarded with the important
Trinidad Guevara prize.
I-6
3- Berry, Cicely.
Cicely Berry is a prominent English voice coach, who inaugurated a
significant shift in voice work for actors in English.
Berry has directed for many years the Voice Department at the Royal
Shakespeare Company, and actively participated in its Educational Programme and in
diverse community projects.
Berry has worked in partnership with outstanding professionals, such as Peter
Brook and Edward Bond.
She has conducted workshops in many countries such as Brazil and China.
Her two books published, Voice and the Actor, first published in 1973, and
The Actor and the Text, in 1987, are fundamental in the field of voice work for actors.
I-7
4- Caramelli, Leticia.
Leticia Caramelli is a senior Argentinean voice coach, born in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
Caramelli teaches mainly singers, particularly chorus singers. However, she
has taught many workshops for young actors at the Centro Cultural General San
Martn
Leticia Caramelli developed her solid knowledge about voice physiology in
high intensities on an autodidactic basis, having the antecedent of a solid training
in singing with the opera singer Noem Souza.
Between 1983 and 1993, Caramelli taught Vocal Technique at the
University of El Salvador, for the degree of Music Therapy. Nowadays, she works
at her studio, and as a chorus coach. Occasionally, she has vocally trained casts for
musicals. Caramellis public target among actors are mainly beginners, and young
music hall actors.
Caramelli has written a remarkable book in voice work El Desarrollo
Conciente de la Voz. Resulting from her own inquiry in the field, Caramellis book
represents a valuable contribution in a the highly limited field of publishing on voice
work in Spanish.
I-8
5- Cossa, Roberto.
Argentinean playwright, born in 1934 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cossa wrote his first play, which was a puppets play, Una Mano para Pepito
in 1958. In 1960 Cossa starts to work as a Buenos Aires correspondent for Prensa
Latina, the national Cuban agency of journalism. Nuestro Fin de Semana, Los Das de
Julin Bisbal, La ata Contra el Libro, are some of his plays from this period.
In 1967, the Buenos Aires agency of Prensa Latina is closed. However, he
continues to work clandestinely with the Cuban bureau until he goes to exile in
Uruguay for two years. In 1970, he resigns from Prensa Latina and he becomes a full
time playwright.
Between 1971 to 1976, he returns to work as a journalist because of his
precarious economic situation. From 1977 to 1979 he writes many plays as part of the
group Grupo de Trabajo, integrated by playwrights Gorostiza, Somigliana and other
theatre professionals.
In 1980 and 1982 he is one of the leaders of the project Teatro Abierto, in
which cycles he premiered Gris de Ausencia, and El Tio Loco. Since then he has been
writing profusely for theatre, cinema and television.
His emblematic play La Nona, has been staged at the Thtre National de la
Colline, under the direction of Jorge Lavelli. Among his late production we should
also mention Yepeto (also adapted for cinema), El Viejo Criado, Aos Difciles and El
Saludador.
In 1992, Cossa and a group of playwrights founded the Fundacin Carlos
Somigliana para el Estmulo del Autor Nacional. In 1993, he founded the Movimiento
de Apoyo al Teatro - MATE, associated with a group of critics, playwrights, actors
and directors.
Cossa has attained several prices for his work, among them the Premio de la
Asociacin de Investigadores Teatrales de la Argentina, for his whole contribution to
Argentinean theatre,
I-9
6- Chves, Julio.
Argentinean actor, born in 1956, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Chves graduated in acting from the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico.
Later he continued his training in acting with Luis Agustoni, Agustn Alesso, Lito
Cruz, Carlos Gandolfo y Augusto Fernandez. With Agustin Alezzo and Augusto
Fernandez he also studied direction.
In 1991 Chavez received a scholarship of the German Government through the
Goethe Institute to take part in theatre seminaries in Berlin.
Since 1976, Chavez has performed a vast number of repertoire plays, such as
Kafkas Informe para una Academia, Goethes Fausto, Ibsens Madera de Reyes and
Chekhovs La Gaviota. For his work in El Vestidor, by Harwood, staged in 1998 in
Buenos Aires and touring through Spain, Chavez won several awards. He has also
starred in many films, under the direction of Jusid, Aristarain, Bemberg and Olivera.
In 1997, he acted in the awarded television serial Archivo Negro, directed by Fernado
Bassi
Since 1976, Chves has attained many prizes for his work in theatre, cinema
and television. Among the most significant awards can be quoted the Premio del
Festival de la Corua (Spain-1976) for the film No Toquen a la Nena, the Premio
ACE, also in 1997 and the Mara Guerrero to the best theatrical performance of the
year, for the play El Vestidor. Also in 1997, Chavez won the Martin Fierro, for the
television serial Archivo Negro, and the Premio Mara Guerrero to the best theatrical
actor for the play El Vestidor.
I-10
7- Demartino, Carlos.
Uruguayan voice coach, born in 1942, in Paysand, Republica Oriental del
Uruguay.
Between 1962 and 1965 he studied singing with Carlos Chiessa and Susana
Naidich, and acting and staging with Rubens Correa and Lenidas Barletta among
others.
Demartino participated as an actor and a director in many theatrical stagings.
Since 1996 Demartino has produced five spectacles with his group Los Asaltantes de
la Rima. Since 1971, he works mainly as a voice coach. He has been teaching Vocal
Techniques for Professionals and Expressive Vocal Techniques at all levels in several
institutions.
In 1996, Demartino founded the Instituto de la Voz, where he regularly works
as a voice coach and as its pedagogic co-ordinator. He also teaches at the Escuela de
Teatro de Buenos Aires-ETBA, and frequently works at the Universidad del Salvador
and the Centro Cultural San Martn, among other institutions.
I-11
8- Edelstein, Oscar.
Argentinean music composer and pianist, born in 1953 in La Paz, Entre Ros.
Between 1970 and 1986, having completed his basic music formation in Entre
Ros, Edelstein studied Composition, Orchestration, Analysis, Composition with
Electronic Media and New Techniques of Music Analysis, with relevant Argentinean
composers, among them Jos Maranzano, Mariano Etkin and Francisco Krpfl.
Edelsteins work has been awarded important grants. Between 1974 and 1977,
he was a scholarship holder at the C.I.C.M.A.T-Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencia,
Material, Arte y Tecnologa (ex Instituto Di Tella). Between 1985-1986 he was one of
the tree young musicians selected to work at the Laboratorio de Investigacin y
Produccin Musical (L.I.P.M.). Between 1989-1991 his project "Estudio y Aplicacin
de los medios digitales en la Composicin Musical" was supported by a scholarship of
the Fundacin Antorchas. Edelstein also held a scholarship in Science and
Technology of the University of Buenos Aires-UBA, to work on several projects
related to music production with computers at the Centro de Investigacin Musical of
the University of Buenos Aires/ CIM-UBA. These projects were pioneers in the field
of artificial intelligence applied to the music and analysis of the discourse in music
with computers formally registered in Argentina. In 1992 he was the youngest artist to
win the Antorchas Scholarship for Outstanding Artists of the Intermediate
Generation to compose his first opera El Telescpio.
Edelsteins chamber and electronic production has attained several national
and international awards. He has also directed many chamber groups of improvisation
in music, frequently exploring the interplay between music and theatre. Between 1985
and 1988, Edelstein directed Otras Msicas, an association of composers dedicated to
the diffusion of contemporary creation in music in the continent.
Edelstein is also a Professor and a qualified university researcher. In 1986, he
founded the Centro de Investigacin Musical-UBA, remaining on its board of
direction until 1992. Since 1995, he teaches Orchestration, Composition and
Composition with Electronic Media at the course of Music Composition with
Electronic Media of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, where he is also
responsible for the Permanent Workshop in Research, Creation and Production and
the Seminar in Sound Space.
I-12
Currently, Edelstein directs the ENS-Ensamble Nacional del Sur, a group

