“I know Patsy to be a gifted voice and speech coach… she provides practical and imaginative means for getting to the heart of the text and making the necessity for the language to be strongly felt by audiences.”
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-Trevor Nunn, Former Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company
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“I am an enormous fan of her work. What is wonderful about her is the directness and clarity of her teaching and her enthusiasm.”
-Dame Judi Dench, Actress
“She gives you a wondrously simple way of releasing the voice and body - which also becomes a way of life.”
-Anna Massey, Actress
“Patsy Rodenburg is one of the handful of people in the world who understand that the use of the voice by actors and public speakers engages the heart, the mind and the body. There is no teacher, in my experience, who brings all these together with such wisdom and patience.”
-Richard Eyre, Director
“Patsy Rodenburg wants to free your voice so that you can express yourself fully and honestly.”
-Sir Ian McKellen, Actor
“Patsy is such a unique, dynamic guide in getting us back to the vocal pathway of instinctive expression.”
- Joseph Fiennes, Actor
BIOGRAPHY - Patsy is the Director of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (26 years) and until recently at the Royal National Theatre (16 years). She trained in Voice Studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama and is recognized as one of the world’s leading voice and acting coaches. She has worked regularly with the best-known actors of the British theatre, including Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Antony Sher, Daniel Day-Lewis, Simon Russell Beale, Ralph Fiennes, Joe Fiennes, Imelda Staunton, Sophie Okonedo, as well as many of the biggest stars of film and television such as Nicole Kidman, Orlando Bloom, Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman to name a few. She was previously in residence with the Royal Shakespeare Company (9 years) and also works with The Royal Court Theater, Donmar and Almeida Theater, London. She has also worked extensively with many of the great world theaters including the Moscow Art Theatre, Complicite, Cheek by Jowl, Comedie-Francaise, etc.
HUMANITARIAN WORK - Although it is not advertised by Patsy herself, Patsy Rodenburg has been a major voice for Penal Reform in the U.K.; she has staged Shakespeare in maximum-security prisons and worked with the criminally insane for over 25 years. She has developed methods along with the treating-psychiatrists to rehabilitate child murderers through poetry and Shakespeare. Patsy understands the relevance of Shakespeare in contemporary times to communicate with, and release, the marginalized, and disenfranchised voice. Patsy has spent months traveling and teaching in the most poverty stricken areas of India, taught Shakespeare to mixed groups of Protestant and Catholic women in Northern Ireland, as well as taking her work to Gaza and the West Bank. In Amsterdam, she has conducted workshops with up to 300 prostitutes at a time; worked greatly with various tribes in Africa, and with Aboriginal communities in Australia. And, that barely scrapes the surface of her contribution. Her passion for communication and the spoken word has broken down racial, religious and class barriers the world over.
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copyright 2010 - Michael Howard Studios
Michael Howard Studios is the artistic home of Patsy Rodenburg in New York City. Actors from all around the world travel to study with her, and we invite you to do the same. Feel free to use these pages to research Patsy’s work, and contact us at any time with questions.
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