Kristen Linklater is a name familiar to all of our students at OSD. If you visit us for an Open Day this year, you’ll likely sit in on a voice class based on her teachings. Her teachings are a central part of our identity. Being part of a collaborative community like OSD is about more than just actor training. OSD regularly engages with practitioners from all across the UK and worldwide to bring fresh perspectives to our students and continue fostering our strong connections within the arts community. This month, we put those ideas into practice.
OSD was proud to host Joanna Kurzyńska for a day of Voice Classes earlier this month. Joanna is a Designated Linklater Teacher from Poland who visited us as part of a Grant to continue her studies in the Linklater Voice Method.
For many years, OSD has used the Linklater Voice Method as the core of our Voice Training. Kristen Linklater was a highly respected name in the field of Voice, having developed her method over many years as an Actor and Teacher. Her two books, Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language and Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice: The Actor’s Guide to Talking the Text, have sold over 200,000 copies and are considered leading textbooks in the field of Voice.
Throughout her career, Kristen taught Voice at renowned schools and theatre companies such as LAMDA, the Tish School of the Arts (New York, USA), the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford (Ontario, Canada), and Columbia University (USA), where she was Professor Emerita before returning to her native Orkney, Scotland, in 2013.
Those of you who have trained here at OSD will be familiar with the method and will know first-hand that Kristen Linklater’s teachings are engrained within the ethos of OSD. Focused on finding the natural voice and freeing it of habitual tensions, the Linklater Voice Progression puts the student at the centre of the work, not as an actor or tool but as an individual.
Linklater Voice has been taught in actor training programs worldwide, from the renowned Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School of Drama) to the Central School of Speech and Drama to OSD. Throughout her time as a Teacher, Kristen taught well-known actors such as Sir Patrick Stewart, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Bill Murray, Angela Bassett, and Sigourney Weaver.
Kristen also trained over 240 Voice teachers worldwide through her rigorous teacher-training process. The Pathway to Designation takes three to five years to complete, and it results in the Designated Linklater Teacher (DLT) title.
Joanna is a recent DLT. She visited Head of Voice Gem Maddock, DLT, Voice Tutor Nicola Collett, DLT, and Voice Tutor Imogen Read, who is on the Pathway to Designation. It was a hugely inspirational day filled with collaborative and fulfilling conversations and workshops.
Gem Maddock, our Head of Voice, is also co-running the MFA in Linklater Training Practice at Rose Bruford. This exciting MFA began life at ALRA and was designed with the help of Kristen Linklater before her death in 2020. This is a rigorous vocational teacher training course that results not only in an MFA but also in Designated Linklater Teacher status. Gem is keen to speak with any OSD alumni seeking to continue developing their professional practice and begin their journey to DLT status. You can reach out to her via our email info@oxforddrama.ac.uk.
OSD is proud to continue championing Kristen Linklater’s method. It was great to have Joanna visit us, and we hope that our students and teaching staff will continue to engage with the wonderful Linklater community for many years to come.