created by him in 1997. His performances with the ENS have been considered by the
specialised critic as the most relevant musical events of recent decades in
Argentina, the highest point in the experimental production of the continent and a
historical imprint in the production of the avant-garde.1
Edelsteins published and catalogued work is profuse and crucial in the map of
Argentinean contemporary music and performance. His many music works for theatre
have been innovative and crucial to the results of the plays on stage. Since 1972
Edelstein has published articles about themes related to his specialities and also
essays in several journalistic media in Buenos Aires and the rest of the country, and
other European media. Edelstein was founder and editor of Lul - Revista de Teoras
y Tcnicas Musicales. This specialised magazine, published between 1991 and 1992,
has been the unique media of theoretical diffusion in the arts in Argentina during
the1990s.
Among his last works can be quoted Klange Urutau, El Hecho (created and
performed in 1997 and 1998.respectively), and El Tiempo- La Condena (created and
performed in 1999). La Teora Sagrada del Espacio Acstico Libro I, Libro II: La
Grilla Acstica, and Libro III: La Luz en Sombra de tus Ojos Muertos, constitute a
trilogy particularly composed to the ENS. These are works grounded in the field of
the extended theatre of music, where Edelstein stresses a focus in voice and speech
production and its interplay with technology. The first performance of the first section
of this trilogy, La Teora
Sagrada del Espacio Acoustico Libro I has been
programmed to 2000.
Sources for this include the magazines Tres Puntos and Punto de Vista, and the journals La
Nacin, Clarn and Pgina 12 - 1997/1998
I-13
9- Izcovich, Gabriela.
Argentinean theatre actor, director, teacher, and playwright, born in 1960, in
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Izcovich graduated in acting at the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico. She
has studied corporal techniques with Patricia Stokoe, contemporary dance with Ana
Itelman and Margarita Bali, acting with Augusto Fernandez and Ricardo Barts, and
singing with Marga Grajer, among others.
Izcovich has taught theatre at primary and secondary schools. She founded
and directs the theatre school Konstantn. As an actor, she integrated the company of
the Graduate Association of the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico and the Youth
Group of the Payr theatre, directed by Felisa Yeni.
Izcovich has a vast experience as an actor, in Argentina, Europe and other
Latin American countries. She works mainly on adaptations of literary texts and on
works of contemporary playwrights, mainly Argentinean. She has also acted in
cinema, under the direction of Sergio Renn.
Izcovich has directed her plays Azar de Piedra and Insomnio, produced with
the group Apcrifos. She acted, directed and adapted Nocturno Hind by Antonio
Tabucchi, a work showed in 1998 with great success in Buenos Aires, Italy and Spain.
Since 1999, she has been performing with a cast of two actors, Faros de Color, a play
in which she shared the writing and directing process with the well-known playwright
Javier Daulte.
I-14
10- Lavelli, Jorge.

Lavelli is the most internationally influential Argentinean theatre director,
born in 1931, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the 1950s, Lavelli was a student of Economic Sciences at the Universidad
de Buenos Aires, and also directed theatre. He got an official scholarship to study
theatre in Paris, where he trained at the schools of Jacques Lecoq and Charles Dullin
and at the L Universit du Thtre des Nations.
In the sixties, Lavelli attained reputation as theatre director of the classic,
modern and symbolist repertoire, and of the playwrights of the generation postabsurd, such as Peter Handke and Arrabal. The influence of the political events in
France during 1968 become patent in a number of political productions directed by
Lavelli, while he was making his first incursions as an opera director, a field in which
he has worked extensively since then. Lavelli worked free-lance for 25 years, until
1987 when he became the artistic director of Le Thtre de la Colline, in Paris.
Lavelli resides and works in Paris and became a French citizen in 1977. Since
1997, he has been regularly directing in Buenos Aires.
Lavelli had obtained numerous awards, among them, the Prize of the Spanish
critics for the Best Play of the Year and the Prize of the Italian Critics for the Best
Foreign Play.
I-15
11- Pasqual, Llus.

