Cicely Berry

Cicely Frances Berry (17 May 1926 – 15 October 2018) was a British theatre director and vocal coach. She was the voice director for the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1969 to 2014, and worked as a voice and text coach as an instructor at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. She conducted workshops all over the globe, including Korea, Russia, and Asia. Her work also extended to prisons, using Shakespeare as a vessel to find confidence in speaking and response to imagery. One of her earliest teachers was Barbara Bunch. In addition to her voice and text work in the theatre, she also did work in film, including serving as "dialogue coach" on The Last Emperor; "dialogue coach" on Stealing Beauty (1996); and as "voice specialist" on Julie Taymor's 1999 film, Titus.

Books Voice and the Actor (1973) Your Voice and How to Use It The Actor and the Text Text in Action Word Play: A Textual Handbook for Directors and Actors

Directing Hamlet for the National Theatre Education Unit King Lear for The Other Place and The Royal Shakespeare Company

Honours

1985 – Received OBE 1992 – Nominated for special award by Arts Council for her ‘response to the challenges posed by a technologically diverse and increasingly multi-cultural environment.’ 1997 – Doctor Honoris, National Academy of Film and Theatre Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria 1999 – Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Birmingham University 2000 – The Sam Wanamaker Prize for pioneering work in theatre 2001 – Honorary Doctorate of Literature from the Open University 2009 – Berry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Footnotes