On plays and voice acting

Having just finished reading Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten got me thinking about plays in general. Off the top of my head, I can remember that I've read plays by Eugene O'Neill, Tennesse Williams, Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, Anton Chekov, Shakespeare, Moliere, Sophocles, and Euripidies. Of these, I've only seen a handful live by Shakespeare (The Tempest, Merry Wives of Windsor, and A Midsummer's Night's Dream) and Frederick Knott's Wait Until Dark from the local playhouse backhome, Peter Shaffer's Equus on Broadway, and then a few play movies. It's always really interesting to read the play beforehand and then watch it, to see how the actors interpret them. I have to say though, there is a world of difference between amateurs and professionals, but an even more marked difference between the mediocre and the "great." In my opinion, if you're going to act in a medium that relies so heavily on dialogue, you have to be a stunning voice actor and be able to deliver nuances. It can't be just anybody reading the lines. For instance, I saw this trailer of the Long Day's Journey Into Night production at the New Amerikan Theatre in Seattle, and it sounded plain wrong because it just seemed like people on the street talking. Ugh the times I've been to school productions and cringed, but I suppose that's just self pitying.

To clear away my disappointment from and distate for an age where any old joe can make it big from Hollywood blockbusters, here are sixteen of my favorites from the Old Vic, National Theatre, Hollywood Golden Age, Broadway, and the Indie Films: Clicky!

All these people have breathed life into all sorts of scripts for the stage and silver screen. From Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde to more modern plays to adaptations of classic novels, watching these people act is like having the very characters themselves step out of fiction and into real life. Many of them have created iconic performances--John Gielgud's expressively grief-stricken Hamlet; Parker Posey's deranged and unstable wanna-be Jackie O; Rupert Everett's irreverent Lord Goring constantly sprouting quips and annoying words of wisdom; Emma Thompson's flirty, sharp Beatrice. Often it's hard to imagine anyone else playing that certain role.

These actors bring charisma and entertainment to the table, but most importantly, they also have a certain X factor in common, shining out from a sea of mediocrity--it's their craft, technique, and delivery. Their command of speech is masterful: the way they inflect and intone always makes me pause in wonderment. For instance, Laurence Olivier just naturally oozed Shakespeare, Audrey Hepburn was always incredibly poised and enchanting and luminiscent in all of her roles, and Matthew Macfadyen reinterpreted Colin Firth's brusque Mr. Darcy as annoyingly sensitive and horribly shy (I'll give that much to Jane Austen). The list could go on and on. Maybe I'll do individual posts someday.

Here's an article about the secret of the perfect voice. I'm skeptical of this so called formula, but have to say that all these actors have elocution down pat.

ETA: I've noticed that most of these actors happen to be British. Haha I must be biased, but I stand by these favorites of mine. Comment and let me know what your favorites are--I want to find out new people, so I can try to justify the gross amount of TV I watch.