Pasqual is considered the most successful Spanish director this century, born
in 1951, in Reus, Tarragona, Spain.
In 1969, Pasqual entered at the Universidad Autnoma de Barcelona, where he
graduated in Catalan Philology. In the early seventies, he lectured at the Institut del
Teatre, and started to direct theatre productions. In 1976, Pasqual co-founded the
Teatre Lliure Collective in Barcelona.
In 1978, Pasqual moves to Milan to assist Strehler, who he will later succeed
in the direction of the Thtre de lEurope, between 1990 and 1997. In 1983, Pasqual
produces La Vida del Rey Eduardo II de Inglaterra, starting a productive partnership
with the Argentinean actor Alfredo Alcn. In 1989, Pasqual became the first Spanish
director to direct at the Comdie Franaise. In 1982, Pasqual directed opera for the
first time, a field in which he has been intensively working since then.
Pasqual has been the recipient of numerous awards, among which can be
recalled the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la Rpublique Franaise, in 1984; the
Promu Officier des Arts et Lettres par la Rpublique Franaise, in 1991; and the
National Prize of the Ministrio de la Cultura Espaol, in 1991.
I-16
12- Pavlovsky, Eduardo.

Argentinean playwright, actor and director, born in 1933, in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
Since his graduation as a doctor specialising in psychiatry Pavlosky divides

his time between theatre and psychotherapy, and he has also acted in politics. He
studied theatre with Boero and Ramonet, among many other relevant theatre
professionals.
He has written many plays. His work as a theatre director and actor relates
quite exclusively to his production as a playwright. However, he has acted in many
Argentinean films. His two professions, theatre and psychiatry, are intrinsically
linked. Pavlovsky maintains that his theatrical experience assured him with a better
understanding of psychiatry and vice versa. However, while Pavlovskys work as a
psychiatrist has a strong institutional imprint, his artistic work has always been
produced on an absolutely independent basis.
In 1963, Pavlovsky studied psychodrama with Moreno in New York. In 1972,
he became associated with the group of the director Jaime Kogan working at the
Teatro Payr, where in 1973 his play El Seor Galindez was produced. He has
participated in many international festivals. In 1977 Pavlovskys exile in Madrid
begins. He resides there until the end of the period of the last Argentinean military
dictatorship, when he returns to Buenos Aires. Somos, Un Acto Rpido, Acto sin
Palabras, Ultimo Match, El Seor Galindez, Pablo, Paso de Dos, Cmara Lenta and
Poroto (his last work), are some of the titles of his vast and solid repertoire as a
playwright.
Among the awards he has received: the First National Prize of Theatre in 1967
for his play Ultimo Match, which was also distinguished with the Argentores Prize in
1970. Cacera was considered by the critics as the best national play in 1969.
I-17
13- Rudnitzky, Edgardo.

Sound and music designer for theatre, born in 1956, in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. He studied Composition, Music Analysis, Morphology, Electro-acoustic
music and percussion with Carmelo Saitta, Gerardo Gandini and Nestor Astutti
among others.
As a percussionist, Rudnitzky has been dedicated to the Argentinean and
International repertoire of the XX century. He taught at the Department of Music of
the Universidad de La Plata, and on the Music Therapy degree of the Universidad de
El Salvador. Since 1985, he composes music and designs sound tracks for theatre,
dance cinema and other kind of events.
In 1988 he started to work for the theatre with prominent Argentinean
directors. His late works were the music designs for the stagings of Cossas El Viejo
Criado, Feinmans Cuestiones con Ernesto Che Guevara. Rudnitzky works in a
regular basis for Rubn Szuchmachers stagings. Among his late works in
collaboration with Szuchmacher can be quoted the music designs for Lorcas Amor de
Don Perlimpln con Belisa en su Jardn, and Brechts Galileu Galilee.
Rudnitzky has received important nominations for his works for theatre. Three
of his works, the music for El Relampago, Travesia and Cristales Rotos, won the
ACE Prize to the best original music for theatre. His music for El Relampago also
won the Florencio Snchez Prize to the best original music for theatre.
I-18
14- Serrano, Ral.

Argentinean theatre director and teacher, born in 1934, in San Miguel de
Tucumn, Province of Tucumn, Argentina.
In 1961 he graduated from the Institute of Theatre and Cinema "Ion Luca
Caragiale " of Bucharest, Rumania. He studied in 1956 with John B. Priestley, in
Concepcin, Chile; in 1971 with Lee Strasberg in Buenos Aires; and with Jean Vilar
in 1972, in Buenos Aires. He developed several studies and researches in Europe and
America, where he also visited and analysed a number of institutions dedicated to
theatre training and pedagogy.
He has directed more that fifty stagings in Argentina and Europe, among
which: La Doncella, el Marinero y el Estudiante by Federico Garca Lorca, Un
Tranva Llamado Deseo by Tennessee Williams, La pera de los Tres Centavos by
Bertolt Brecht, El Proceso by Kafka-Mediza, and Yepeto.
He has published articles such as: La Creacin como Forma de la Militancia,
Problemas de la Pedagoga Teatral, and Cuerpo y Voz, in diverse specialised media.
He has also published books, such as Dialctica del Trabajo del Actor, Mtodo de las
Acciones Fsicas - Stanislavski, and Tesis sobre Stanislavski.
Serrano has been one of the founders of the movement Teatro Abierto. He
lectured at the ENAD in the Theatre Pedagogy degree, where he created the discipline
of Acting Methodology, and also worked as na Adviser in Pedagogy.
In 1964, Serrano founded the Escuela de Teatro de Buenos Aires- ETBA, one
of the most influent theatre school in Buenos Aires in the last 35 years.
I-19
15- Spregelburd, Rafael.

