Lady Chapel
Ely Cathedral

A devised performance that reveals the authentic architecture and beauty of the human voice

Voice Human Action explores human communication and was conceived by Caroline Wright in collaboration with composer Andrew Lovett as part of the Lines of Communication project, an artist’s research residency based in the Speech and Language Department of Addenbrooke’s Hospital,
Cambridge.

Research into the function of the body during speech/sound formation and the body as a resonant vessel informs the performance that manipulates harmonics, resonance and reverberation. Voice Human Action brings together the visual and audible; performers work within the audience creating dialogues across space, at times engaging directly with the audience as part of the work, bringing the reality of vocal and visual communication to direct engagement. By working within the parameters of human sound production in a live and devised format, the piece challenges myths relating to voice – the voiceful or voiceless, the notion of communication strategies that
transcend physical restriction, that beauty in voice is never limited by quality.
The magnificent architecture of the Lady Chapel, with astounding acoustic qualities subverts the expected aural experience. Performers, in their roles as actionists or singers, move under the magnificent fan vaulted ceiling of the Lady Chapel creating shapes and visual drawings that resemble the vocal folds and tongue inside an architectural voice box.

Elements of the piece are based on the ‘The Rainbow Passage’, a text read by patients attending voice clinics to enable Speech and Language Therapists to assess the voice. This text challenges the speaking voice, making use of alliteration, unusual vowel and consonant combinations and extended breathing patterns.

The Performers
The performers in Voice Human Action range in age from fifteen upwards and are from a variety of backgrounds - performing arts students, school pupils, further education tutors, artists, actors and actresses, researchers, musicians and choristers.

They are