Year 7 Drama · Making Drama — Create and Perform · 8m read

Voice and Movement Skills

An actor's tools are their voice and body. Small changes in how you speak and move completely change a character.

Learning objective: Use voice and movement expressively to create character.

By the end of this lesson you can:

• I can vary pitch, pace, pause, volume and tone.
• I can use posture, gesture and facial expression.
• I can use space and levels.

Your voice and body are a mixing desk. A sound engineer slides faders for volume, speed and tone. An actor has the same controls — pitch, pace, pause, projection — plus a body with posture, gesture and gait. Small slider changes create a totally different character.

Expressive skills

VOICE:
• PITCH (high/low), PACE (speed), PAUSE, PROJECTION/VOLUME, TONE (emotion), ARTICULATION (clarity).

MOVEMENT:
• POSTURE, GESTURE, FACIAL EXPRESSION, GAIT (walk), STILLNESS.

SPACE:
• LEVELS (high, medium, low), proximity between characters, stage areas.

| Skill | Low setting | High setting |
|---|---|---|
| Pitch | Deep, calm, authoritative | High, excited, nervous |
| Pace | Slow, thoughtful, sad | Fast, panicked, eager |
| Pause | Flowing speech | Tension, thinking, shock |
| Posture | Slumped: defeated | Upright: confident |
| Gait | Shuffle: old, tired | Stride: powerful |

Key ideas at a glance

• Warm up first: Voice and body need preparation.
• Breathe from the diaphragm: Projection without shouting.
• Match voice to body: Both should tell the same story.
• Use stillness: Not moving can be powerful.

Worked example (Easy)

How could you show a character is nervous?

1. Voice. Fast pace, higher pitch, hesitations.
2. Body. Fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, closed posture.

Answer: Fast hesitant speech and fidgety, closed body language.

Worked example (Medium)

Show the difference between a king and a servant using only movement.

1. King. Upright posture, slow deliberate gait, takes up space, steady gaze.
2. Servant. Lowered head, quick small steps, hands clasped, stays at edges.
3. Contrast. Status is shown through space, speed and posture.

Answer: High status: slow, upright, expansive. Low status: quick, lowered, contained.

Common mistakes

• Mumbling The audience must hear you. Fix: Project from the diaphragm and articulate.
• Shouting instead of projecting Strains the voice and sounds angry. Fix: Breathe deeply and aim the sound at the back wall.

Status — the hidden ingredient

Improv teacher Keith Johnstone noticed that every interaction has a status game: who is "higher" and who is "lower".

High-status behaviour: still head, steady eye contact, slow speech, owning space. Low-status behaviour: fidgeting, touching the face, quick speech, looking away. Playing with status instantly makes scenes more interesting.

Practice questions

1. The speed of speech is:

   1. Pitch
   2. Pace
   3. Tone
   4. Projection

   (1 marks)

2. Give one way levels can show status.

   (2 marks)

3. The speed of speech is called:

   1. Pitch
   2. Pace
   3. Tone
   4. Projection

   (1 marks)

4. A slow, upright walk suggests:

   1. Low status
   2. High status
   3. Fear
   4. Confusion

   (1 marks)

5. Describe how you would use voice to show a character is lying.

   (2 marks)

Summary

• Voice: pitch, pace, pause, volume, tone.
• Movement: posture, gesture, facial expression.
• Use space and levels.
• Status is shown through voice, space and stillness.