Argentinean actor, playwright and director, born in 1970, in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. Spregelburd has been a disciple of Ricardo Barts y Mauricio Kartn. He
has also participated in seminars with Jos Sanchis Sinisterra, in Buenos Aires and
Barcelona. In 1995, Spregelburd was elected to be favoured with the scholarship of
the El Teatro Fronterizo, of the Sala Beckett of Barcelona, to undertake a course in
New Tendencies in Theatrical Production. He has been held British Council
scholarships, to participate of the Summer International Residency at the Royal Court
Theatre, London, in July and August, 1998.
Between 1995 and 1997, Spregelburd taught and co-ordinated the group of
Dramatic Structure at the Sportivo Teatral, the theatre/studio of Ricardo Barts, where
in 1997 Spregelburd started to teach Acting courses. Since 1996, Spregelburd teaches
Actors Dramaturgy and Acting at the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas.
As a playwright Spregelburd was one of the leaders of the authors group
Caraja-J. He has translated from the English Decadence, by Steven Berkoff, and
translated and adapted the same authors Greek, and Betrayal and Old Days by Pinter.
These works were staged several times in Argentina and in other Latin American
countries.
Cuadro de Asfixia, Cucha de Almas, La Tiniebla, Raspando la Cruz, Motn,
Destino de Dos Cosas o de Tres, Remanente de Invierno, Entretanto las Grandes
Urbes, are some of his plays, which have been staged in Argentina and abroad,
published and translated into many languages. Spregelburd directs his own plays and
often acts in them. Together with Andrea Garrote, a young Argentinean actor and
playwright, they integrate the group El Patrn Vzquez, to which they always invite
artists to stage their plays.
Spregelburds plays have been staged in many international theatre festivals.
In April, 1999, Spregelburd staged and directed for the first time the latest of his
plays, La Modestia, at the Teatro Municipal San Martn de Buenos Aires.
In 1997, Spregelburd got the Primer Premio Municipal de Dramaturgia de la
Ciudad de Buenos Aires for his play Cucha de Almas. In 1992, he attained the Primer
Premio Nacional de Dramaturgia as the best non staged playwright, for his play
I-20
Destino de Dos Cosas o de Tres. Remanente de Invierno, got the Premio

ARGENTORES '96 for a New Playwright, and La Tiniebla the Primer Premio of the
Facultad de Psicologa de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. In 1994, Spregelburd won
the contest of the Fondo Nacional de las Artes, whose prize is the Scholarship for the
Artistic Production in Literature and Theory, for his play Entretanto las Grandes
Urbes. His play, Cuadro de Asfixia, obtained the prize of the Fondo Nacional de las
Artes.
I-21
16- Staiff, Kive.

Argentinean theatre critic, producer and manager, born in 1927, in Entre Rios,
Argentina. Staiff studied Economics at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. However,
soon he became totally dedicated to work in cultural journalism. He has worked as a
theatre critic in many prestigious publications, such as the newspaper La Opinin, and
the magazines Confirmando and Anlisis, among many others. Staiff founded and
directed magazines specialised in theatre such as Teatro XX and Teatro, the later
being the official publication of the Teatro Municipal General San Martin-TMGSM.
Staiff has also worked as a theatre columnist and commented on international
politics in radio and television programmes. He has dictated many lectures and has
integrated the jury of national and international theatre contests.
Staiff was a Professor in Cinema and Theatre at the Instituto Nacional de

Cinematografa, and also a Appointed Professor at the Universidad Estatal de Puerto
Rico.
Kive Staiff was the General and Artistic Director of the Teatro San Martn de
Buenos Aires between 1971 and 1973, and between 1976 and 1989. In 1990 he
directed the Department of Performance Arts of the Fundacin Banco Patricios. In
1991 Staiff became General Director of Cultural Affairs of the Argentinean Foreign
Office, attained the rank of Ambassador. Between 1996 and 1998, Staiff was General
Director of the Teatro Coln, the main opera house in Buenos Aires. Since 1998, he
has returned to the direction of the Teatro Municipal General San Martin.
As an independent theatre manager, Staiff produced plays such as Endgame,
by Samuel Beckett, and El Zoo de Cristal, by Tennessee Williams.
Among the many distinction assigned to Staiff because of his remarkable work
in the field of Argentinean culture, particularly in relation to theatre production, it
should be quoted the title of Oficial de la Orden de las Artes, conferred by the French
Government.
I-22
17- Surez, Jorge.

Argentinean actor of the intermediate generation, born in Buenos Aires.
Surez graduated at the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico. When he was
sixteen and until he was twenty one year old he undertook private opera singing
lessons.
Since his graduation, Surez has been producing theatre with the group El
Teatrito. Because of the requirement of the professional career lately developed by
Surez, his work with El Teatrito became mainly restricted to his teaching
assignments.
In the last years, Surez has been regularly working for theatre and television.
He has performed a vast theatrical repertoire, from classics such as Shakespeares
Othello to contemporary plays. Surez was selected to work in productions such as
Calgula and Kvetch, as part of international casts and under the direction of
outstanding directors. Surez work as a theatre and television actor granted him
important awards, such as the ACE prize and the Martn Fierro.
I-23
18- Szuchmacher, Rubn.

Argentinean theatre director, born in 1951, in Buenos Aires.
Szuchmacher started his artistic formation training in music and dance in his
childhood, and in acting in his adolescence.
Szuchmacher has also worked as an opera director, as a choreographer and a
teacher. He has worked intensively in diverse professional areas in theatre, television
and cinema. As an actor and director he has frequently worked with Argentinean
playwright like Ricardo Monti, Roberto Arlt, Griselda Gambaro, Alejandro
Tantanin, Florencio Snchez, Armando Discpolo, Daniel Veronese, and Rafael
Spregelburd, among others.
Since 1974 he has been teaching at the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramtico,
the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Coln, were he trained in opera rgie the
Buenos Aires Goethe Institut, and the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas.
In 1989, Szuchmacher obtained a scholarship from the Instituto Internacional
de Teatro de Buenos Aires, to study in Germany. In 1992 he won the Antorchas
scholarship, for Outstanding Artists of the Intermediate Generation, to fulfil a work

about the life and work of the Argentinean choreographer Ana Itelman.
I-24
19- Veronese, Daniel.

