Testimonials

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Alison has poetry in her very being, and she is able to convey to others

an awareness of the rhythms and textures in classical text, particularly

Shakespeare, and how this opens out the layers of meaning within,

and excites the listener.

Cicely Berry CBE, Director of Voice, RSC

In my opinion, Alison is one of the very best voice and text coaches in the business.

Her immense reserves of intelligence, imagination, humour and humanity are

blended with unsurpassable technical skill to make her both a brilliant teacher

and a great enabler.

In the two years we worked together at the RSC she became invaluable to me in

helping me get to grips with all the multidimensional demands of speaking and

acting Shakespeare and I would work with her again in a heartbeat.

Alison is passionate, empathetic, inspiring and blissfully without the egotistical

need to impose a dogma. She is quite simply a genius at getting the best

out of anyone and everyone who works with her.

Any actor, performer or theatre company in the world would be extremely lucky

to have her wisdom to guide them.

Geoffrey Streatfeild, Actor

Alison's voice work isn't just about voice, it's about opening up and being

totally present. She has a way of connecting the body and the voice that

totally frees you up, gives you a way into the text that brings it alive in ways

you didn't expect and gives you a deeper understanding of the words and

therefore the character you are playing.

Jodie McNee, Actor

Alison Bomber has been one of the influential people in my time in this business.

I had never felt truly comfortable in my voice. During my time at the RSC,

Alison changed that. She works perceptively and generously with you

as an individual.

Alison connected my heart to my voice and gave me the confidence

to stand out there and simply talk. Her honest but gentle guidance

will stay with me forever.

Katy Stephens, Actor

Working with Alison was great. She made me realise I had a deeper,

more resonant voice than I ever thought I had. She helped me both textually

and vocally bring out Helen Edmundson's beautifully poetic dialogue with

a real sense of rootedness and truth. For any classical text I ever do in the future,

I will search out Alison, not only for her help with voice work but also for

her kindness, generosity and sense of fun!

Catherine McCormack, Actor

Alison is a genius, not only for helping actors tone their voices to peak condition

for the rigour of theatre performance through her excellent vocal classes

and energising, freeing warm-ups, but also for her open, supportive personality,

which gives immense strength and confidence. She also offers extremely

intelligent input to the interpretation of text, and is always ready to share

her extensive knowledge of verse and prose. She was an absolute godsend

to me whilst I worked with the RSC. She's got a lovely singing voice too.

Forbes Masson, Actor

Alison demystifies the workings of the voice and gives practical advice

that you can immediately access in rehearsal. Her love of Shakespeare

is infectious and empowering and her gift is to give simple practical notes

which all actors can understand and use in all genres of theatre.

Her warm, friendly and caring nature always makes one feel safe when

she is in the room. A good note and approval from Alison means you feel

a million dollars!!! Thanks for sharing your gift; I received each word

with the utmost appreciation.

Debbie Korley, Actor

Nowhere, in the hundreds of teachers, coaches and mentors that I have

encountered, have I met a more inspirational, knowledgeable, soulful

and caring theatre professional than Alison. Her enthusiasm in the rehearsal

room, whether as director or coach, is infectious. Her sense of theatrical

history combined with her ability to engage any and everyone in her buoyant

sense of play brings the most frightened actor out of their shell, and into their body

and voice. I have personally witnessed actors that have had no contact with Shakespearean text begin a session with Alison in a state of utter panic

and negativity. After a scant few hours working with her, they begin to grasp the complexity of the language and the beauty of the sounds and discover their

ability to connect those two things to the physical life of their performance.

Personally, Alison taught me to listen with every sense that is available to me,

to connect directly with my fellow actors through sight and through energy,

to make direct links between the text that I am speaking and the blood that is

pumping through my veins, to surprise myself with new thoughts and new passions,

to never take any choices or any text for granted, to continually search for answers

and through those answers formulate new questions.

Charlesanne Rabensburg, Actor, Columbus, Ohio

Alison is a true inspiration! Her knowledge, approach, understanding

and passion for text is absolutely infectious. Alison and I had the pleasure

of working together in 2008 and have kept in touch ever since.

I loved every minute of our time in the rehearsal room and would do it again

in a heartbeat! I am not sure that she is aware of just how much of an effect

she has had; even if I told her she would be too modest to fully accept it but,

in brief, she has turned my thoughts around, provided constant inspiration

and left an incredible imprint at the heart of all that I have gone on to do.

Alison is forging ahead: breathing fresh air in to all the text she touches,

all the actors she works with and all the spaces those actors perform in.

Her work is dynamic, engaging, rooted, revolutionary and

wonderfully personable.

Bryn Holding, Actor

Alison has helped me with both singing and speaking. I am a nervous speaker

in front of an audience and even more terrified singer, and when I had the chance

to face both my fears I turned to Alison for much needed help. I can say that,

on the day, I did the speech and singing with confidence, happiness and,

I am amazed to say, enjoyment after her coaching.

She made the whole experience a joy.

Her enthusiasm for words and music is so inspiring and when those

worrying moments came that I doubted my decision to embrace my fear,

she was there with words of wisdom and encouragement.

What really inspired me was her belief that I could do it...even when I had doubts -

her confidence in voicework is such that what I thought was impossible,

she knew could be achieved.

I really can never thank her enough and would recommend her to anyone.

Laura, Hertfordshire

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery