Improve your speaking voice

Giles Abbott began training in Voice in 2002 as a development of his work with voice as a professional storyteller. He began his career in Storytelling in 1999 in response to the sudden and serious, but not total, sight-loss he suffered in 1998. Now registered he says, "in losing sight, I found my love of voice & of teaching!". Giles took his Masters in Voice Studies from Central School Of Speech & Drama in 2004-5 and since then he has devised & delivered Voice courses at different levels for Birkbeck College 2006-12, Arts Ed. 2006-8, Identity School of Acting 2018 and City Lit ongoing. His first degree was in English Language & Literature, St Catherine's College, Oxford, 1991-3 but that, he says, seems a very long time ago. In Voice he is able to unite his love of written text with his post-blindness love of speech and spoken word. He says now, "It's what I should have been doing all along but I had to go blind to see it".

Lloyd Wylde is a former actor and now Voice Coach trained at LAMDA and at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. She has worked for the Education Department at the National Theatre, Historic Palaces, Wellcome Trust and Soho Theatre, at several drama schools, and for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as independent work. At City Lit she has taught Actor's Voice: beginners and improvers, Communicate with confidence through voice and body language, Self-presentation skills for business people (with Nikki Kelly), Use your voice assertively, and on the Foundation Drama and Acting Diploma courses. Having worked at City Lit since 2015, Lloyd enjoys the diverse range of students that come to City Lit keen to learn. She aims to help all students achieve their potential, find and harness the power of their voice, all within a safe and fun environment. Voice is in the body and is an expression of your personality and presence. Lloyd aims to help you find out what your strength is and help yourself counter the things that might get in the way. Come and play with your voice and see what you can discover.

Jonny has extensive experience as a voice practitioner and acting coach as well as being a professional actor, singer and musician. He trained as an actor at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has appeared in many touring and West End productions including Blood Brothers, The Buddy Holly Story and We Will Rock You, as well as many stage plays, commercials and films. Jonny also holds an MA in Voice Studies from Central, where he was awarded a Distinction and has taught voice, accents and singing at drama schools and actor training programmes including Central, University of West London, Fourth Monkey and City Academy. He teaches in both academic and corporate environments and his areas of expertise include public speaking, presentation skills, accent training and non-verbal communication. His teaching style aims to help students find the true potential of their voice as an expression of their personality and to help them gain more vocal impact, and he is informed by Estill method. Jonny has a strong focus on exploring the voice through improvisation and creativity along with building strong technical ability and developing confidence in speaking.