Argentinean puppeteer, playwright and theatre director, born in 1955, in
Buenos Aires.
He trained as a puppeteer with Ariel Bufano and Adelaida Mangani, and as a
playwright with Mauricio Kartn and Roberto Cossa.
Since 1987, Veronese has integrated the Puppeteers Company of the Teatro
Municipal General San Martn. He created the group of theatre research and
production El Perifrico de Objetos.
Veronese got several awards for his work as a playwright and director, such as
First Prize in the National Playwright contest/1991-92, and the ACE Award, in 1996,
for the version of El Perifrico de Objetos of Mquina Hamlet. Veronese won in 1994
the National Scholarship in Theatre of the Fondo Nacional de las Artes, and the
Antorchas Scholarship, in 1997.
I-25
Role Charts.
The following charts organise basic information about a number of influent theatre professionals, intending to
overview characteristic tendencies of their roles, crucial to practice and production. The sources for the Western
Contemporary Directors and Western Contemporary Voice Coaches charts are listed in the bibliography. The
data for the other charts were collected from the sources classified in Appendix 1. The item Training does not
intend to provide comprehensive information about these professionals formation, but a general profile, which
enables us to detect tendencies in their formation and its incidence in theatrical practice. The item Institutional
Link indicates some relevant institutional positions occupied by these professionals in the1990s. Most of these
professionals virtually work as freelancers, some of them besides their institutional assignments. The Tables
related to Western professionals are considered as reference to analyse Buenos Aires tendencies in theatre
production. It is not intended to fulfil a comparison between both universes.
Chart A - Western Contemporary Directors.

Name
Training
Boal
Columbia
Univ. - NY
Engineering
Oxford
IATCin
Acting
Theatre Inst.
of Leningrad
Brook [o] [r]

Caramitru
[o] [a]
Dodin
[o] [a] *
Donnellan/
Ormerod
*
CambridgeLaw
Fornes
Informal
in
Institutional
Link
CTO/RioParis
Gender
Nationality
Brazilian
Born
in
1931
Age2000
69
Male
CIRT-Paris
IACTC
Male
Male
British
Rumanian
1925
1942
75
58
Malys Theat.
Comp./State
Theat. Inst.
Cheek by Jowl
-Theatre
Company
RNT
INTAR
Male
Russian
1944
56
Male
Male
British
British
1953
1951
47
49
Female
Cuban/
1930
70
[a]
Lavelli
[o]
Lepage
[o]
Miller
[o]
Mnouchkine
Ninagawa
Pasqual
[o] [a] *
Sellars
[o] [a]
Stein
[o][a] *
Strehler
Verma
[a]
Wilson
[o] *
painting
UBAEconomy
UTN-Paris
Drama
Conservatory
of Quebec
CambridgeMedicine
Oxford/Sorbo
nne in Psycho.
Inform. Acting
Autnoma de
Barcelona
Harvard
Univ. Munich
Academia
Filodramatici
Univs. York /
Sussex
Pratt Institute
Colline
National
Theatre
Ex Machina
Company
/
national
theatres
Old Vic/ Nat.
theatres
Thtre
du
Soleil
Theatre Comp.
Lliure.
American
Argentinean/
French
Male
1931
69
1957
43
Male
French
Canadian
Male
British
1931
69
Female
French
1939
61
Male
Male
1935
1951
65
49
1957
43
National
theatres.
Official
Comp.
PiccoloOdeon
TARA Arts
Male
Japanese
Spanish
Catalan
American
Male
German
1937
63
Male
Italian
(+)
Male
British-Asian
19211998
1954
Water Mill
Male
American
1941
59
46
I-26
In Order of Age:
Research
Strehler
(+)
Brook
75
Fornes
70
Boal
69
Lavelli
69
Miller
69
Stein
63
Mnouchkine
61
Wilson
59
Caramitru
58
Dodin
56
Pasqual
49
Declan
47
Ormerod
49
Verma
46
Sellars
43
Lepage
43
[o] Opera [a] Academic experience [r]

Donnellan: director + Ormerod: stage designer
Pasqual: director + Puigserver: stage designer
Stein: director + Herrman: stage designer
Wilson: director + Glass: music composer
Dodin: director + Stronin: playwright
Sources;
Martin/Delgado-Heritage/Pavis.
Chart B - English Speaking Contemporary Voice Coaches.

Name
Training
Berry
*
Linklater
[a]
Central
School
Speech and Drama
LAMDA
of
Institutional
link
RSC
Emerson
Coll./Gugge
Gender
Nationality
British
Born
in
(?)
Age
2000
(?)
Female
Female
British
1936
64
Martin
[a] [r]
Stockholm University
Rodenburg
Central
School
Speech and Drama
Sundberg
[a] [r]
(?)
of
nheim
Fellow
Queensland
Univ. of
Technology
of Sydney
Roy. Nat.
Theatre/
Guildhall
Sch
Roy. Inst. Of
Technology
of
Stockholm
Dep. Of
Speech and
Commun.
Female
Swedish
(?)
(?)
Female
British
(?)
(?)
Male
Swedish
(?)
(?)
[a] Academics experience [r] Research

Berry: with Brook and Bond.
Sources:
Linklater/IRCAM/Rodenburg/Martin.
In Order of Age:
Berry
Martin
Linklater
64
Rodenburg
Sundberg
I-27
Chart C - Buenos Aires Contemporary Theatre Professionals.
Name
Training
Angelelli
[t]
ENAD/
Private in
Acting
(?)
Barts
* [t]
Chves
[t]
Izcovich
[t]
Lavelli
[o]
Pavlovsky
Serrano
[a]
Spregelburd
* [t]
Staiff
Szuchmacher
[o] [t] *
Institutional
link
Gender
Nationality
Born
in
Age
2000
El Primognito
Private
theatre/studio
Sportivo Teatral
Male
Argentinean
1962
(?)
38
(?)
Male
Argentinean
(?)
(?)
ENAD/ private in acting
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1956
44
ENAD/
Private in Dance, singing
and acting.
UBA-Economy
UTN-Paris
Lecoq/Dullin school
Psychodrama-UBA
+
private/
Private in acting
Inst. of Theatre and
Cinema I.L. Caragiale/
Private in direction
Translator (?)/
Private in Acting and
Playwright
(-)
(-)
Konstantn
Private
theatre school
Colline
Female
Argentinean
1960
40
Male
Argentinean/
French
1931
69
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1933
67
ETBA-private
officially recog.
Theatre school
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1934
66
Male
Argentinean
1970
30
TMGSM
CCRR/Goethe
Male
Male
Argentinean
Argentinean
1927
1951
73
49
Dance
and
Inst./TMGSM
Puppeteer-TMGSM/
Private in Playwright
Veronese
[t]
El Perifrico de
Objetos
theatre group
Male
Argentinean
1955
45
[o] Opera [a] Academic experience [t] Informal
In Order of Age:
teaching
Spregelburd
Angelelli
Izcovich
Chves
Veronese
Szuchmacher
Serrano
Pavlovsky
Lavelli
Staiff
30
38
Barts: director + Villavicencio: musician
Spregelburd: director + Zipse: musician
Szuchmacher: director + Rudnitzky: musician
Sources; Appendix I
40
44
45
49
66
67
69
73
I-28
Chart D - Buenos Aires Contemporary Voice Coaches.
Name
Training
Caramelli
[t]
Demartino
[t]
Private
in
autodidact
Surez
ENAD/private in opera
singing
[t]
singing/
Private a-systematic
voice work
In Order of Age:
Surez
Demartino
Caramelli
in
Institutional
link
Gender
Nationality
Born
in
Age
2000
(-)
Female
Argentinean
(?)
(?)
Univ. de El
Salvador
School of the
Press Union
ETBA
Instituto de la
Voz
Private schools
El Teatrito
Private
School
Male
Uruguayan
1942
58
Male
Argentinean
1965
(?)
35
(?)
[a] Academic experience [t] Informal teaching
Sources: Appendix I
Chat E - Buenos Aires Contemporary Music Composers for Theatre.

