Cicely Frances Berry (17 May 1926 – 15 October 2018) was a British theatre director and vocal coach. In 2000 she was awarded the Sam Wanamaker Prize for pioneering work in theatre.
Early life and education Berry was born in Berkhamsted to Cecil and Frances Berry. She was one of five children. She trained under Elsie Fogerty at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Central). One of her earliest teachers was Barbara Bunch. While teaching at Central, she met and married an American acting student, Harry Moore. They had three children.
Career In 1969 Berry was appointed by Trevor Nunn as voice director for the Royal Shakespeare Company. She held the position until 2014. She also worked as a voice and text coach at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She conducted workshops in the UK and overseas, including Korea, Russia, Australia, China and India. Her work also extended to prisons, where she would use Shakespeare as a vessel to find confidence in speaking and response to imagery.
Her work in film included dialogue coach on The Last Emperor (1987) and Stealing Beauty (1996); and as voice specialist on Julie Taymor's 1999 film Titus. She worked with Maggie Smith, Ann Bancroft, John Cleese, Peter Finch, Sean Connery, Richard Chamberlain and Susan Hampshire.
Books and DVDs Voice and the Actor (1973) Voice in Modern Theatre (1991) with Jacqueline Martin Your Voice and How to Use It (2000) The Actor and the Text (2000) Text in Action (2001) The Working Shakespeare Collection: A Workbook for Teachers (2004) From Word to Play: A Textual Handbook for Directors and Actors (2007) The Working Shakespeare Library 5-DVD collection with Adrian Wade
Directing Hamlet for the National Theatre Education Unit King Lear for The Other Place and The Royal Shakespeare Company
Honours
1985 – Received OBE 1992 – Nominated for special award by Arts Council England for her ‘response to the challenges posed by a technologically diverse and increasingly multi-cultural environment.’ 1997 – Doctor Honoris, National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria 1999 – Honorary Doctorate of Literature from University of Birmingham 2000 – The Sam Wanamaker Prize for pioneering work in theatre 2001 – Honorary Doctorate of Literature from the Open University 2009 – Berry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.
Footnotes
Bibliography Barnett, Laura, Cicely Berry, Voice Coach to the Stars. Guardian Berry, Cicely, documentary. Where Words Prevail. Dir. Steven Budlong and Salvatore Rasa. Sorjourner Media, L.L.C., 2005. Berry, Cicely, Kristin Linklater, and Patsy Rodenburg. "Shakespeare, Feminism, and Voice: Responses to Sarah Werner." New Theatre Quarterly XIII.49 (1997): 48-52. Berry, Cicely. Voice and the Actor. New York: Hungry Minds, Inc., 1973.