After graduating at age sixteen from the Webber-Douglas drama school in Kensington, Brenda debuted in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. In following years she performed in West End theatres including the Garrick, Adelphi and London Hippodrome. Arriving in Australia in the 1960s, Brenda continued performing live as a singer and comedienne, before adding television and radio acting and radio announcing and presenting to her repertoire.
Brenda’s radio interviews crossed the social spectrum, from politicians and writers to chefs and entertainers. Her interviewees have included writer Stephen Bogart (son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall), and Australian cultural treasures Margaret Fulton, Barry Crocker, Wayne Goss and June Daly Watkins.
I asked Brenda, “What makes a good interviewee?”
“Personality is very important, and you can hear it in the voice. It has to have animation, some kind of spark!”
“Are you saying that voice control is important for interviewees?”
“Voice production should be important to anyone who speaks in public. Politicians should have speech training. If you don’t know how to speak properly, that is, how to put your voice over when you have to speak for an hour or so, you’ll get hoarse and get laryngitis or something.
“Deep breathing is the key. Practice breathing in slowly, holding your breath and then letting it out slowly, all the way up to twenty or thirty seconds or so for each action. Lift up your rib cage. Make sure your throat is open. Too many people swallow their own voice and lessen the sound of their words.
“Speak up so that your voice carries. In Laurence Olivier’s day they didn’t have microphones, yet you could hear him at the back of the gods! But being loud is entirely different to projecting. Loud can be raucous and very unpleasant to the ear.”
Vocal production and a sense of drama can apply in short speeches, business introduction speeches…and more, without sacrificing professionalism. In fact, making a speech interesting and engaging enhances its professionalism.
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