Name
Training
Edelstein
[o] [a] [r]
CICMAT (Ex-Instituto
Di Tella)/
LIPM/Private in Music
Composition
Universidad de La
Plata/ Private in Music
Composition
Rudnitzky
* [a]
In Order of Age:
Research
Edelstein
47
Rudnitzky
44
Institutional
Link
Universidad
Nacional de
Quilmes
Gender
Nationality
Argentinean
Born
in
1953
Age
2000
47
Male
(-)
Male
Argentinean
1956
44
[o] Opera [a] Academic experience [r]

Edelstein: musician + Villanueva: director
Rudnitzky: musician + Szuchmacher: director
Sources: Appendix I
II-1
Appendix II
Questionnaire 1
The information in this questionnaire will be considered as confidential,
serving exclusively as sources to configure research data. This data will arise from a
consideration of the information collected through these questionnaires. Each
informant will get an identification number to preserve her/his identity, even during
the manipulation of primary information. Thank you for your collaboration.
Silvia A. Davini
Identification:
Name:
Age:
M/F
Career:
Year
Nationality
Race
Religion
Questions:
1- Did (do) you study something else besides this course?
Yes: What? Did you finish it/them? If you are studying now, how
many hours per week you dedicate to these studies?
No
2- Do you work?
Yes: What kind of work do you do? How many hours per week? Do
you economically support your family?
No
3- Did you have any previous theatrical training or experience before
entering this school?
Yes: Could you briefly describe these experiences?
No
My translation from the original in Spanish.
II-2
4- Did you develop other theatrical activities related to your acting formation
after entering this school?
Yes: Which activities?
No
5- Would you be able to characterise your abilities and weaknesses in acting?
6- How would you characterise the vocal and corporal training that you get at
this school and how has this training has influenced your performance as
an actor?
7- Are you happy with your vocal and corporal performance in the context of
this course?
8- How would you characterise your voice physically, in terms of timbre,
intensity, extension and ductility?
9- How do you perceive the changes in your voice through time; how does it
respond to professional demands or diverse social situations?
10- Are you happy with the use you make of your spoken and/or singing
voice?
11- In which styles (classic, contemporary, realism, etc.) do you feel fluent
and which have presented the greatest challenges for you?
12- Is there any style that you are interested in working particularly with?
Why?
II-58
Charts.
Chart 1 - (data from Table 1)
Distribution of the Considered Students According to the Institution.
Totals
ETBA
ENAD
Not Answered
Totals
66 (47.48%)
61 (43.88%)
12 (08.63 %)
139
66
61
12
139

Students Courses Distribution According to the Institution.
Acting
Pedagogy
Direction
Totals
ETBA
66 (100%)
(-)
(-)
66
ENAD
30 (49.18 %)
26 (42.62 %)
05 (08.19 %)
61
Not Answered
12 (18.04 %)
Totals
96
12
26
05
139

Students Gender Distribution According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Not Answered
Totals
Female
40 (60.60 %)
37 (60.65 %)
(-)
77
Male
26 (39.39 %)
24 (39.34 %)
(-)
50
Not Answered
(-)
(-)
12 (08.63%)
12
Totals
66
61
12
139

Students Age Distribution According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Not Answered
Totals
A - 18 - 21 years
28 (42.42 %)
18 (29.50 %)
02 (16.66 %)
48
B - 22 - 26 years
23 (34.84 %)
13 (21.31 %)
08 (66.66 %)
44
C - 27 - 30 years
10 (15.15 %)
11 (18.03 %)
(-)
21
D - over 31 years
05 (07.57 %)
19 (31.14 %)
02 (16.66 %)
26
Totals
66
61
12
139
II-59

Distribution of Students that Undertake or not Other Studies.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
Undertake Other
Studies
Do not Undertake
other Studies
Not Answered
51 (72.27 %)
47 (77.04 %)
37
14 (21.21 %)
13 (21.31 %)
23
01 (01.51 %)
01 (0.01 %)
05
Totals
66
61
127

Other Studies, Accomplished or Currently being Completed by the Students.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- University - Complete
04 (07.80 %)
02 (04.25 %)
06
B- University - Incomplete
10 (19.60 %)
08 (17.02 %)
18
C- Superior in Arts - Complete
02 (03.92 %)
07 (14.89 %)
09
D- Superior in Arts - Incomplete
02 (03.92 %)
04 (08.51 %)
06
E- Other Superior - Complete
03 (05.88 %)
03 (06.38 %)
06
F- Other Superior - Incomplete
01 (01.96 %)
01 (02.12 %)
02
G- Languages
03 (05.88 %)
01 (02.12 %)
04
H- Private Courses in Arts
21 (41.17 %)
17 (36.17 %)
38
J- Not Answered
05 (09.80 %)
05 (10.63 %)
10
Totals
51
48
99

