Shakespeare and the Actor’s Voice: Close Reading of the Live Performance

The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as
cultural and social attitudes have shifted over the 250 years since European settlement. This is
evident in the way the actors use their voices, which reflects the changing nature of training
practices and performance styles over time, but more importantly reveals Shakespeare’s
performed language as the expression of those specific actors in their own specific time.
Examining two productions from the latter part of the twentieth century, a period that
witnessed a burgeoning of Australian cultural identity, and subjecting them to the aural
equivalent of a close reading, I demonstrate how it is not the accent, but the vocal quality of the
actor that is crucial.