Students at Work: Distribution According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Not Answered
Totals
Work
47 (71.21 %)
45 (73.77 %)
10 (83.33 % )
102
Do not work
19 (28.78 %)
16 (26.22 %)
02 (16.66 %)
37
Totals
66
61
12
139
II-60

Types of Students Rented Work According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Temporary Artistic Services
08 (12.12%)
14 (22.95%)
22
B- Educational Services
01 (01.51%)
01 (01.63%)
02
C- Other Temporary Services
11 (16.66%)
07 (11.47%)
18
D- School Teaching
05 (07.57 %)
10 (16.39 %)
15
E- Other Employment
20 (30.30%)
12 (19.67%)
32
F- Not Answered
02 (03.03%)
01 (01.63%)
03
Totals
47
45
92
Chart 9 - (data from Tables 4. 7 and 8)

Total of Students Who Work, Who have Other Studies, Who have Previous
Experience in Acting.
Other Studies
Work
Previous
Experience
Yes
107 (76.97%)
102 (73.38%)
109 (78.41%)
Partial Percentage
(Average)
76.25%
No
030(21.58%)
037 (26.61%)
030 (21.58%)
23.25%
Not Answered
002(01.43%)
(-)
(-)
01.43%
Totals
139
139
139
*This total percentage average cannot be calculated because the unanswered questions appear
under the item Other Studies.

Students Perception about the Origin of their Acting Skills, According to the
Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Acquired Techniques
05 (07.57%)
10 (16.39%)
15
B- Artistic gifts
04 (06.06%)
09 (14.75%)
13
C- Positive Characteristics
of Personality
D- Other Positive Circumstances
16 (24.24%)
11 (18.03%)
27
(-)
(-)
(-)
E- Not Answered
41 (62.12%)
31 (50.81%)
72
Totals
66
61
127
II-61

Students Perception about the Origin of their Acting Weaknesses, According
to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Lack of Artistic Gifts
20 (30.30%)
17 (27.86%)
037
B-
Negative Characteristics
of Personality
C- Other Negative Circumstances
08 (12.12%)
15 (24.59%)
023
04 (06.06%)
01 (01.63%)
005
D- Not Answered
34 (51.51%)
28 (45.89%)
062
Totals
66
61
127

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the Corporal Training Provided in Each
Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Very Good
10 (15.15%)
07 (11.47%)
017
B- Good
13 (19.69%)
06 (09.83%)
019
C- Average
12 (18.18%)
16 (26.22%)
028
D- Bad
(-)
06 (09.83%)
006
E- Very bad
04 (06.06%)
01 (01.63%)
005
D- Not offered
14 (21.21%)
12 (19.67%)
026
F- Not Answered
13 (19.69%)
13 (21.31%)
026
Total
66
61
127
II-62

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the their Own Corporal Performance,
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
01 (01.51%)
01 (01.63%)
002
B- Satisfactory
29 (43.93%)
21 (34.42%)
050
C- Average
13 (19.69%)
06 (09.83%)
019
D- Unsatisfactory
18 (27.27%)
13 (21.32%)
031
01 (01.51%)
(-)
001
F- Not Answered
04 (06.06%)
11 (18.03%)
015
G- Not considered
(-)
09 (14.75%)
009
Totals
66
61
127

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the Vocal Training Provided in Each
Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A- Very Good
09 (13.63%)
04 (06.55%)
013
B- Good
13 (19.69%)
03 (04.91%)
016
C- Average
09 (13.63%)
16 (26.22%)
025
D- Bad
01 (01.51%)
10 (16.39%)
011
E- Very bad
06 (09.09%)
02 (03.27%)
008
D- Not offered
16 (24.24%)
16 (26.22%)
032
F- Not Answered
12 (18.18%)
10 (16.39%)
022
Totals
66
61
127
II-63

Students Grade of Satisfaction with the their Own Vocal Performance,
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
(-)
01 (01.63%)
001
B- Satisfactory
25 (37.87%)
17 (27.86%)
042
C- Average
14 (21.21%)
07 (11.47%)
021
D- Unsatisfactory
23 (34.84%)
18 (29.50%)
041
01 (01.51%)
01 (01.63%)
002
F- Not Answered
03 (04.54%)
08 (13.11%)
011
G- Not considered
(-)
09 (14.75%)
009
Totals
66
61
127
Chart 16- (data from Table 13)

General Grade of Satisfaction of Students in Relation to their Vocal
Performance.
Totals
01 (0.71%)
001
B- Satisfactory
46 (33.09%)
046
C- Average
23 (16.54%)
023
D- Unsatisfactory
47 (33.81%)
047
02 (01.43%)
002
F- Not Answered
11 (07.91%)
011
Not Offered ???
09 (06.47%)
009
Totals
139
139
II-64

General Grade of Satisfaction of Students in Relation to their Speech Delivery
and their Singing Performance.
Speech Delivery
Singing Performance
A- Satisfied
60 (43.16%)
44 (31.65%)
B- Not very satisfied
21 (15.10%)
25 (17.98%)
C- Unsatisfied
53 (38.12%)
61 (43.88%)
D- Very unsatisfied
01 (0.71%)
04 (02.87%)
E- Not Answered
04 (02.87%)
05 (03.59%)
Totals
139
139

Evolution, According to the Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A-Positive Changes
29 (43.94%)
30 (49.18%)
059
B-Neg. Changes
05 (07.58%)
10 (16.39%)
015
C- No Changes
18 (27.27%)
05 (08.20%)
023
D- Not Answered
14 (21.21%)
16 (26.23%)
030
Totals
66 (100% )
18 (100%)
127
II-65
Chart 19 (data from Table 14)

Evolution, According to their Age and Institution.
ETBA
ENAD
Totals
A-Positive Changes
13 (46.42%)
10 (5.55%)
023
B-Neg. Changes
02 (07.14%)
03 (16.66%)
005
C- No Changes
06 (21.42%)
02 (11.11%)
008
D- Not Answered
07 (25.00%)
03 (16.66%)
010
Partial Totals and
Percentages
28 (42.42% )
18 (29.50%)
B- 22 to 25 year
A-Positive Changes
10 (43.47%)
05 (38.46%)
A- 18 to 21 year
015
B-Neg. Changes
02 (08.69%)
01 (07.69%)
003
C- No Changes
07 (30.43%)
02 (15.38%)
009
D- Not Answered
04 (17.39%)
05 (38.46%)
009
Partial Totals and
Percentages
23 (15.17%)
13 (21.31%)
C- 26 to 29 year
A-Positive Changes
04 (40.00%)
06 (54.54%)
010
B-Neg. Changes
01 (10.00%)
02 (18.18%)
003
C- No Changes
02 (20.00%)
01 (09.09%)
003
D- Not Answered
03 (30.00%)
02 (18.18%)
005
Partial Totals and
Percentages
10 (34.84%)
11 (18.03%)
D- more than 30
year
A-Positive Changes
02 (40.00)%
09 (47.36%)
011
B-Neg. Changes
(-)
04 (21.05%)
004
C- No Changes
03 (60.00%)
(-)
003
D- Not Answered
(-)
06 (31.57%)
006
Percentages
05 (07.57%)
19 (31.14%)
66
61
Partial Totals and

Totals
127
II-66

Students Perception of their Vocal Evolution, According to Gender and
Institution.
Women
ETBA
men
ENAD
ETBA
Totals
ENAD
A- + changes
17 (42.50%) 17 (45.94%) 12 (46.15%) 12 (52.17%)
058
B- - changes
04 (10.00%) 09 (24.32%) 01 (03.84%) 01 (04.34%)
015
C- No changes
11 (27.50%) 03 (08.10%) 07 (26.92%) 02 (08.69%)
023
D- Not Answered
08 (20.00%) 08 (21.62%) 06 (23.07%) 08 (34.78%)
030
Totals
40
126
37
26
23
Chart 21 - (data from Table 16, and 17)
ETBA Students Perception of their Own Performances, According to

Best Performance
Worst
Performance
Style to work with
A- Realism
26 (39.39%)
20 (30.30%)
04 (06.06%)
B- Classic
04 (06.06%)
11 (16.66%)
12 (18.18%)
C- Contemporary
05 (07.57%)
03 (04.54%)
12 (18.18%)
D- Rioplatense
(-)
02 (03.03%)
(-)
E- C. Concert/ M. Hall
(-)
(-)
(-)
F- Comedy
(-)
(-)
06 (09.09%)
G- ABC
06 (09.09%)
05 (07.57%)
02 (03.03%)
H- All styles
05 (07.57%)
04 (06.06%)
09 (13.63%)
I- Any style
02 (03.03%)
02 (03.03%)
07 (10.60%)
J- Not Answered
18 (27.27%)
19 (28.78%)
14 (21.21%)
Totals
66
66
66
II-67
Chart 22 - (data from Table 16, and17)
ENAD Students Perception of their Own Performances, According to

Best Performance
Best Performance
Style to work with
A- Realism
18 (29.50%)
10 (16.39%)
05 (08.19%)
B- Classic
08 (13.11%)
17 (27.86%)
10 (16.39%)
C- Contemporary
08 (13.11%)
06 (09.83%)
10 (16.39%)
D- Rioplatense
01 (01.63%)
(-)
03 (04.91%)
E- C. Concert/M. Hall
(-)
01 (01.63%)
(-)
F- Comedy
(-)
01 (01.63%)
02 (03.27%)
G- ABC
10 (16.39%)
03 (04.91%)
03 (04.91%)
H- All styles
01 (01.63%)
04 (06.55%)
07 (11.47%)
I- Any style
03 (04.91%)
02 (03.27%)
05 (08.19%)
J- Not Answered
12 (19.67%()
17 (27.86%)
16 (26.22%)
Totals
61
61
61
II-57

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1

Voice Cartographies in Contemporary Theatrical Performance:

Silvia Adriana Davini

The Configuration of a Western Vocal Style.

Rhetoric: The First Sliding of Western Vocality into the

The Role of Modern European Theatrical

Vocal Training: The Configuration of the Area,

Contemporary Approaches to Voice Work in English.

Outlining the Object.

Voice and Speech in Vocal Training.

A Phenomenological Approach to Voice and Speech.

A Semiotic Approach to Voice and Speech.

Voice in Psychoanalytic Theory.

Voice as Rest: The Mystic Experience.

Voice as Excess: The Singers Voice.

Pragmatics: a Performative Approach to Voice and Speech.

Production, Reproduction, and Representation.

Voice Production: a Scientific or a Cultural Question?

Questions About Reproduction.

Reproduction and Technology.

Questions of Representation: Voice and Theory.

Storytelling and Contemporary Vocality.

Post-structuralist Approaches: Desire for Theory,

To Be, to Act, to Become.

Chapter Three Voice Cartographies in Theatrical Performance.

The Professional Roles in

The Scholars vs. The Professionals:

The Case of Buenos Aires:

Local Machines of Production.

The No-Mans Land of Voice Work in Buenos Aires.

Stages Sound Machines.

Voice Cartographies in Institutional Training.

Mapping Vocal Training.

Playwrights Power Machine.

Caraja-J - The Dissolution, or the Deterritorializing

Spregelburds Language Machine.

Machines of Vocal Diversion and Creation.

Recycling Machines in Training and Performance.

Machines of Flight and Creation.

Appendix I - Micro-mapping: Interviewed Professionals and Role Charts.

General Sample of Theatre Professionals Interviewed.

Sample of Key Informants.

Appendix II - Macro-mapping: The Schools Tables and Charts.

University Institute of the Arts [My translation].

defines vocality in relation to medieval poetry, as the historicity of a voice, in other

To Deleuze and Guattari, the rhizome formulates a methodological question: it

voice/technology with unusual vigour and creativeness.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

According to the above, it is possible to recognise in the economy of speech,

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Martin adds that, in Roman times, there was a public investment in

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Literature came to exert a hegemony over cultural representations, first in

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

The role of modern European theatrical traditions in the contemporary actors

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Voice Training: The Configuration of the Area, a British Model.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Chapter 1 - The configuration of a Western vocal style on stage.

Contemporary approaches to voice work in English.